The Daily Yardman Thread

Roger B said:

I would like at this juncture, for my four-hundredth post to take a moment and thank all the guys who have encouraged me to undertake jobs that I was unfamiliar with. I would also like to thank those who administer this site for allowing this particular thread to wander so far off it's original topic.

The members who contribute their time, knowledge and experience to assist those of us who have come here in search of answers to problems we are unfamiliar with, provide an invaluable service and I for one am very grateful.

That the administrators have allowed us the latitude to discuss numerous subjects, the vast majority of which have nothing whatsoever to do with rebuilding an MTD transaxle, is also greatly appreciated.

One might assume from the number of views the thread has received and continues to receive, that it has piqued the interest of a number of site readers and hopefully they too have derived some useful information from this rather eclectic collection of stories.

I for one, have certainly enjoyed my involvement..

So, I thank you, one and all..

Roger B

#400 and counting...

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Roger B said:

Well Boo did sort of steal my latest news, but that's all good. He was pretty much responsible for my getting the job done anyway.

I believe my reticence at tearing a carburetor apart comes from back when I was a kid. Mechanical things always intrigued me and when I got my hands on a couple old carbs, I immediately took them all apart, removing every single thing that was removable. The chances of my ever getting one of them back together however, was nil... That experience fostered the assumption that I wasn't capable of taking one apart and having any hope of ever getting it back in operation again. Boo-Boo's constant haranguing to get me to try it again, coupled with the fact the Kawasaki FC401 wouldn't run and the problem was obviously due to the carburetor, finally got me to pony up the gumption and give it a go..

Inside it was a mess! It looked like maybe water got into it sometime during the 12 years it sat out in the weather. I used up what was left in a spray can of Gumout that I'd had for so many years, most of the pressure was gone, so I ran over to the local NAPA and bought a new can, That really made the difference! It blew crap out of all the little holes and orifices, many of which were plugged solid. I used a soft brush to clean off everything else.

One of the on-line manuals Boo sent me had a blow-up drawing of the carb and that helped me see what should come apart and where the resulting little parts should go during reassembly. I was able to save both gaskets that were involved and once the cleaned carb was put back on the engine, it started right up and ran like a charm!

Like Boo said, I'm proud as a peacock!

Rog

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Roger B said:

Chuck,

I'm not 100% sure I've read this right. Are you saying that Kevlar is supposed to last 3 times longer than a regular belt, but that in your experience you've had them last 4 to 6 times longer than a regular belt?

I hope that is what you meant, because the belts I ordered arrived yesterday! I order four of them, two for each Troy-Bilt. I used an ebay seller called "OffRoadBelts" and they were great!! Super price and really fast FREE shipping!

I've got to take the one Troy-Bilt I replaced the engine on apart and put two of the new Kevlar belts on it. Then I've got to go to Harbor Freight and buy another Predator engine for the older Troy-Bilt and repower it. I had to soak it's reversing wheel and the two drive pulleys in Kroil for a couple days before I could get them apart and at that, I had to use quite a bit of force. I put Boo's "Get a BIGGER hammer" theory to use and coupled that with a heavy duty pry-bar, which got everything apart without breaking anything.

We are going to use one of the Troy-Bilts and hope to sell the other to cover the costs of repairing both of them. Those Predator engines are so inexpensive, that shouldn't be a problem, although we may have to wait until next Spring to attract the most interest in it.

Roger

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NorthBama said:

Good morning everyone

I finally made it through the gate. I first thought Boo locked me out for being AWAL. That was a fine piece of work Rog and thanks for the pictures they were great. Now what is the next challenge.

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Boobala said:

next challenge : .... I'm gonna find out the name on your drivers license !! ....Boobala !!!!!

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NorthBama said:

Boo you name should be called Sherlock for you have solved the mystery

James S

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BlazNT said:

Well since this is such an open thread I thought I would share a real story about a lawn mower repair gone wrong than right.
Purchased a John Deere F925 with a Yanmar diesel. Has a 72" deck and a 52" Snow broom. The only issue was the PTO would not work. It started and ran no problem. I start working on the PTO and through weeks of testing and trouble shooting the over-engineered machine, I found the solenoid not working. Found the price was around $300.00. No way am I spending that much money on that part. I kept looking and found out the only thing the solenoid did was move a lever that pushed a switch for the PTO. I disconnected the switch and wired in a toggle switch so I could turn it on and off. The year before mine had this setup so off I went. Test mowed and loved it. Parked it for the night. Next morning will not turn over. The battery is dead. Charge battery and back in business. Next day same thing. and so on. I connected my trickle charger to it every night. Then one night when I parked it in the garage, I went into the garage with lights off and saw a red light on. It was the Glow Plug light. I could not figure out why that night so I decided to worry about it later. Having another mower I put it on the back burner. I figured out if I removed the light bulb after a few days it would move to the next light in the cluster. IT was driving me crazy. After I removed all the lights then a relay starting buzzing. and whenever I turn the key to run it would blow the glow plug fuse. Well at that point I quit messing with the mower. Next, I found power coming into the fuse from the both sides. Every once in a while I would look at it and try to find what was wrong. This went on for a year. Using every excuse in the book to not fix it. Well, the wife and new child we adopted went on vacation and left me home alone. I am going to be 68 when my new little boy graduates high school. That is a whole different story for some other time. I decided I was going to fix that dammmmm thing this week while I have the freedom. and lo and behold I did it. I had to open up the wiring harness to chase down all the wires. But I finally found the wire touching ground. I did not start her yet just bumped the starter to see if she would turn over. I will check all the levels this weekend and start her up and get her out of my garage spot. That will be nice to have that back. Here she is in all here glory.
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