Flooded Mower and Other power Equipment (water)

Hey Folks,

Many of you have seen/heard about the flooding in south Louisiana near and around Baton Rouge. It was and still is mind blowing. Currently, I'm just letting stuff dry out. My house took 6" of water inside. it is a mess but we are insured so we will be just fine. Living upstairs. Many folks lost everything they ever had. My mower, chain saw, push mower, and tools went under. The top of my engine was peaking out of the water on my Raptor SD. I have two questions on how to proceed.

1. Other than changing all the fluids, fuel, filters, etc. is there anything else you think I should do before I try to get these things running.
2. Many, but not all of my hand tools also got wet. I plan to clean and lube everything. Is there anything else I should do, especially for tools like rachets, etc. with internal parts. Should I soak them in varsol or some other cleaner?

I may not be able to get back to your replies for a day or two, but I will check when I can.

Thanks for your advice, thoughts, and prayers. .......... Rhett

A couple of things I would suggest. Remove the spark plugs and spray a good amount of lube (WD-40, PowerLube, etc.) into the cylinders. Pull the units over until you are sure that the cylinder are well coated. Yes, it will smoke the first time you use it. Any hand tools with internal moving parts I would take a large bin and fill with rice, yes it will take a bit more than a bag. Stick your tools in for a couple of days and lubricate them when you remove them. I did this with any tools with moving parts, ratchets, plies, side cutters, crescents, tap wrenches, etc. Any electrical tools I would put out near a dehumidifier for a couple of days to draw the moisture out. Once you are sure they are dry, lube what you can and run them for about a minute to make sure bearings don't sieze. Had an aunt in Narlin's during Katrina and this is what I did for her husbands tools. Most are still working today in my tool box.

Rhett,
Really sorry to hear about this.
With the mower, don't overlook the hydros.
They will have taken in water through the vents if they have any.
We had some nuisance flooding 3 months ago and I still have a couple of K51's waiting for pumps cause the owners forgot about the trannys.

Made it to the office today. I'm waiting on the insurance adjuster to come by. Should be here tomorrow. Thanks for the thoughts and advice on the equipment. Rice is good idea. I've used it before on a number of small electronic devices to suck the moisture out. I've lubed most of my hand tools down. Tossed a couple of old chainsaws I was going to use for project work just to get them going. They went under and I don't have time to fool with them. I'll work on my good chain saw, backpack blower, along with my mower once the adjuster has made some determination.

All three of our cars have some damage. Need to change all the fluids, etc.. Borrowed a car to get in to work and it almost died on me. Talk about putting salt in your wound. Had about 2 cords of fire wood that my son and I cut and split. Watched it float out into the woods. Crazy

As luck would have it the grass is growing just fine. :laughing: Thanks again. ............ Rhett

Just to follow up. My mower is back in action. Changed all the fluids, sprayed all the electrical stuff with WD 40, then electrical contact cleaner.

I had some bad spindle bearings which I addressed in the Hustler Forum.

All is now good. Of course the house is still a mess but at least I can cut my grass. Thanks ....... Rhett

RhettWS said:

Just to follow up. My mower is back in action. Changed all the fluids, sprayed all the electrical stuff with WD 40, then electrical contact cleaner.

I had some bad spindle bearings which I addressed in the Hustler Forum.

All is now good. Of course the house is still a mess but at least I can cut my grass. Thanks ....... Rhett

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Glad to hear your getting on with life.:thumbsup::thumbsup: