garage follies

Sometime last week the belt flew off of Dad's zero-turn riding mower while I was mowing. I promptly took it to the garage and parked it there, figuring I would just replace the belt. Then I got to thinking about it and having some oil in the garage decided I would also do an oil change and other normal maintenance items that have been far from regularly performed and way overdue.

When I went to pull the blades (to sharpen them) I noticed they were bent -- BADLY!! I showed them to Dad and he decided we would just get new ones. While there, may as well get a new belt and oil filter too.

Sooo ... I went ahead and drained out the oil, pulled the oil filter -- which wasn't easy. Partially because where it was mounted and partially because it had been on there so  ... damn ... long ... it took a Herculean effort to remove it. I eventually wrestled it from its grip and set it off in a pan on the workbench to drain.

Then i went about removing the blades. This was no problem at all. Then we went to get parts for it next day.

That was, as I stated, sometime last week. My sorry ass hasn't gotten back out there since. Well until last night anyway.

So I went ahead and replaced the blades with new ones, slipped on the new belt, lowered it back down off the jack stands, repacked the bearings with grease, and filled the oil. Started up the mower to cycle through the filter and went to check the level ........ only to find a large pool of fresh oil all over the floor. Damn! some idiot (me) forgot to put the filter back on. DOH! (or should that be "DOPE!")

Grabbed the filter and installed it, refilled the oil, started up the mower again  to cycle oil through the filter. No problems this time, until I noticed on the bench the *new* filter (that I forgot we purchased) sitting there. I am not pulling it out and going through this again, so we have an oil filter for the next change, I guess.

With that done, I moved the mower out of the way, and went over to grab some sawdust from the lathe area to  sop up the spilled oil. And there! ... there! ... right where I was looking for it before! ... was the live center spur that goes in the tailstock of my lathe that I had been tirelessly scouring through the sawdust to find not two weeks ago.

It was in open ... plain ... sight! There is no way that could've been there before! While I am bummed I didn't see it when i was LOOKING for it, I was glad to find it. It's not an expensive piece but is critical for spindle turning and rough turning.

Anyway, I put it back in the tailstock, grabbed some sawdust and cleaned up my mess. With that done, I went to start the mower and move it out of the garage back to the shed where it lives. It started right up, but when I went to back it up, it didn't move. WTF?!?

There are sliding tabs on the back frame that you can use to disengage the transmission so that you can push it around if it is not running or you just don't feel like firing it up to move it a couple feet. It is light enough (maybe 200-300 lbs) to roll around.

I checked those and they were where they should be to ride the mower. The linkage for these tabs actuated the shifter piece that engages/disengages the rear differential. The belt was good and tight. WTF!

I decided I would jack it up and remove the wheels to see if the axles moved if there were no load upon them. Sure enough! both wheel hubs were turning. Hmmm .... I slapped the wheels back on, let the jack down, and tried to see if it would move.

Voila! weird! I have no idea why it didn't just do that to start with. I messed with nothing when I removed the wheels. It just decided to start working. Okie dokie. We are all set to mow again I guess.

Next garage project(s) -- I need to bleed the brakes on my Bandit and the KLR has developed a popping upon deceleration that I get to chase down. Oh boy!