This may be a review of Friday, Saturday, Sunday and or, whatever else I want to toss in!
Friday morning I decided to mow the back yard. First I de-pooped the back 40 and then I got on the ole riding mower. I need to emphasize that the ole rider has developed problems, mowing lower on one side than the other. It has been very noisy, and it has been shaking more than it should, but I did not take the time to see what might be wrong. I gave up on the riding mower and went to the ditch behind the fence and mowed what I could with the walk behind, and then string trimmed the rest.
Tired, from this strenuous work, I took the ole rider to the garage for a well needed inspection.
There is a spindle with bad bearings that will need to be replaced. I have check the price and find that one spindle from the original manufacture will cost $88.99 plus tax. I then looked around at that one shopping place on the internet and found a replacement spindle (not original mfg.) for $35.99, no tax and free shipping.
Tomorrow I will again bring the mower back to the garage and pull the mowing deck. I will make a final determination of needed parts. While I had the deck off I will also sharpen and balance the blades. My step father Jess, showed me how he sharpened and balanced blades so I know I can do it.
Different subject:
I picked The Alex up from school today (Friday) and I had a sweet tea from the chicken place for him. He noted that this was the third time this week, and he said, “You are the best grand pa! Kind of makes me feel good! Finally, “I am the best at something”, even if it is buying sweet tea.
Back to the mower demolition:
“It was Saturday, 9:00am, it was hot, no chance of rain, I was working the weekend shift, I am senior mechanic at the Ford Homestead”.
Now let me enlighten, I had taken the time (Friday evening) to read through the hand book that came with the mower. I felt I knew how to remove the deck and the parts that have failed. Actually I have removed the deck in the past.
I brought the Ford’s ole riding mower up to the garage and got everything situated. I lay down on the floor but I was not taking a nap, I had trouble removing the, “Hair pins”. These hair pins do the same thing as cotter keys do, but look somewhat different. They were difficult to remove but I prevailed.
I lowered the mowing deck to the floor, and pulled it out from under the tractor. It kind of looks like a little tractor without the mowing deck. I removed a couple items without any trouble, and then I tried to remove the blade from the bad spindle. The spindle is attached to the blade and a pulley, the bearings in the spindle had gone bad.
I could not remove the mower blades. I became irritated and headed for the shower. My ole senior body all clean, and some clean clothes on, I was able to talk my spouse of 50 years into going to town for lunch.
Lunch was good and my spouse went to a couple stores to get a couple things. Finally we arrived back home and I jumped into the ole recliner for a nap. ZZZZZZZZZZZZ
I awoke and headed for the garage, where I again launched an attempt to remove the mower blades. The ratchet did not give me enough leverage, so I went to a breaker bar. As the name indicates, this breaker bar is used to break loose stubborn nuts. I tried for more than an hour, I even used a hammer beating on the end of the breaker bar, with no progress. I was very unhappy. I took a short break and my mind began to work. A part of my normal prayers is, that we all make good decisions due to a divine presence, seeing that each of us have all the information we need, to make a good decision. I took a few minutes to consider what I can do. I decided I can’t do this alone. I called my son David and he was at a store, he said he would come over when he finished shopping.
Before Dave arrived I considered what we could do to break this nut loose. (The nut was not me this time!) I went out to the back 40 and procured a piece of pipe about 8 feet long. This will be used as a lever when Dave arrives.
After a short while, Dave arrived and I told him of my plan, he would hold the deck still and keep the blade from turning, I would use the pipe as a lever on the breaker bar. The nut on the mower blades came loose easily. Having help is very nice.
I have ordered two new spindles and new mower blades which should be here in a couple days.
Maybe I should clean the deck and the mower prior to an attempt at rebuilding the unit. Hopefully this thing will go back together, and once again be a mower. If my senior memory fails me when reconstruction begins, I have taken several photos which could serve as reminders of where to put what. Saturday evening begin, with me entering this soon to never be read info, into the computer.
Sunday after lunch;
I worked on cleaning some of the parts along with the bolts and nuts. I guess I would say I made a small difference. I did get an email today saying the mower blades will be here tomorrow, the spindles should be here on Tuesday.
Photo of one of the ole spindles to follow.
For that one person who noticed that there is an arm in the upper right corner of the photo, it is the arm of my first wife. She has been putting together her fall decorations along with a bunch of fake pumpkins. I suggested that it was not fall yet, but she ignored me.
Later in the afternoon as my spouse of 5 decades was working on her fall decorations, I decided to wash the dog. Have you ever washed a large dog by yourself? I have! Actually, Tres stands still for his bath, I think he likes all the rubbing, but he don’t like water being sprayed on and around his head. After his bath he likes to play tug of war with a towel. Photo to follow.
Tres is attacking the towel after his bath.
May you be safe, cooperative and productive all week!
Senior safety supervisor; Don Ford
No comments:
Post a Comment