Richard Gillespie
09-09-2005, 6:11 PM
When we went on vacation in late August we prepared the house as usual. Included was, covering the lawn mower with a wheel barrow to keep any rain out. The lawn mower usually sits under the RV so it had to be moved. The last time we used it, it was running fine.
We were gone almost two weeks and to my knowledge there wasn't any rain while we were gone. Four days after returning, still with no rain, I tried to start the 10 year old lawn mower. First I sharpened the blade and blew out the air filter but no go, no spark. Went out to get tune up parts and found out that I needed two special tools to pull the flywheel. These tools would probably be for a one time use.
This isn't the time to be looking for a new lawn mower in my area. There is a very poor selection left at the stores that still have them. Kmart and WalMart have closed out or sent back all of theirs. Lowe's and HD have a very poor selection. WalMart shocked me by already setting up Xmas displays where the lawn mowers were.
Then I remembered that I had Dad's old lawn mower stored under a low covered deck for the past ten or eleven years. It's an old Lawn-boy 2 cycle that I haven't touched since 1994 when Dad had his first stroke and we had to move him and Mom out of their house. They are both gone now but the mower was still here, forgotten.
I didn't know what condition I would find it in because of the long term neglect and that, in heavy rain, water flows where it was sitting. On opening the gas cap I found that all the gas had evaporated out leaving only the oil in the tank. I rinsed out the tank with new gas, dumped it and blew it out with air. Crossing my fingers I put new oil gas mixture in and started pulling the cord. On the fourth or fifth pull it fired up. Then I sharpened the blade and cut the grass.
I'll use it at least until next year when the new selection comes out. The mower doesn't have a bag or even a rear bag which I prefer and the engine cut off doesn't work, it keeps running when you release it. You can't however argue with it running despite the neglect. :)
Sometimes it's good to have a back up plan even though it's because I forgot about having something.
We were gone almost two weeks and to my knowledge there wasn't any rain while we were gone. Four days after returning, still with no rain, I tried to start the 10 year old lawn mower. First I sharpened the blade and blew out the air filter but no go, no spark. Went out to get tune up parts and found out that I needed two special tools to pull the flywheel. These tools would probably be for a one time use.
This isn't the time to be looking for a new lawn mower in my area. There is a very poor selection left at the stores that still have them. Kmart and WalMart have closed out or sent back all of theirs. Lowe's and HD have a very poor selection. WalMart shocked me by already setting up Xmas displays where the lawn mowers were.
Then I remembered that I had Dad's old lawn mower stored under a low covered deck for the past ten or eleven years. It's an old Lawn-boy 2 cycle that I haven't touched since 1994 when Dad had his first stroke and we had to move him and Mom out of their house. They are both gone now but the mower was still here, forgotten.
I didn't know what condition I would find it in because of the long term neglect and that, in heavy rain, water flows where it was sitting. On opening the gas cap I found that all the gas had evaporated out leaving only the oil in the tank. I rinsed out the tank with new gas, dumped it and blew it out with air. Crossing my fingers I put new oil gas mixture in and started pulling the cord. On the fourth or fifth pull it fired up. Then I sharpened the blade and cut the grass.
I'll use it at least until next year when the new selection comes out. The mower doesn't have a bag or even a rear bag which I prefer and the engine cut off doesn't work, it keeps running when you release it. You can't however argue with it running despite the neglect. :)
Sometimes it's good to have a back up plan even though it's because I forgot about having something.