ForbesOnTech

A Winning Strategy for Riding Mower Blade Replacement-- Bloody Knuckle Technology

Ok, all you lawn tractor operators, it’s time to deal with the one task you’ve put off since the start of summer, get down to some serious sucking on bloody scraped knuckle sucking fun and change the blades on your deck.

But first let’s talk tools and false assumptions:

1.                  Because you bought an American branded lawn tractor at a store with a nationwide presence don’t assume it uses SAE standard bolts and nuts.

2.                  If you’re reusing blades from previous seasons, do not grind them razor sharp. Over heating blades weakens the steel making it susceptible to breaking or chipping if you run over objects such as rocks, metal sprinklers, or even metal water lines. The best way to sharpen old blades is to sharpen the cutting edge using a shoulder pattern—just like an ax blade.

3.                  You may be strong, but the two most important tools for replacing blades may be a container of fine penetrating oil and a three to four-foot length of one-half inch (inside diameter ) galvanized or iron pipe.

Required tools:

A selection of metric or SAE standard sockets

A 10 to 12-inch long breaker bar

Hammer

Ratchet wrench

Six, eight or ten-inch extension for ratchet wrench/breaker bar.

Container of penetrating oil such as Liquid wrench or gun oil. WD 40 will work in most cases and it comes with the vitally important ten-inch spray tube.

Cold beverage

Car ramp, ATV/motor cycle loading ramps or steps around outside of house or patio.

 

Drive lawn tractor up ramps or partway up steps. Lock brakes on mower and chock back wheels.

            Lower mowing deck to gain access to top of blade mounting bolt holes. Drench top of holes and face of mounting bolts with penetrating oil. Do this to both set of blades.  Let set five minutes. Now take stout hammer and tap both sides of the bladeset to help penetrating oil seep into threads. If possible, also tap the top and bottom of the blade-mounting bracket with the hammer.

Repeat process on other blade.

            While you’re down there, determine if the mounting bolts are either SAE standard or metric. Connect correct socket to the extension, mount it all on the. breaker bar and seat the socket squarely on the bolt’s face.

Now, wish on star, click heels together, take deep cleansing breath and gently apply pressure to the handle of the breaker bar in the right direction. Increase pressure on breaker bar, exhale, curse loudly when socket slips off the bolt face because it wasn’t mounted squarely and suck blood off your scraped knuckles. Repeat process on other blade.

            If the mounting bolt is still stuck, use more penetrating oil and gently wang mounting bar with hammer to get oil to penetrate into the thread grooves.

            Do not beat the living shit out of the blade mounting bar since you can easily damage the blade spindle in its housing. Strike it sharply several times on both sides of the blade and if possible on top of the mounting bar.

            Now go back and try to get the bold loose using the breaker bar. Again, gently apply more pressure until the bolt begins to turn or you realize its frozen in place. If bolt is frozen, go on to the next step.

            Slip one end of a three or foot of sturdy pipe over the end of the breaker bar, find something you can brace against and use the leverage of the lengthy piece of pipe to break the nut loose. Loosen all the nuts on both blades.  Take deep breath, drink the remainder of your refreshing beverage and use your ratchet wrench to remove bolts.

            Place cruddy looking bolts in significant other’s good crystal or Tupperware or small jar with lid and let them soak in WD 40 or penetrating oil.  Hide Tupperware or other sacred female domestic vessel where significant other is unlikely to detect your fragrant misuse of a special container.

            Take a hammer and firmly tap one end of blade until it falls off the mounting bar.  Now take a putty knife and clean the face of the mounting bar so the new blades will go on easily. While you’re down there and the blades are off, use the putty knife or other scraper to remove caked on grass sludge on the inside of the deck.

            Compare old blades to new blades, wondering aloud how you managed to cut anything. Gaze in wonderment at the old blades, which appear to be one-half inch shorter than the new blades.  I’ve seen blades with one-inch of wear on both ends..

            Clean threads on mounting bolts and attach new blades by running in and tightening the bolts with your ratchet wrench. Uncouple the extension and socket from the wrench and reattach it to the breaker bar.  Firmly tighten the bolt down but first make sure the socket is squarely on the face of the bolt.

            Admire work and then hide and clean significant other’s sacred special container taking great care to remove all evidence of rust, grease or yard crud.

            After you’ve changed the blades, take a moment to clean the contacts on your tractor’s battery connection.

            Save and sharpen old blades for future use, unless they’re missing one or two inches of metal on their ends.

            Put tools away, apply bandages to skinned knuckles, unchock rear wheels, release parking break and, with refreshing libation in cup holder of tractor, cut lawn.—Jim Forbes 07/13/2008

 

(the management of ForbesonTech does not endorse or suggest the consumption of alcoholic beverages while replacing mower blades or operating power equipment such as riding mowers or small wheeled or track layer tractors.)       

 

Cutting That Big Unkempt Field-- Without Starting a Conflagration

Let’s talk lawn tractors and blazing (that’s really the wrong wored here) a path through your property. To be specific, let’s talk about tending that unsightly two or three acre patch of weeds you can see beyond the fence of you house’s lot, but which your grudgingly paying taxes on year after year.

            The technical term for that piece of land is “rough field” but it has some other names like: “Untended, festering rattle snake patch,” “fire hazard field” and “that damn field.”

            Admit it, with enough coffee on a weekend morning you’ve thought “today is the day I do something about that damn field.”

            But you discover your yard tractor is low on gas and there’s none in the cans in your barn, or you just don’t want to siphon unleaded regular from you boat’s fuel tank before 8 in the morning. If you’re a little concerned about cutting the field safely, put those fears aside for a moment, brothers and sisters, start “Smedly” the tractor, put it in third gear and motor up to the field.

Some basic thoughts on rough field mowing:

1.                  Stay hydrated. Find a way to carry one gallon of water or more on your tractor, even if that means you use bungee cords to hold the water container to the back of your tractor’s seat.

2.                  Slather on the sunscreen and wear a hat. If you suffer from allergies a bandanna makes a stylish mask. Dark glasses not only will protect your eyes from irritants, they also compliment the image of the “bandit gardener.”

3.                  Do take  your cell phone, in the unlikely event you have to call 911 to summon professional fire fighters to put out an accidental brush fire.

4.                  Check the oil level in your tractor and tire pressure. Top off your fuel.

5.                  Try to cut your field with blades that are still sharp.

6.                  Make sure the guide wheels on the front of your deck move freely

7.                  Clear the pulleys, belts and discharge port of all foreign material

8.                  Disconnect and remove the bagger and chute assembly

9.                   Start cutting in the morning before it gets hot. Do not cut a dry field in the middle of the day when it’s hot.

10.             Mow with a plan in mind

11.             Remember the fire triangle: air; fuel and heat.  Break any one of the legs on this triangle and you stop a fire before it spreads.

I start cutting big fields by making several; diagonal passes through the field. This gives me a chance to see the lay of the land, spotting rocky out croppings I want to avoid.  I cut with my blade set to one or two inches. Once I’ve made my diagonal passes, I begin cutting rows.  When I intersect one of my diagonals, I slow down, lower the deck until I see that I’m hitting dirt and I continue forward for six or seven feet, creating a patch of earth that’s devoid of all fuel.  I do this ever couple of rows, thus creating “safe spots” I can retreat to in case of an accidental fire.

As you mow, remember that your tractor most likely has a “dead man” switch. If you get off your tractor when it s running, the engine and the tractor stops. Generally, the longer your yard tractor’s engine has been running, the hotter its muffler (most often located underneath it engine above or in front of its front axle) will be. After about one hour of use the muffler will be red hot, producing more than enough heat to ignite tinder dry weeds. If you need to stop, pull into one of the safe spots you’ve created and shut the motor off.

Direct contact with a red-hot muffler is just one of several ways dry grass can be ignited. A much more common method of ignition is radiant heat from your muffler as it sits over combustible material. A fully fueled tractor parked over a blazing patch of grass isn’t a pretty site. Using a safe spot that’s been cleared to bare mineral earth to stop your tractor is a very safe strategy for mowing rough fields.

Over the years I’ve seen approximately five fields that burned while someone was cutting thee dry grass. Universally, the person mowing assumes the fire started by the blade sparking against a rock or a piece of metal that’s laying in the field.  But when you walk the burned field what you often find is a fire blackened rectangle—positive proof that the fire was started by direct contact of fuel and a red-hot muffler, or by radiant heating of tinder by a muffler.

If you mowing and accidentally start a fire act quickly.  Fire is stopped quickly by disrupting any one of it’s three primary requirements: heat, air and fuel. The quickest way to do  this is to  pour the water you’re carrying on your tractor on the center or spreading edge of the fire and then using your size 13EEE boots to stomp out the embers.  Or, since you’ve been drinking water or coffee all morning pee on the fire (but do remember what you’ve just read about the dangers of radiant heating).

I mow fields in third gear. It’s a slow enough speed setting that I can easily control the tractor and low enough so that most of my lawn tractor’s power is going to the blades, not the wheels. Also, until I’ve learned the topography of a field, I keep on hand resting on the blade height adjustment lever, in case I have to raise the blades to clear a patch of rocky ground.

It’s best to mow up and down hills. Try to avoid mowing steep fields in a concentric pattern. While most lawn tractors have low centers of gravity, you can tip them over. Because lawn tractors have low center of gravities they are f=safer for rough field cutting than zero turn, riding mowers based on brake steering, which have much higher centers of gravity and are prone to tip-over accidents when used to cut hilly fields.

Do take the time to cut under stands of trees. But remember that tree roots push rocks to the surface.  Before you cut under trees, park your lawn tractor in a safe spot, dismount and thrown blown down limbs out of your path.

Late spring –while there’s still residual water stored in weeds, is a good season to mo a rough field.  The middle of summer, when it’s hot and there’s not a decigram of moisture in the wild grasses or in the air is not a good time.

Cutting a one-acre rough field should take less than two hours and it’s time you can spend thinking how you can landscape your property or make it more fire safe, if you live in the back country. Either way, it’s task you shouldn’t be afraid to do yourself and as you do it you’ll come to understand the topography of your property and the benefits of a great power tool—your basic riding mower.

Random Thoughts on Improving the Overall Experience of Field Mowing:

            If members of your family suffer from allergies or asthma make sure you close all of the windows on the side of your house facing the field you’re cutting.  You can also cut down on the amount of particulate solids bowing into your house by running a soaker hose between the fields your cutting and your house. The fine water spray will cut down on grass seeds and other particulate solids carried into your house by winds and breezes.

            I also like to run a water hose from the nearest hose bib to a long length of coiled hose near the boundary of the field I’m cutting and my house lot. I’d rather be safe than sorry.

            As you mow, be aware of disturbing creatures like rattlesnakes, ugly ass spiders, and the like. I’m not the least bit ashamed to admit that I’ve minced a few buzztails and decapitated the occasional gopher cutting untended fields.

Aftere you’ve cut your field a couple of times, don’t be surprised if one or more neighbors with similar unkempt fields stop by and just happen to ask how much you’d charge for cutting their field. In my family my Dad, Boardie Forbes a dozer operator, called this source of income “runner money.” The current cost for cutting a two-acre field with a tractor and a brush hog ranges between $100 and $150. Besides, cutting a field can be fun and it beats watching the History Channel in the mid-morning on a Saturday.

            Finally, the need to regularly cut a big field is one of the best reasons I can think of for buying a lawn tractor with a 46-inch deck, a two cylinder V-Twin engine, a parasol sunshade and a built-in drink holder. Besides, cutting a field is a good way to work on your tan.

            Happy tractoring and do try to keep your machine’s wheels on the ground, the blades in contact with grass and the chaff flying away in the breeze.—Jim Forbes 05/10/2008.

Let's Cut Some Grass, but First Some Basics

Ok, the sun’s rising above the horizon, the dew has mostly evaporated, and the your lawn grass is about five inches long.Now that you’ve  had  your requisite one or two cups of inspiration. It’s time to toddle down to the barn or out to the garage, pull the cover off your riding mower and get to work.

            Before you fire up that MTD, Yard Machine, John Deere 100 Series or that lovely yellow Cub Cadet riding mower, take a minute for some basics:

            Check the oil. Tilt open the engine cover, find and unscrew the oil dipstick and check your oil level. Make sure you follow the owner’s instructions for checking the oil level. Are you supposed to read the level after you’ve unscrewed the dipstick cover, then screwed it back on after wiping it clean and then pulling it out? Or, do you check the level by merely putting the dipstick back in  it’s guide tube, then removing and examining it. If you’re not sure, go back and read your instructions.

            Oil is one of the most critical elements of the cooling system in your riding mower’s power train. It’s important that you be able to read the level correctly.

            If the oil is gritty and unbelievably filthy, you may want to change and replace your oil. Take an old coffee can with a lid and place it under the oil discharge tube on one of the two sied of your mower’s engine.  With the can in place, look for a plastic cap at the end of the tube. Now pull the plastic cap off, but put it aside where you’ll be able to find it in a few minutes. Let the oil drain into the can. While that’s happening look for the oil filter on the side of the engine. Unscrew the filter using a small oil filter wrench but put the filter aside in a plastic bag, since you’ve probably forgotten to write that part number down.

            Now jump into your car with your filter in a plastic bag and head down to the store where you bought your estate toy tractor. Buy a new filter, and enough oil to refill your tractor (your tractor’s oil capacity is listed in the owner’s manual). Feeling confident and flush with money, you may want to pick up a new spark plug or two but for now you can pass on a set of replacement blades for your deck.

            Zip home, put a lid on can of waste oil and install the new filter (making sure that it’s gasket --if there is one-- is in place),

Now put the drain plug cap back on the drain tube securely. You can now add the new oil. Do not overfill. Check the level and you’re almost good to go.

            Before you close the bonnet on your manly mower, make sure the dipstick assembly is firm in place and take a couple of minutes to walk around the tractor.

            Are the tires properly inflated to the recommended pressure? If they aren’t pull out your handy dandy 12-volt tire pump and bring the front and back wheels up to the recommended pressure.  Under inflated front tires resulting an unsightly, uneven, mowing and often increase the amount of space it takes to turn your mower.

            While you’re down there look at the pulleys on the blade shroud. Are they free of debris, or are they completely fouled with last year’s cuttings? If they’re fouled, use your hands to pull out the junk.

            Voila! Now you’re ready to cut grass like a pro.

I mow in third gear, unless I’m on the steepest part of my lawn, in which case I shift down to second. Speed mowing in your highest gear range is never a good idea, since you really don’t want to be underneath a lawn tractor that flips over.

It takes me about 25 minutes to mow my one-acre front lawn, but your time may vary depending on the number of trees you have and your skills in the lawn tractor slalom event.

When you get done, attach a hose to the fitting on your lawn tractor’s blade shroud, turn on the water to full at the hose bib and engage your blades. Varying the speed of your engine or engaging and disengaging the blades can help to blow out the chunks of funky grass inside the shroud.  Run the mower until the water begins to run clear. If you and your mower are simultaneously blowing chunks, you need to rehydrate.

Now put your mower away, uncap a cold one and watch some baseball.—Jim Forbes watching the Dodgers lose another one on 04/20/2008.

Get Your Lawn Tractor Running, Head Out to the Fields-- Looking for Some Fresh Lawn

Let’s have a conversation about a very manly yard  toy:  lawn tractors (also known as riding mowers).  Love, hate or merely endure them, lawn tractors are fun. I’ve owned three but bought four (one was a gift to a buddy whose byproduct of mowing an unkempt field in the middle of the summer has been the nickname “Sparky—“given to him by the local fire department which has responded to blazes in his field twice).

            Sparky isn’t your typical urban refugee with a big yard. After spending a disastrous year living abroad in Provence, he returned to the US and quickly bought a multi-acre lot with a designed-by-a-retired-shop-teacher-custom\ house that also had a structure euphemistically called a “barn.”

            In France and while subsequently touring Italy -- before his triumphal return to the US-- Sparky was seriously bitten by the winemaking bug and the European concept of “Garagista” artisan wine making.

            A few more words about my best friend “Sparky.” He spent his formative years in and around London, returned to the US t o attend college and eventually ended up at UCLA’s film school. Meanwhile, as the years reel by, Sparky acquired an English wife who’s seriously into horticulture, had three children, a couple sheep dogs,  a fluctuating flock of chickens,  three miniature sheep.            Meanwhile, on his return to the US, Sparky realizes his then brood of two girls need clothes, so off to the local Sears they go.  On the way out the door, Sparky passes a display of riding mowers, when the flash of inspiration hits him: “Voila, I have acreage, but no mower!” So, Sears being Sears, happily delivers the mower to Sparky’s baronial estate.

            Sparky is now on his second riding mower and cruising in high gear towards his third

            So let’s talk about buying your first or second riding mower. Prices for riding mowers range from under $1,000 for a five-speed unit with a 42-inch two-blade deck to almost $4,000 for a high-end unit with a 46 or 52-inch swath, automatic multi-speed transmission and a parasol to protect you from the hot sun.  Most riding mowers come with a convenient cup holder for your favorite non-alcoholic beverage and use electric starters. The size of your lawn should be the gating factor in what you buy.

            To begin with, take a close look at the mower. Here’s what you’re looking for:

            An external oil filter—do not buy a riding tractor that uses “splash” oiling (where the end of the engine’s connecting rod caps dip into the oil pooled at the bottom of your engine).Most contemporary lawn tractors have oil pumps and external oil filters. Engines with integrated oil pumps last much longer than those that use “splash” oiling.  And if you lawn is hilly, splash oiling systems run the risk of running “dry” if our oil rushes to the down hill side of the engine case. A well lubricated connecting rod assembly and crank shaft is all part of happy, long lasting power plant.

            External lube fittings-- (called “Zirks” by mechanics and people who can make bolts and nuts fit together correctly even when it’s dark and their greasy knuckles are oozing blood after two hours of futilely trying to get nut “A” to accept “bolt B. I prefer mowers with spindles (the shaft that has a pulley on one end and which goes through your mower’s blade shroud and which provides rotational power for the blades) that can be lubed. The reason I prefer such systems is that I’ve had two replace several spindles and shaft bearings in various lawn tractors I’ve owned or worked on. The front and rear axles should also have Zirk nipples.

            Single or multiple cylinders—Every multi-cylinder riding mower I’ve ever had a long-term relationship with has lasted longer, much longer, than a single cylinder engine. Yes they cost more, but in the end, they offer a long life. My next lawn tractor will definitely have a two-cylinder engine.

            What size deck?--- I own a Deere 100 lawn tractor with a 42-inch wide cutting path. It takes me about 25 minutes to mow my one-acre front lawn, which includes a double row of stone fruit trees. If I had more lawn to cut, I’d consider a wider deck in my next lawn tractor. Or, if I needed to cut an au-naturale field regularly, I’d also want a wider deck.

            Zero turn or not?—If your lawn is an obstacle course a zero turn lawn tractor may be a consideration. They’re more expensive than conventional mowers, but the convenience can be worth it, particularly if your job involves regularly cutting the grass in a grove.

            What brand, Deere, Craftsman, Toro, MTD, Cub Cadet or Door Number 3? --- one of the secrets of the lawn tractor trade is that one or two companies make most of the machines sold by all of the branding entities. The one big advantage of buying a John Deere or a Craftsman lawn tractor is that both organizations offer national service. If you live in East Lizard Spit, Idaho, you may want to make sure you can get your trusty tractor fixed on-site if it breaks down. A quick test to see if the local selling agent really backs his product is to get him to show you a replacement blade and/or air filter from his inventory. If the sales person can’t supply either of those parts on the spot, from his on-hand inventory, walk away.

            Extended warranty or not?--- Go ahead and get the extended warranty with on-site service. You’ll sleep better at night and mow your estate with greater confidence. Yes, it’s expensive but you only live once.

            External water hose connector on the blade shroud?—Yes that’s right, you want a lawn tractor that has female or quick connect water hose coupling on the blade shroud.  Getting rid of the built up solidified lawn gunk that sticks to the inside of the lawn tractor’s shroud is a very good thing. And it eliminates the source of those worrisome noises as big ass chunks of dried lawn goo come roaring out you mower’s discharge port. Connecting your hose to that fitting with the water on and flowing turns your blade deck into a high pressure water system that generates as much as several hundred PSI; enough to thoroughly clean out your deck.

            Accessories: I’m not a fan of bags that collect lawn clippings. Beside, lawn clippings add nitrogen to your lawn, cutting down the need to feed the green monster in front of your house. Moreover, have you ever seen a golf course’s greens man use a tractor with a bagger? I haven’t.

            A small seed or fertilizer spreader comes in hand occasionally. And for some people, like owners of small vineyards, an electrically powered spray rig is a great accessory.

            So let’s have a conversation about lawn tractors as we cover important topics in the coming week like how to avoid starting conflagrations by mowing dry weeds, how to not kill yourself by bringing you lawn tractor to safe stop after rolling backwards,out of control for 400 feet, and the importance of keeping yourself well hydrated if you do have to cut a two-acre field of wild grasses and need to extinguish a fire using only those body fluids in your system and the only applicator that makes sense and comes to hand in such situations.

            And Sparky, Thanks for the inspiration, the overnight lodging, all the opportunities to make “Jim’s Special Burritos, and all the laughs. And most of all, your next book should be “ Sparky Moves to the Country and Neighbors Flee, Screaming.”—Jim Forbes 04/12/2008

Lawn Tractors, Love, Hate or Endure Them--What Fun

LIn keeping with the occassional sense of whimsy that permeates my blog, I've decided to add "Lawn Tractors" as a a new category to ForbesonTech. I am a connieseur of Lawn Tractors, all the way from little Honda scooter tractors with 26-inch blades to full blown 500-pound PTO-powered Brush Hogs.

Since retiring, I"ve gone through three lawn tractors: including one which was given as a mitzvah to a friend in Rescue, CA, whose misadventures with a Sears five-speed unit trying to cut the rough brush on his upper field might as well be called "Mr.Blandings Burns a Village Down." My current unit is a John Deere L100 which replaced a notoriously unpredictable Craftsman 42- inch deck unit with a 17 horsepower engine.

But since almost no one blogs about  lawn tractors, I thought I'd try to cut new ground here.--Jim Forbes 03/24/2008