Connie's Corner

Mowers don't always go....

Yesterday I was two thirds through cutting the front yard when clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk....nothing, but the mower speeded up. Yes, you guessed it. The belt that turns the blade broke. I got out the always trusty push mower and finished up then went to dig out the mower's owner's manual. I read through all the instructions, how to drop the mower deck, take off the old belt, put on the new one, and re-attach the mower deck. Voila, piece of cake.

Bright and early this morning (that's 11 o'clock for me) I went to Tractor Supply, got the new belt, and after lunch I attacked that mower with the ferocity of...well, I started dismantling it at around 12:30. I soon discovered my knees were not in quite the same shape they used to be. Getting down on them was easy; getting back up was the difficult part. I am not one of those people who can look at something and instantly know how to take it apart and put it back together. Not only that, reading pictures and diagrams has never been my strong suit. I confess I am not mechanically inclined.

So back to my knees. I was up and down at least a hundred times, looking at the book, kneeling and twisting my neck fo look for something that remotely resembled the pictures. According to the instructions, the only things holding the mower deck onto the tractor (this is just a 40" riding mower we are talking about here) are 4 carter pins, easy-peasy once I located them. Then I had to disconnect a huge spring and remove a metal rod from the front of the mower, slide the deck to the right and remove the belt, which upon inspection was only being held on by one little thread. Reassembly was in reverse. I had a road map now, right? Wrong. Two of the hangers would not line back up no matter what I did. Finally after three and one-half hours of sweat dripping off my nose and my knees crying out in torture, my feeble brain determined the order of reattachment was not quite correct in the book. The metal rod on the front would have to go on last in order to line up the hangers. After that discovery, everything went smoothly.

Anyone want to hire me to replace a mower belt, guaranteed to take less than four hours next time? After sweltering in an above 100 degree garage all afternoon, as soon as I was finished, a thunderstorm moved in and the temperature dropped to 75....go figure.

until next time....c