Papa will fix it – Lawnmower edition

I procrastinate. That’s putting it lightly.

I’ve had this Troy-Bilt lawnmower since 2012. I got a deal at Lowes by picking up a refurb unit. It’s been a great lawnmower. It basically is a Honda painted red. I think the Honda deck may be aluminum. This one is steel. Every year in the fall, I’d change the oil and maybe the air filter before putting it away for the winter. It has never failed to start on the first pull. Not once. I’d replace wheels and blades as they wore out.

Years ago, I decided to change the lawnmower drive belt and with it the tension spring. It didn’t seem to pull as well as it used to. So I got the parts, along with another set of wheels. The wheels are plastic and tend to wear out. I put the wheels on, then got lazy and took a pass on the belt.

That was easily four years ago. Probably more.

This week, I got sick of looking at the belt and decided to show a little love to it. I got back from the auto parts store Sunday, after getting a starter for the truck – literally another story – and tucked into it. I figured it would be an hour or so and I’d get to the truck after.

So to do this, you tip the lawnmower on it’s side:

I used a car stand. First thing off was the blade and the bottom cover. The blade needed an edge back on it.

This also meant scraping the packed wet grass from the bottom. It’s been rainy here and before each storm I mow, knowing full well that if I don’t, the grass will be far worse next time I get a chance.

It took a minute to figure how to take the top guard off. There were only two screws on top. There were five below:

Whole lot of scraping and blowing with the compressor. Fourteen years of grass and dirt, at least.

You can see the rusted spring to the left. That one took some study. Basically, you pinch the bottom and shove it up, then tilt it out of the way to remove it. Easy deal. The belt was simple to re-install:

Then put the pieces back on the top and bottom:

Turns out that the one screw that keeps the cover on didn’t match the engine mount:

That hole isn’t threaded either. Rebuilt my ass. I wallered the hole on the bottom and used a bolt:

All done, time for a new filter:

More cleanup and its good as new. Exept this:

That ain’t good. I have a flux wire welder. Maybe I’ll put a bead on it. Maybe not. The thing is fourteen. I’ll just use it until I can’t, then deal with it.

The heat and the wet rotting grass wasted me. I fired it up and tested. It took off strong, so I ran it back to the shed, cleaned up and had a nap. It took a few hours, and I figured if my luck was the same on the truck, I’d be walking or riding in the heat to Church in a few hours.