It's not always we have the right tool or the right part. And just sometimes we want to stick it to cruel fate with a "F.U." and fix something just because it's something to fix.
I had a director's chair once, it was something like $5 from a cheap shop, and of course it broke. But I stuck to the man, I really did... I bolted on bits of wood and brackets to make that chair live on until it had more collateral attached to it than was in my garage.
And so to the story that needs some telling before you wince at the pics below...
Over winter it is the norm to not need to mow, it's true that in summer you can push a pencil into the ground in Queensland and it'll take root - or be eaten by termites, but in winter when it's dry nothing grows. It's lovely.
And so onto my ride on mower. My venerable 11 year old mower that's really been a trooper was parked up in a garage. All good. As the heavens opened and summer rolled in with the sound like bass drum delivery truck rolling down a bumpy road it became time to tame the beast that is our lawn.
It takes me about an hour and a half, and according to everyone else in the family it's a really hard job. They're not wrong, I mean sometimes I have to go in reverse and everything.
But this time an hour in my venereal mower (damn thing) decided to break in a way that I still can't understand.
You see the magneto (and no I'm not going to explain what that is) decided to "interfere" with the flywheel. And it lost.
What did happen is my mower stopped as a kilos of spinny metal decided to hit the immovable (movable as it turned out) object that was the magneto. What did happen is that it ripped one bolt out and cracked the housing on the other. What it did do is pretty much total my mower.
But here's the thing. This magneto got swapped out a few years back. It's been fine since to the point I figured I'd never have to swap it out again. And yet this stalwart part of my mower, almost the only single part that is going to fail big came lose whilst sat stationary in my garage over winter.
I've heard of chip walk in technology, but two well tightened bolts? No fate, you've shown your hand and it it was displaying the naughty finger...
I've decided however that the hand of fate can go slap itself because I refuse to let my mower die. In fairness it really is dead, but I've had a go. A really dodgy go, and if you've not seen the "fix" then behold...
I had a director's chair once, it was something like $5 from a cheap shop, and of course it broke. But I stuck to the man, I really did... I bolted on bits of wood and brackets to make that chair live on until it had more collateral attached to it than was in my garage.
And so to the story that needs some telling before you wince at the pics below...
Over winter it is the norm to not need to mow, it's true that in summer you can push a pencil into the ground in Queensland and it'll take root - or be eaten by termites, but in winter when it's dry nothing grows. It's lovely.
And so onto my ride on mower. My venerable 11 year old mower that's really been a trooper was parked up in a garage. All good. As the heavens opened and summer rolled in with the sound like bass drum delivery truck rolling down a bumpy road it became time to tame the beast that is our lawn.
It takes me about an hour and a half, and according to everyone else in the family it's a really hard job. They're not wrong, I mean sometimes I have to go in reverse and everything.
But this time an hour in my venereal mower (damn thing) decided to break in a way that I still can't understand.
You see the magneto (and no I'm not going to explain what that is) decided to "interfere" with the flywheel. And it lost.
What did happen is my mower stopped as a kilos of spinny metal decided to hit the immovable (movable as it turned out) object that was the magneto. What did happen is that it ripped one bolt out and cracked the housing on the other. What it did do is pretty much total my mower.
But here's the thing. This magneto got swapped out a few years back. It's been fine since to the point I figured I'd never have to swap it out again. And yet this stalwart part of my mower, almost the only single part that is going to fail big came lose whilst sat stationary in my garage over winter.
I've heard of chip walk in technology, but two well tightened bolts? No fate, you've shown your hand and it it was displaying the naughty finger...
I've decided however that the hand of fate can go slap itself because I refuse to let my mower die. In fairness it really is dead, but I've had a go. A really dodgy go, and if you've not seen the "fix" then behold...
Yes, yes it is what you think it is
The one side got 'bored out' to M7 - any idea how hard it is to find a 50mm M7?
In all it's glorious majesty
So there it is. I dealt with the cracked sleeve for the one post with a set of mole-grips. It's actually a pretty good clamp. And the other side we bored out to M7, little did I know a. how hard it is to find a 50mm M7 bolt, and b. that it would crack the post mount on that side, which in fairness may well have been stressed from "the event".
Did it run? Yes it did! I ran it for around 5 seconds but it ran!
Next I'll be getting a $400 eBay special motor and fitting that. I'm hoping they have a sale, a bigger better motor is always the way to go! And that'll be my first engine swap too!
