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"Yep, oil, gas, filters, mower blades, belts, everything associated with mowers and small engines, AND everything else we buy has gone ape-ship crazy." Or No Longer Available.

Yep, oil, gas, filters, mower blades, belts, everything associated with mowers and small engines, AND everything else we buy has gone ape-ship crazy. I went to Burger King last evening and got a chicken sandwich meal and an extra order of fries for the wife. It cost me over $17. I can...

Odd, since I've had Stihl equipment for close to 40 years now and never had any trouble at all getting parts. I have a farm supply store a couple of miles away that sells Stihl, and a locally owned Coast-to-Coast hardware store even closer that is also a dealer. Both have always had any part...

It's the fuel tank vent filter, to keep dirt from getting into your tank and fuel from getting out. You should put it back in. My Stihl chain saw has one and it came out. I didn't replace it right away and it leaked fuel badly until I reinstalled it. Everyone has likes and dislikes about...

Could be, Skippy. But I typically buy equipment for quality and not economy, or comfort. I have found, however, that when I buy quality, comfort usually comes with it. I guess I just never paid attention to the max cutting height on a mower when I was looking to buy, probably because I've...

What I meant was that cutting a new keyway and filling it with a keyway, and abandoning the original keyway would not result in imbalance than abandoning the original keyway and leaving it empty. Maybe I misunderstood the comment. But, in any event I don't believe the amount of material...

Seriously, 4 inches? None of my mowers will even go that high.

I have 3 tractors, 2 cars, one pickup, motorcycle, riding mower, portable generator, pressure washer, 3 push mowers and a few other misc engines around the farm. I write on all my engines' oil filters the date, hours or mileage, and type of oil used at the last oil change. I also write the...

Wouldn't the missing flywheel key be just as much of an out-of-balance issue as the removed material from cutting an additional keyway?

Oh, of course the tranny and grease fittings definitely need on-time maintenance. But, have you noticed that nearly all "residential" hydrostat transmissions have no way to change the fluid and filter? Again, makes for more tranny sales. If yours has a filter and drain plug, IMO you can't...

The specs call for it yearly because that greatly increases their profit from filter sales. Sum total of the reasoning behind that maintenance schedule. Same with belts, oil filters, etc. Most mfg recommendations are based on what's best for profit, not what's best for the product or the...

New things never work as well as old things, and in my experience that includes people.

JD D140 with 430 hours on it, only run 91 octane, no stabilizer ever, ethanol-free, kept in very clean containers, and have never changed the fuel filter or had a fuel related issue with it. I would never change a fuel filter on a small engine unless it became restricted or started leaking. I...

My JD D140 has 400+ hours on it, is several years old, and I've never had any rust issues at all. My ex-wife has the same model, and it's 2-3 years older than mine, has about 75 more hours on it than mine, and still has no corrosion. I do maintenance on both mowers. I mow wet or dry, just...

Back in the mid-60's when I was about 10 years old, my dad bought a Bolens 800 with Wisconsin air cooled engine (that's where I learned how to work on small engines), with front dozer blade, belly mower, single bottom turn plow, and it seems like one other implement. Might have been a disc. It...

I guess that would sort of be an "electric electric generator". Of course a battery operated inverter "generates" AC from battery or solar power, so I guess in a sense you could say there are "electric electric generators". The problem with them is cost per kw of generating power. My little...

I just had a thought. Since California has banned all gas powered small engines, what do they do for generators in CA? Do they use electric powered electric generators? :unsure:

If you are lucky enough to live where natural gas is available, that's the best of all worlds. A whole-house auto-start auto-transfer generator is not really all that much more expensive than a portable genset, especially if you take into account the convenience factor. If you have a sump pump...

People are finally learning the truth about the problems with electric vehicles. Have you noticed the severe drop in EV sales? Some mfgs are dropping them from their line. All they gain is moving the emissions from the tailpipe to the power generating station, unless it's a hydroelectric station.

I used to have a tech working for me at the telephone company that played games like this. He'd call in with minimal descriptions like that, making me pull info out of him with multiple questions. Those support calls turned out to be him just killing time so he didn't have to run another...

My local walmart has not stocked straight 30w in 3 or 4 years, in any brand, or in any size. The local Ace Hardware store carries Pennzoil 30w in quarts and in a fairly large quantity. So does my local farm supply store. My local Lowe's carries the Briggs brand, of course. I use Rotella T...

Keep in mind that if you buy a new mower right now, you will lose 6-7 months of the warranty while it sits waiting for spring. However, you might get better pricing now as opposed to waiting until closer to spring. Around here (southwest Missouri) there don't seem to ever be any discounts for...

True, but it would sure make it easier to help them if they would write in a semi-readable format.

AMEN! In another thread I was reading, the poster ran on without a single punctuation mark or capital letter for 14 lines, all one big sentence. Liked to never figured out what he was talking about because I couldn't tell where he left one subject and started another. Add to that a bunch of...

Better engineering by the design engineers would help.

I'd go to one of your neighbors who has a lawn with a different grass and make a pass with your mower. See if I different grass cuts clean. That quack grass is a very difficult grass to mow. I've had the same problem with it here. Round-Up and sowing a different grass fixed that problem...

Nice, smooth operation! So did you have to take it to "the man" or did you try the bolt and fix it yourself?

Good policy. I used a 10 ft pull type Bush Hog 3126 for 26 years, behind a 90hp Kubota M9000, maintaining about 12 acres of grass around my poultry farm. Kept the blades "sharp", and from the road you couldn't tell it wasn't mowed with a finish mower. Only took about an hour and a half to cut...

There's that reason, too. But that reason also goes way beyond lawn equipment. Cars, pickups, tractors, houses, etc. The Jones' are hard to keep up with sometimes. But many people feel they have to do it. I mow about 6 acres and it was taking me 4 to 4 and a half hours to do it all. With...

Holy cow! I can't believe I just sat here and read through all 9 pages of this thread going back over a week! JimP2014, I do believe you now hold the record for the longest single, unpunctuated sentence I have ever read. Up until post #60 I don't believe I saw a single punctuation mark, and...

It's early, and I'm still having my coffee, so I may just be dense this morning, but this doesn't compute. Can you explain the logic between covering the intake and that action letting the starter spin the engine through the compression cycle? Is the idea that you starve the cylinder of air so...

I once had a neighbor ask me to sharpen the blade on her push mower because it had "stopped cutting good". I tipped it up to remove the blade and was shocked to see the blades were on upside down, and had been used so long the back side was completely worn off, while the sharp edges were like...

In can attest from experience that this can definitely be due to a clogged spark arrestor screen in the muffler. My Stihl string trimmer had this issue about 5 years after I bought it new. Took it to the repair shop (due to needing it immediately and simply not having time to work on it my...

Not available at any of the local auto stores around here in southwest Missouri, nor Walmart, Sam's, or any of the big box stores, and I simply will not pay the stupid prices they want on Amazon or E-Bay. But, my lowly local Ace Hardware store has in in Pennzoil brand for around $6/qt. Quaker...

Buying pre-mix 'fuel' is like buying water. Why? Why pay $20/gallon when you can buy ethanol-free gas for $4/gallon and mix in a $2 bottle of 2-cycle oil? I saw a 2-gallon can of a popular brand of pre-mix gas at Walmart a few days ago for almost $40. That would last me about a week as much...

I don't think you did learn the lesson about using a larger battery. As StarTech said, the larger battery has nothing to do with it. 12 volts is 12 volts regardless of the CCA rating or physical size of the battery. A blown fuse means there was a problem downstream from the fuse. The battery...

Yeah, I always wondered how much gas a fuel pump hose held. If I take my 1-gallon container to a one-hose gas pump, select the ethanol-free gas, but the previous customer got the ethanol laced version, how much of the 1-gallon is going to actually be ethanol free? Likely not much. When...

I have seen very few batteries for lawn mowers with more than a 6-month "warranty". There's a reason they don't give a longer warranty, because most won't make it more than 1 season plus 1 winter in storage. Several years ago I bought a bunch of Battery Tender brand trickle chargers, one for...

Be smart. Change the camshaft while you are in there. Take advantage of the experience on this forum and learn from other people's mistakes. Don't ask me how I know.

Murphy's Law, 4th axiom. "If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong. First corollary: If there is a worse time for something to go wrong, it will happen then." Contrary to popular claims, coincidences DO happen...

I have a nephew who bought one of these kits when he broke his hand and had to mow one-handed. He liked it so much he just left it on and continued using it after his hand healed. A little expensive IMO, depending on which model you need, but probably cheaper than buying a new Cub steering...

I've got a JD d140 that jumps the deck belt occasionally. It's usually caused by mowing in heavy grass or tough weeds and something like a stick or similar getting into the belt path and going into the pulley. The stick pushes the belt out of the pulley groove and pops it off. Another thing...

Well, I congratulate you for having the fortitude to keep trying. I didn't mean for my reply to discourage you, it just sounded to me like you had long ago reached the point of diminishing returns, unless, as I said, there was a sentimental attachment to it. If there is, then it's worth...

I've been watching this thread a long time, getting in about halfway through, but going back and reading from the first post. I gotta give you credit for patience, you've stayed after this a long time, but I've also gotta give the responders credit for sticking with you this long. My personal...

My GF recently asked a 22 year old college student working part time to mail a check to someone. The girl asked what a check was. She had never written one, always banked on her phone app. Then she asked how you address an envelope, and where the stamp was supposed to go. She had never...

I used to work for a telephone company many years ago. We had a product called No-Oxide, a grease that shipped with the central office battery packages to be applied to battery terminals to prevent corrosion. I have had a couple small jars of that grease on hand since 1980 that I have used on...

In 57 years of using every conceivable kind of lawn equipment, I have NEVER had a problem with water in a gas tank. NEVER. And the only thing I've ever done is take the OEM cap off, fill the tank, and put the OEM cap back on. No plastic wrap, no rubber bands, only using the OEM caps. I do...

If I've learned anything in my 69 years, it's to listen to the old farts. They've been there and know what they are talking about. Listen to them.

Yep! That pulley is most definitely NON-repairable. I just hope the new one doesn't do the same thing to you. There was no quality in that one to control in the first place. Kind of an odd failure mode.