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Pretty much every non OEM numbered belt customers have purchased and want me to install has been wrong. They have no idea some belts are measured on the inside and some on the outside. A, B, C belts vs 3L, 4L, 5L belts. Clutching vs non clutching application. Different angles. Some belts can't...

I have replaced a bunch on the briggs sump gaskets. The stens gaskets are thicker than the OEM. Haven't had one of those fail yet.

Pretty much what he said. And when anything "green" is subsided we all get the privilege of paying for it whether we like it or not. "Does the government subsidize EV cars? Average direct subsidies from federal and state governments amount to almost $9,000 per vehicle over 10 years while...

Actually the opposite.

I have no problem with people driving EVs but if I have to pay road use taxes so do they.

All depends. The fan belt on my 1975 IH 184 is still the original and so is the drive belt on my 1972 Sears ST12. Neither are kevlar covered. I have had JD mowers in the shop 20 years old with original belts and have had 2 year old mowers in the shop with bad belts.

Years ago I was offered a job as an independent contractor installing and settling up internet at hotel properties. Would pay over $150k a year. After self employment tax, fica, health insurance etc and being on the road 5 days a week living out of a suitcase and only home on weekends the hourly...

Every state has a fuel excise tax to fund roads. You bet your azz the EVs need to have an excise tax for road use. I'm all for equality.

I use 10 battery tenders on stuff in the barn every year. Beats buying $100 deep cycle batteries every year.

I have worked on lots of John deere mowers with batteries 8 and even 10 years old. They do cost more but they last longer than most other batteries.

Lots of these stories on utube

The Cohen scrap yard near me won't take an EV. A friend was looking to get an EV till his homeowner insurance told him they would drop him.

Don't know about that. They have 2 chargers. The 220v fast charger at the house and the 110v "mobile" one built into the car that charges very slow anyway. I do know that the heat pump heater/AC unit went out a few years ago and it was around $4000 to fix it. It is a 2015 and the battery only...

A friend has a nissan leaf. She says when it gets really cold out, like now, it charges about 1/3 as fast as normal. I guess it is time to go out and fire up my average V12 5 ton tank truck that I can't see out in front of and go run down some unsuspecting pedestrians while burning a gallon of...

Back in the 50's my father worked at the Sorg paper company. They had their own generators powered by diesel engines. He said you could walk into the powerhouse with a fluorescent light in your hand and would light up very bright where you were touching it.

Psssst. Don't tell the lawn mower police but I may have accidentally misread the chart. <Wink wink>

I was approached to be a warranty shop. After seeing what their process was and what they paid flat rape for repairs I told them no thank you. I would rather not be a nonprofit shop.

First check the oil level and that it does not smell like gasoline. Disconnect the sparkplug wire, strap down the the engine brake bail at the handle. Turn mower on side and try to turn engine with the blade. Can't turn? Turns gritty? Turns smooth?

Yeah $600/mo got me a plan with a $7000 deductible. I didn't qualify for a discount.

Went on medicare at 65. I was paying over 600 a month for insurance from the marketplace from 61 to 65.

Good luck. That is a lot of stock to whittle down. I just stock a couple thousand so I can close the shop fairly easily when the time comes. I turn 66 1/2 in a few months so I can file for my SSA benefit without them penalizing me for making money. At least I will get back some of the money I...

Don't you have something like $40k in parts?

You must be in eastern KY. My father was from eastern KY and worked in a Blue Diamond coal mine. He said the dirt was so bad it wouldn't grow weeds. That bluegrass stuff was for the rich people in western KY.

Solar is the answer https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/renewable/solar/hail-storm-destroys-solar-farm-in-nebraska/

Problem solved. No place to put the wrong fuel in battery powered equipment. It's for the greater good.

I consider myself fairly handy but compared to the craftsmen that came before me I don't know jack.

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Yeah, those millions of champ plugs in Briggs engines never work.

Maybe this will help them stock the RC12YC plugs they haven't had in stock for a year.

Anybody else get the sparkplug email from stens?

For about 20 years I ran 2 businesses as a side hustle besides working 40 to 50 hours of overtime each month. I invested all the profits of the businesses and the OT. Debt free at 50 and retired at 61. Took the mower shop pretty much full time so now I fix mowers and buy tools and toys.

My policy is through Hartford. Since my shop is on my property I have a rider on the homeowner policy to cover building, tools and equipment. The Hartford is a liability policy. I think a lot of people start a business without knowing how to really run a business. The small business...

I am an LLC sole proprietorship. My $1M liability insurance is about $500 a year. 1 in 5 new businesses fail in their first year. Knowing how to run a lawn mowing business is more important than knowing how to mow grass. A good accountant is your best friend too

Just some thoughts..... Will this be a real business? Living wage profits? There is a reason pros use zero turns, standers or walk behind and not tractor mowers. Will you pursue commercial or residential clients? If you show up with a 25 year old rustomatic truck and 20 year old tractor mower...

Back in the 80's they were putting BOP engines in chevy cars and then they put chevy engines in BOP cars. My mother had a Bonneville with a 400 Chevy motor in it and a friend had a monte carlo with a 3.8 BOP engine. Fun getting the right oil filter.

Anyone remember the 11, 11.5 12 and 12.5 HP briggs flathead engines that basically identical?

How many miles to the gallon did it get?

If it has a cord on it that plugs in she doesn't want it. Follow me for more marital tips.

"If women don't find you handsome they should at least find you handy" Wife didn't marry me for my looks.

Back in the day when you had to give an email address and phone number to get the "free" software I would use bobster1@aol.com and 800 867 5309. I didn't like Bob and that was his email address. Kinda like the time a guy stiffed me for a welding job and laughed about it. Somehow he got signed up...

There is a reason I keep my old dumb chargers around.

If XI is still in power by the end of 2024 I will be suprised. The china real estate market is collapsing. Developers Country Garden and Evergrande are defaulting on loans in the billions. The piggy bank called the USA has had a few thousand companies leave china for friendlier countries. Orders...

"I'm from the government and I am here to help." Blue or Red they are all the same.

My 1989 motorhome with a Qjet carburetor sat for 5 years in an unheated barn with E10 gas in it. Fired up and ran fine. I have customers who leave E10 gas in a snowblower for 6 months and it trashes the carb. I don't know much but I do know ethanol in gas makes me money.

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My cast iron is very low maint. I can cook a cornbread in it and the residue just wipes out. Searing meats leaves some stuck bits but a cup of water and 10 seconds with the chainmail and it is clean.

My $.02 worth The OXO non-stick skillet is the best but like all non-stick don't use metal or cook on high heat and even then it will eventually need replaced. Mine is a few years old is is almost like new still. I feel the hybrid pans (hexclad) are a passing fad pushed by TV chefs. Carbon steel...

Wife not really into cooking but I am and do all the cooking now. I used to weigh 310 but now about 230. Not slim by any means but my chest is bigger than my waist LOL. I am more about quality than quantity.

I have 4 skillets I use. A 20+ year old Lodge cast iron, a Matfer carbon steel, an OXO non-stick and a Emril tri-ply stainless steel. The non-stick is reserved for things like fish. It never sees high heat. My favorite go to pans are the cast iron and the carbon steel. I don't use the stainless...

Probably an oil burner and someone put a hotter plug in to try and stop oil fouling the plug.