Intec 12.5 Vertical

[artemjemmy]

I have about 500 customers on my books
Some just buy parts, some just get repairs done & some get a full services done.
The more regular the service the faster they can get done & if I push hard I can squeeze in 4 a day
Nothing odd to have all 4 sump pumps running at the same time in busy periods
I recommend a full service every 2 to 4 years and annual oil changes in between depending upon the customer & their mowers.
Oil changes are done at the customers house & I have done 20 in a single day at one time as it only takes about 10 minutes to change oil only.
And while the pump is sucking the oil out I can change the blades on their push mower if they are an annual change over customer .
We use swing back blades down here so most need changing every season or two.
Blades on a push mower take about 5 minutes if I have a mounting plate ready to exchange , a saw chain takes about the same time
Spindle bearings & blades takes about 6 minutes a spindle if I don't have to cut the bolt or cup washer off
Very few customers have trailers so I can organize the work load to suit my available time
So I can drop off a finished job, do a couple of strait oil changes , pick up another service + a couple of flat tyres in a single run during the busy periods
I try to get customers to have the full services done during the off season
Commercial customers get overnight servicing / repairs so when I pull an all nighter I just leave the gate locked and sleep in .
The journal has around 300 entries a year, one entry per job .
The arbourist all have yard keys so they just drop a pile of blades on their peg & I text them when they are ready.
Commercial customers also have gate keys so they can drop a mower off at 4 to 5 pm on their way home & pick it up at 4 or 5 am on their way out .
That was the gold mine idea and is my biggest money spinner as some of them will drop a mower off every week, two in the busy season.
Down side is I need to have a lot of parts on hand .
Up side is you get to monitor things like deck idlers so you know this one will need to be done in the next X weeks.
Took a while to get them all on board but most never loose a minute during the day for breakdowns unless it is something out of the blue like management module failures .
When they happen I can usually advise them how to bypass the module so they can finish the days work then make a proper repair that night or at least a safe workaround till I can get the modules.
Those Scagg units are a real problem with a very high failure rate , followed by the brake modules on Time Cutters then the ECM module on Z masters .
Nothing kills a contractors day faster than having a break down so they end up with the team picking their noses for 1/2 the day because the mower has packed it in.
So for them the extra costs of extra servicing is a no brainer & I have just started doing blade sharpening for them so some will drop up to 30 sets of blades off on their way home & pick them up in the morning.
Most will have at least 2 spare useable belts in their trucks for emergencies but to be honest few have used them in the past 5 years
When things get right out of hand I have a 1/2 dozen loaner ride ons and about the same number of walk behinds.
They are also a big money spinner as it is nothing odd for the big shops to have 6 week lead times in high summer.

Part & parcel of my site rent is to maintain about 6 acres of street frontage so I get to kill 2 birds with one stone by using the customers mowers to do my own mowing & I am testing their mowers while doing my mowing .

What takes all of the time is broken stuff that I have never seen before , totally trashed mowers or parts that I can not get.
Which is the prime reason I stay on here because I get to find out the weaknesses of machines that are yet to be imported here so I know what to look for with a new to me mower .
having done he run for 9 years now I am familiar with most of the customers mowers so for instance Knots failed head gasket would have been diagnosed by the time it was on my trailer .
Unloading it I use the ramp to test the hydros and then it would sit for an hour to cool down before having the gasket replaced which is a 30 minute to 1 hour job depending upon how easy things come apart.
You lear things like to leave mufflers in place & pull the carb off at the head where possible and you learn where to us a T socket , where to use a wratchet , where to use an impact , where to use an air wrench & where to use modified tools .
The tool chest is full of ground down or welded up tools designed to make jobs faster or easier
I have a 4 ton yard crane that will lift a ride on up high enough to sit underneath comfortably in less than a minute and if that has a mower on it then there are a stack of motorcycle paddock stands that will lift a mower about 10" off the ground in under 15 seconds so fixing a flat takes no time at all as does pulling the rear wheels off to grease the axels & check the tyres for leaks .

What state are you in bert? I noticed that you never mentioned anything about snow blowers or snow removal equipment, which would simply things somewhat for you.

 

[bertsmobile1]

It don't snow in NSW
Big problems with a lot of Americans is they forget there are more places on the planet than America
So I am in Gods own country way down south with 300 dry days a year so naturally we all drive black cars ( except me ) when a motorcycle would be the perfect mode of transport .
It is a bit on the flat side down here so the snow season is somewhat short and usually confined to altitudes of 2000' which there is not much of so Aussies go to NZ to ski.
This is why we invented the best snow making machine ever.
Several years ago the inventor layed 6' of snow in Death Valley to try & get some financial backing for his invention .
I think he went bust although we do have about 20 of his machines in what we call the snow fields.
Sydney is fairly close to LA temperature wise so here we mow weekly for about 9 months a year if there is some water .

 

[StarTech]

I'll see if I can export some of the 20 inches of rain and storms your way Bert that I got in December. Got to have some bad weather I reckon just to make you enjoy the good weather. Right now we should be in the 40 F for highs here but it been so warm that things that normally hibernating are coming out. Even my fruit trees are blooming out season. My chickens thinks they are part duck as they wade water up to their bellies. I relocated a 15 lb Snapper turtle Monday. I even heard a bullfrog croaking last night.

The weather is up messed up lately. One day it is 75F and the next it is 35F for highs. Yesterday it was 73F with drizzle and Monday they are forecasting snow. They even forecasting possible tornadoes tonight. Dang it makes it hard to work outdoors.

Everytime I pull out the generator to work on it, it started raining. I manage to cleaned a couple ZTR's engine compartments. Of course that can be done in the rain. I think I change uniforms about six times yesterday. I got to build a office and storage area so I can reclaim my shop area and my home. They charge two arms and a leg for delivery in my area for concrete.

 

[bertsmobile1]

I'll see if I can export some of the 20 inches of rain and storms your way Bert that I got in December. Got to have some bad weather I reckon just to make you enjoy the good weather. Right now we should be in the 40 F for highs here but it been so warm that things that normally hibernating are coming out. Even my fruit trees are blooming out season. My chickens thinks they are part duck as they wade water up to their bellies. I relocated a 15 lb Snapper turtle Monday. I even heard a bullfrog croaking last night.

The weather is up messed up lately. One day it is 75F and the next it is 35F for highs. Yesterday it was 73F with drizzle and Monday they are forecasting snow. They even forecasting possible tornadoes tonight. Dang it makes it hard to work outdoors.

Everytime I pull out the generator to work on it, it started raining. I manage to cleaned a couple ZTR's engine compartments. Of course that can be done in the rain. I think I change uniforms about six times yesterday. I got to build a office and storage area so I can reclaim my shop area and my home. They charge two arms and a leg for delivery in my area for concrete.

It has been 40 years since I left college
And even back then there was a theory about the possibility that we were making a big mess of the planet , which is sort of ironic because it was the university dedicated to science & engineering
One of the predictions was an increase in the intensity & ferosity of weather changes
Down here we spent millions on an energy white paper , but the politicans ignored it
Then just as they did with smoking the vested interests turned it into a left vs right debate so we just argued about it for 4 decades and did nothing.
And now that some of the predictions are actually happening we are still running around blaming every one else.
Good thing is like you my tenure on this planet is rapidly coming to an end .
I worry for the fate of the children born today and wonder is they will actually live as long as I have.
Humans never ever learn and as the planet is going to hell in a hand basket we are still talking about doing the same thing that has achieved absolutely nothing for the past 5,000 years and preparing to kill each other once again.
Well if we kill enough of each other then the planet may have a chance to recover but I really doubt it .
Back in 1974 we profiled furnaces for 21% Oxygen , now days we are profiling down to 18% oxygen and even then some days there is not enough oxygen in the air to produce a neutral flame .
Chemical companies are still brainwashing us that every insect is a pest to be killed and the only way to save ourselves is to but more stuff to kill other stuff.
What I find quite ironic is scientists have had more of their predictions come true than those in any book of religion yet more people believe in religions than science

On the up side my strawberries are in their 3rd year of continual fruiting and I do like a real stawberry, one that tastes like a strawberry without the use of artifical flavours .
TheChinese Gooseberies are also fruiting again and the heat wave we had a month ago caused the fruit flys to hatch too early so I might get some apricots & peaches .

 

[StarTech]

I admit Humans are their own worst enemy. We have simply destroyed this world in the name progress. IF we actually put as much energy into saving our world as we do in destroying it. It might survive us in despite of our destroying ways but we won't if we don't change our ways. Maybe Covid-19 is a way nature is hitting back us back now.

I have seen huge changes over the years as storms have much more destructive each passing year in my area alone. I have learn that when storms are approaching and the temps are around 70F that I am in for a really bad weather day. And today is one of them since it is at 69F right now with storms on the horizon.

When peaches here I use permethrin which seems to do a better job keeping the worms out of the fruit after blossom petal fall that way the honey bees have a better chance of surviving the spraying of trees. Everything else seems to be useless. Then of course there are tree borers which I finally found a way to stop them. It like the potato beetles which are no longer affected by Sevin here but the biological I use works very well and is only targeted at the those beetles.

The problem here with peaches is also weather related as I have move 6 miles north of where I once live and every spring they fruit but then a cold snap hits freezing off the fruit so I am having which to a fruit tree crop that can survive the weather. At least apples and pears currently survive the Spring weather sudden changes but for how long I have no idea.

 

[Knots]

When I look at the Briggs parts manual and look at the picture it shows only one (1) valve seal which is number 690968. Is there only one valve that gets a seal? If so,
Which one? The gasket set I ordered is
796189.

Thanks,
Knots

 

[Scrubcadet10]

In my experience the intake valve always gets the valve seal, if there is only one.

 

[bertsmobile1]

In my experience the intake valve always gets the valve seal, if there is only one.

Intake sucks
Exhaust blows
So only the intake equires a valve stem seal

 

[bertsmobile1]

I admit Humans are their own worst enemy. We have simply destroyed this world in the name progress. IF we actually put as much energy into saving our world as we do in destroying it. It might survive us in despite of our destroying ways but we won't if we don't change our ways. Maybe Covid-19 is a way nature is hitting back us back now.

I have seen huge changes over the years as storms have much more destructive each passing year in my area alone. I have learn that when storms are approaching and the temps are around 70F that I am in for a really bad weather day. And today is one of them since it is at 69F right now with storms on the horizon.

When peaches here I use permethrin which seems to do a better job keeping the worms out of the fruit after blossom petal fall that way the honey bees have a better chance of surviving the spraying of trees. Everything else seems to be useless. Then of course there are tree borers which I finally found a way to stop them. It like the potato beetles which are no longer affected by Sevin here but the biological I use works very well and is only targeted at the those beetles.

The problem here with peaches is also weather related as I have move 6 miles north of where I once live and every spring they fruit but then a cold snap hits freezing off the fruit so I am having which to a fruit tree crop that can survive the weather. At least apples and pears currently survive the Spring weather sudden changes but for how long I have no idea.

A research institution ( funded by agriculture interest & the major fresh fruit retailers ) found that the only 2 sprays that work with fruit fly were a big problem for bees.
This is a true fact , what was overlooked is fruit fly is attracted by the smells of the ripening fruit so you don't spray for fruit fly when bees are foraging in those trees.
So in a decision mirroring the use of the cane toad to control the sugar cane beetle ( they never see each other ) we banned the residential use of the sprays and strictly regulated the commercial use.
The end result is most home gardeners can not grow any fruit apart from very early varieties or very late varieties to avoid the flys peak season and all commercial fruit & above ground veggies have to ne picked green and then chemically ripened.
This of course is a direct benefit to the large retail chains and big commercial growers who funded the research .
Currently Australia is veroa mite free so is supplying around 90% of the worlds bees, without which humans in western countries would starve .
This is a time bomb because all of the worlds bees will be too closely related thus very susceptible to a single disease wiping them all out forever .
So the "answer" to this is companies like Monsanto working to develop self fertile f hybrid crops so farmers will have to buy seed form Monsanto every season like Round Up resistant canola wheat & rice.

 

[StarTech]

Must be the same folks that imported the Japanese beetle here to control the holy thistles. Which in ran rampant destroying a lot of our trees. They had buying bags to trap them which did none attracted even more of them. Our birds finally learned to eat both the adult and grubs but they are still a pest to be reckon with. They imported the Asian beetle (ladybug look alike) which fill our homes in the fall and winter months. On top that I am plagued with boxelder bugs too. There are times in the fall that I have wear a full body suit just to work outdoors because of these pests.

Just morning I was at the neighbor's house the south wall was just covered in the boxelder bugs.