Paing for a small engine repair course

Rivets

Lawn Royalty
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Threads
59
Messages
15,305
I should have added that this is the best textbook out there. Bit expensive, but you can find it under $100. Well worth the price If you really want to get into repairs. Local library may have a copy to look at before buying.
 

bertsmobile1

Lawn Royalty
Joined
Nov 29, 2014
Threads
65
Messages
24,995
FWIW :-
I sort of fell into small engine work
The oppertunity presented itself , I like doing mechanical work ( really wanted to be a mechanic as a kid ) & have been playing with vintage & veteran motorcycles for 40 years .
So how hard could repairing mowers be .
VERY BLOODY HARD is the answer .
Engines are the easy bit , all the rest of it was the problem.
I sort of bumbled my way through, watched endless videos on you tube
Then I had to do a JD 345 & a JD 415 so I coughed up the $ 300 ( aus ) for the pair of JD Technical manuals .
What a revelation
Finally a manual written for the layman to use that explains what to do , why you are doing it , how to do it & how to check you have done it properly .
What needs to be tested & how to test it .
from then on in it has been full steam ahead , apart from getting my head around belts.
Apart from that , MTD put out 4 volumes called "The Must have Manual of Outdoor Power Equipment "
Three of them are on the K & T web page https://www.mymowerparts.com/pdf/ the riding mower one, volume 2 is a bit harder to find but it is out there on the web & occasionally a hard copy comes up on ebay etc .
Armed with those 4 manuals + the background theory in the JD manuals there is virtually nothing you can not do .
However it is worth while repeating what one of my professors used to say repeatidly.
If all those students lined up at the photocopiers actually read the books in place of just copying them, they would get better grades .
 

grumpygrizzly

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2014
Threads
18
Messages
102
Don't know about the USA but down here Kohler have a cerification system totally on line & free .
Did it , got a certificate , did not really find out much that I did not already know but it looks good hanging off the wall next to my business registration certificate.
Both B & S and Kawakasi run tech courses down here that anyone can attend if they pay the fee.
worth contacting the engine makers directly .

That EETC site looks impressive as do the people behind it , apart from MTD all quality manufacturers .
Let us know how you go .
Down here we have an excellent TAFE system but you have to be a registered apprentice working for a registered business under the supervision of a licensed tradesperson to enrol in the courses .
Most technicians in dealers are not trades people so they can not train apprentices which serves the education department well because training mower mechanics is a lot more expensive than training book keepers & accountants so no surprise to find we are drastically short of qualified mower technicians.
This sounds a lot like what I'm looking for but.. I have one simple question.. Where exactly is "down here"??
 

StarTech

Lawn Royalty
Top Poster Of Month
Joined
Feb 19, 2020
Threads
91
Messages
11,476
Now Bert you know up and down is all relative. Down here is in my basement here or in a bomb shelter if you're in Ukraine. So what are you doing in my basement?

This something I never figured out as to why everyone thinks magnetic North is up and magnetic South is down. Maybe it is the other way around. In space there is not really an up or down.

And why did you cough up $300 when they can be gotten as PDFs for under 60 usd from a site I know about. And there are a few sellers on that site are a little lower and some that are a little higher.

Here is a couple examples>

1669642206344.png
1669642315405.png

But of course the admins here had to really pissed me off so I don't post where this site is now.
 
Last edited:

bertsmobile1

Lawn Royalty
Joined
Nov 29, 2014
Threads
65
Messages
24,995
Now Bert you know up and down is all relative. Down here is in my basement here or in a bomb shelter if you're in Ukraine. So what are you doing in my basement?

This something I never figured out as to why everyone thinks magnetic North is up and magnetic South is down. Maybe it is the other way around. In space there is not really an up or down.

And why did you cough up $300 when they can be gotten as PDFs for under 60 usd from a site I know about. And there are a few sellers on that site are a little lower and some that are a little higher.
Firstly it was the Europeans who designed the conventions and as they live in the north then north will be depected as being on the top .
I do have a "corrective" map of the world which shows Australia where it should be :devilish:

As for the manuals.
I want JD to continue making comprehensive well written & richly illustrated service manuals and not degrade them to slightly expanded users manuals .
I sub contracted to a company that made technical manuals so have a very good idea of the sorts of costs that go into publishing them and for the JD manuals you would be lucky to get one press ready for under $ 250,000 US.
If they do not sell in reasonable qualtities then a future board will decide that it would be a better use of company funds to stop making tech manuals for domestic mowers .
Remember that $ 250,000 comes strait out of profits and not making the manuals could drop the price of parts to increase their sales quantities
In a professional photo studio you would be lucky to get 10 photos done a day. And day rates up to $ 10,000/day are common for US photo studios. We used to do a lot of this photography here because Australian studios are substantially more efficient than US ones at an average of $ 3,000 to $ 5,000 / day, labour included .
Mower photos are a lot more complicated to take than the average Joe would understand and that is without the actual mechanical work involved with removing & eventually replacing all of the parts.
Even with good dedicated computer applications , you would be lucky to do a single JD wiring diagram in a day.
So you can safely add a days wages into the cost for every wiring diagram .

Thieft is thieft regardless of weather it is two blokes in ski masks carrying cut down shot guns of some spotty faced nerd on the end of a computer so buying a JD manual and lending it to some one is fine, buying a download & putting it on a disc for YOUR use is fine but buying a copy then selling more than one copy of that manual is THIEFT pure & simple.
I am particularly sensitive to this having spent over a year enlarging some motorcycle adverts , cleaning them up, adding the detail that got lost in printing, getting permission from the trade mark holders to sell a poster with their trade mark on it then finally doing a high quality 300 screen 6 colour print run on quality calendar stock which was laminated ( 20dr cold lamination ) so it would remain colour fast for at least 5 years in direct sunlight and better than 20 years indoors then attempting to sell them on Evilpay as it was the only on line platform at the time.
I sold about 50 of the 500 print run but before I had posted the very first one, the images that I had spent well over 1000 hours on ( remember we are in the days of Photoshop 2 & computers with 5 Gb hard drives ) my reworked images were for sale on mouse mats, T-shirts , fridge magnets , clocks, mirrors, coffee mugs , etc etc etc .
So as I took a massive financial loss on the first two I never bothered to do the remaining 12 in the series .
Finally I sold the computer files to a customer who prints fabric and the remaining posters from the print run got destroyed by basement flooding in a rented house .
We just had our BSA National Rally and I did all of the art work for it.
The bannar was really good considering the motorcycle images started off as 4" and ended up being 22"
Apart from the printer, no one hd seen the final bannar till it was erected at the rally.
The 4 motorcycle images became stock images on at least 5 print on demmand T-shirt companies before I got home a week latter & I only found out about that because one of the participants ( who is organizing next years event ) asked me how much the t-shirt company charged for using one of their images & when we checked when they added the "New BSAs" it was 3 days after the rally.

While not being a violent man, I would have no problem smashing the hands of computer thieves to a pulp so they could never so much as touch a keyboard again
FWIW several Lawers approached me to ask for permission to prosecute copyright infringers within the first month .I gave them all permission realizing I will never see a cent , but the more of the crettons that get a criminal record the better .

I am by & large an HONEST person.
I do not support criminal by purchasing stuff from the boot of a car in pub car parks that was obviously stolen.
IF no one bouht stolen goods then there would be almost no thieft.
So it is we, the moral majority that allow the criminal networks to exist that we expect the police to protect us from.
 

StarTech

Lawn Royalty
Top Poster Of Month
Joined
Feb 19, 2020
Threads
91
Messages
11,476
Then you don't need access to the info I provide on the other forum. Account Deactivated. This helps keep you honest then by not being able to access those SMs, IPLs, and service bulletins.
 

grumpygrizzly

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2014
Threads
18
Messages
102
I did a quick google search “small engine training online” and found many opportunities, depending on what your needs are. Here are a few.



I heard a saying a long time ago.. "Those who can't do, teach"
 

grumpygrizzly

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2014
Threads
18
Messages
102
Firstly it was the Europeans who designed the conventions and as they live in the north then north will be depected as being on the top .
I do have a "corrective" map of the world which shows Australia where it should be :devilish:

As for the manuals.
I want JD to continue making comprehensive well written & richly illustrated service manuals and not degrade them to slightly expanded users manuals .
I sub contracted to a company that made technical manuals so have a very good idea of the sorts of costs that go into publishing them and for the JD manuals you would be lucky to get one press ready for under $ 250,000 US.
If they do not sell in reasonable qualtities then a future board will decide that it would be a better use of company funds to stop making tech manuals for domestic mowers .
Remember that $ 250,000 comes strait out of profits and not making the manuals could drop the price of parts to increase their sales quantities
In a professional photo studio you would be lucky to get 10 photos done a day. And day rates up to $ 10,000/day are common for US photo studios. We used to do a lot of this photography here because Australian studios are substantially more efficient than US ones at an average of $ 3,000 to $ 5,000 / day, labour included .
Mower photos are a lot more complicated to take than the average Joe would understand and that is without the actual mechanical work involved with removing & eventually replacing all of the parts.
Even with good dedicated computer applications , you would be lucky to do a single JD wiring diagram in a day.
So you can safely add a days wages into the cost for every wiring diagram .

Thieft is thieft regardless of weather it is two blokes in ski masks carrying cut down shot guns of some spotty faced nerd on the end of a computer so buying a JD manual and lending it to some one is fine, buying a download & putting it on a disc for YOUR use is fine but buying a copy then selling more than one copy of that manual is THIEFT pure & simple.
I am particularly sensitive to this having spent over a year enlarging some motorcycle adverts , cleaning them up, adding the detail that got lost in printing, getting permission from the trade mark holders to sell a poster with their trade mark on it then finally doing a high quality 300 screen 6 colour print run on quality calendar stock which was laminated ( 20dr cold lamination ) so it would remain colour fast for at least 5 years in direct sunlight and better than 20 years indoors then attempting to sell them on Evilpay as it was the only on line platform at the time.
I sold about 50 of the 500 print run but before I had posted the very first one, the images that I had spent well over 1000 hours on ( remember we are in the days of Photoshop 2 & computers with 5 Gb hard drives ) my reworked images were for sale on mouse mats, T-shirts , fridge magnets , clocks, mirrors, coffee mugs , etc etc etc .
So as I took a massive financial loss on the first two I never bothered to do the remaining 12 in the series .
Finally I sold the computer files to a customer who prints fabric and the remaining posters from the print run got destroyed by basement flooding in a rented house .
We just had our BSA National Rally and I did all of the art work for it.
The bannar was really good considering the motorcycle images started off as 4" and ended up being 22"
Apart from the printer, no one hd seen the final bannar till it was erected at the rally.
The 4 motorcycle images became stock images on at least 5 print on demmand T-shirt companies before I got home a week latter & I only found out about that because one of the participants ( who is organizing next years event ) asked me how much the t-shirt company charged for using one of their images & when we checked when they added the "New BSAs" it was 3 days after the rally.

While not being a violent man, I would have no problem smashing the hands of computer thieves to a pulp so they could never so much as touch a keyboard again
FWIW several Lawers approached me to ask for permission to prosecute copyright infringers within the first month .I gave them all permission realizing I will never see a cent , but the more of the crettons that get a criminal record the better .

I am by & large an HONEST person.
I do not support criminal by purchasing stuff from the boot of a car in pub car parks that was obviously stolen.
IF no one bouht stolen goods then there would be almost no thieft.
So it is we, the moral majority that allow the criminal networks to exist that we expect the police to protect us from.
Thieft is spelled Thief....
 

grumpygrizzly

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2014
Threads
18
Messages
102
I actually ran across a guy on a forum a few years ago that was re-writing or updating the old Foley Belsaw courseware and somehow I lost contact with him.

Man I wish I could get his info again..
 
Top