Super handy power mower mechanic guy - 2011

Super handy power mower mechanic guy - 2011

 

A power lawnmower, vintage 2007 has a starter cord that you yank to get it going. It also has a choke, usually a rubber bubble-ball that is pressed to send gas into the carburetor (carburetor, is that right?). So on Sunday when I got out to mow the lawn, I press the bubble and yank the cord, except that the pull of the cord meets with a stronger than usual resistance. I try again and again. It seems to be getting more difficult. Finally it won’t budge at all. I step back to rest. I look at the mower, trying to contemplate its age - then I mentally divide the cost - I guess $175 – by the 3 years I’ve owned it, and arrive at a little less that $60 per year. “Ok, maybe this mower is shot,” I think, “Time for a new one.” 

I give it another try. I pull the cord again. Now it’s completely, frozen (not the right word, I know), tangled or knotted maybe. Several more tries and finally I give up. If I could take it apart, I could probably see the problem and untangle the cord if that’s the issue, which it most likely is – I guess. I look over the mower and notice some screws/bolts holding the various pieces together. I go inside and look for wrenches. I locate ratchet wrench set in a box with a handle and a number of round wrench fittings. 

 

None of the wrench fittings fit the various bolts. 

 

I see another box. More individual wrench fittings, no handle though. Seriously? How does the handle disappear?

OK, back to the mower. There’s a plastic guard cover. I loosen two screws and remove it. OK. The next candidate for removal is the part that contains the wheel that the pull cord wraps around. I look for bolts, screws and spot maybe four, maybe eight. The only wrench fittings that fit are the ones with no handle. I spend a good half hour trying to find the missing handle. No luck.      

I decide to wait until tomorrow.

Tomorrow comes. I’m at the mower again. I locate a ratchet screwdriver with fittings that work for some of the screws/bolts.  

 

After much labor – loosening screws in positions that only a career mechanic could access – I manage to lift off the top. Whoops – the whole cord assembly comes off with the top too. OK – wow. Though all I have done is remove eight screws, I am quite proud of myself. Thus I start imagining an ultimate triumph. I've actually fixed a broken lawn mower.  I begin to construct my successful super-handyman story as I continue dismantling the mower. Whom will I tell?

Holding the removed assembly in my hand I tug the cord. No resistance. Hmmmmm. I peer down at the mower, see the flywheel (is that the name?). There’s a brake pad pressing against the flywheel. I immediately deduce that it is this that is keeping the flywheel from turning. Then it hits me. With my hand I clamp the safety handle and the brake pad disengages. Then it hits me again. The reason that the cord could not be pulled – way back when - is that I was not holding down the safety handle – something I have done for - I multiply 25 lawn mowings per year by 3 years and come up with 75 -  so that’s for each of the past 75 uses of the mower.

OK, so I didn’t really have to take apart the mower. You see – the flywheel is locked by a brake-pad whenever the safety handle is not clamped snug with the push-handle. Everyone knows that.

Perhaps not all mowers are constructed like this (this is a guess), however I suspect they are. Face it - dumb me. Still I feel somewhat mechanically inclined. Actually, I’m pretty much super handy about things. I just took apart a whole mower.

Ok, moving on, I'll admit that putting mowers back together is not really my forte.  Witness that I spend the better part of the day on this task and succeed – mostly – save for one extra bolt and one rather large hard rubber washer – where did that come from?

I try to start the mower – the ultimate test.

 

It starts. Cool! I feel accomplished – somewhat. There is a bit of a clanking sound. The extra bolt, or rubber washer, I deduce, belongs somewhere, and needs to be put back in. The clanking is mostly noticeable at startup. I go into the garage and look for the washer. I give it fifteen minutes. I can't find the washer. Back to the mower. I start it up again. Still going, but a definite clanking.

I tell myself that it is God’s will. If He/She wanted to stop the clanking then … well you get the idea.