First mow of the season

I finally got around to replacing the belt and cleaning up the mower deck yesterday, so got started mowing (a week or two late). Nearly done, ran out of gas. Storms last night, more expected today, so probably won't finish up until tomorrow afternoon or Sunday. BTW, sprayed the deck with Fluid Film, NO, repeat NO, grass buildup under the deck!! I missed a small spot where the discharge chute lifts up, I did have some buildup there. And the grass would have built up like crazy without the Fluid Film! Wonderful stuff!
 
Do you buy your Fluid Film locally or on the internet? I don't have any stores around me that sell it.
 
chowhound said:
Should I just sawzall it apart and mail it to you? :yankchain:

I'll take a couple tomorrow.
BTW, the roller is 60" wide by about 24" in diameter.
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SURE!!!!!!!! :D

:yum:

My roller is much smaller. I might need both a roller and an aerator. :pat:
 
OK. Here's a pic of the "receiver" and tongue to give you some ideas.
 

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bczoom said:
Do you buy your Fluid Film locally or on the internet? I don't have any stores around me that sell it.
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I just finally got around to using my free sample can, but I understand it has a JD part number. If your local dealer doesn't stock it, he should be able to get it for you. Or go to their website: http://www.fluid-film.com/. Tell them I sent you. (I have no relationship with them, just love the product!)

Fred
 
The lawn around the house I've done 5 times or so. Being in sunny N.C, during Feb. the grass starts to grow and you got to "git er done" earlier in the year than what I'm use to:D

However, out in the back fields, this weekend was the first of the year.

What a difference a year makes when you start cutting from the previous year.

Being poor, still haven't bought a tractor yet, however the pics do show the difference what a first cut (after you pay a guy to bush hog it first a month or so before hand) makes and what happens when you "stick with it" the rest of the summer.

First pic is of out back last year "bush hoging" with the mower, the second pic is of the same field with my dad mowing (different location in the field) with how the grass looks this year after "keeping up with it".

Getting more bold now. Old mulching blades on the mower that need to be sharpened, however, took the chute off that I use for mulching and left the old blades on. Funny, I had small saplings stuck from the underside when I finished another part of the field that I didn't want to touch last year. Mower still holding up fine!
 

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Well, I finally had my first mow of the season today. The ground is still too soft to use the itty bitty New Holland. So I had to resort to using the Craftsman riding mower. The mower would not start. The bendix inside the starter was gummed up. All it would do is spin without contacting the flywheel. That happened before and it was a simple thing to fix, but I didn't remember exactly what I did. I took the starter off, saw two bolts on top. That must be it. Just remove them, slide the thing apart and lube it up. No.........that allows the bottom to pop off, you know, where the brushes are.:badidea: So the bottom popped off and hit the floor. All four brushes came out of the slots they reside in. No problem. put them back in slide it all back together. Something doesn't look right here. The brushes are recessed too far. Pull the brushes back out. Hmm......there is a recess in each slot that looks like a spring may have been in there. Look on the floor, yep there is a spring laying there. Finally find all four springs and put them back in. The springs stick up a little bit above the slots. But the brushes have to go in there too. Okay, I have to compress the spring with the brush, times 4. I don't have that many hands. Dozens of thoughts went through my mind on how to fix this mess. I could try this.........no. I could try that......no. I tried to hold one brush down with a utility knife blade and line another one up, hold it down. CRAP this isn't working. :badidea: LIGHT BULB went off. Take 2 blades out of the utility knife, hold one brush/spring down, cover it with one of the blades. Push the next spring/brush down and slide the blade over and hold that one down too. Secure it with a spring clamp. Do the same thing with the remaining 2 springs/brushes. Slide the rest of the starter down on top as far as possible, remove the 2 spring clamps one at a time. Slide the assembly together some more. Pull the knife blades out and finish sliding assembly together. Bolt back together.

NOW twist the gear on top so it moves forward enough to spray in some lube on the bendix gear. Work it a few times and re-install starter. Connect cable at the starter and at the battery. Fire it up and go spend the next 2+ hours just mowing half the lawn.

Once it dries out, I'll use the New Holland and have ALL the grass cut in 2+ hours.

I know, I know
:nopics:


The grass was high and thick from all of the rain we've had. I had to take it real slow. The neighbor had her lawn service over this morning. They abandoned her yard after only cutting half. It is just too wet and soft yet.
 
Jerry, you should have asked, those starters are easy to put back together when you know how. 2 bits of wire (I use welding filler rod), each in a U shape, use one to hold back each pair of brushes. 2 minute job!
 
I was going to mow yesterday - but the wife decided we were going to cruise all the greenhouses in Topeka looking for the perfect strawberry plant. Ended up having to work this morning - and planned to mow this afternoon, but started by trimming brush and trees and stopped just in time for the hailstorm. maybe tomorrow...
 
My wife has mowed around the house a couple of times so far. I'm going to see about getting the brush hog back together so I can do the pastures.
 
Got the fuel filter changed yesterday while the tank was empty - ran out of gas at about 85% done with the lawn last week. Man, that fuel pump on the little LX176 is boss!! Just cranked the engine once, fuel already in the filter - started on second crank. Spent about two hours mowing the 1/2 acre. That last 15%, the grass was over a foot high! Had to cut over it several times to try to disperse the clippings, and may run over it again tomorrow. It was a very dry and hot day, temps hit the 90s.

Fred
 
OhioTC18 said:
Once it dries out, I'll use the New Holland and have ALL the grass cut in 2+ hours.
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Got the grass in the back cut today with the TC18. Took the riding mower back out front and finished up the wet spot from yesterday. The lack of grass around it and the sun, heat and wind all day yesterday dried it out enough to finish that area.
 
storms again all morning. by the time it dries out enough to mow, it's going to be over a foot tall in places -- apparently the grass decided to wake up for real this past week.
 
I forgot to post my first mow of the season. For the first time ever, I didn't do the first mow, my son Nick did while my wife and I visited Chiccago. He mowed on April 18th. I mowed again last Friday April 24th. It barely needed it but I had the time and it was dry, so I went for it.
 
Erik said:
storms again all morning. by the time it dries out enough to mow, it's going to be over a foot tall in places -- apparently the grass decided to wake up for real this past week.
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OhioTC18 said:
That was my problem Erik.
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so far more than 3" of rain today. fortunately, the flash floods are 40 miles South and a bit East of us, and the systems bearing tornadoes split wide of us as well.
 
I got my first mow in yesterday. There were some tall thick area and also some I had a hard time telling where I was at. Something over the winter left me with a bunch of bare dirt spots. Still, it needed it overall.
 
the last of the puddles finally dried out enough I could mow the back yard! Got most of the front yard, too - except for the mudpit down the centerline where the trench for the waterline was dug.
 
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