It was a busy month of travel... These days, I can
often take my work with me, but this is not the case with chores that need to be done around the house. When I was home, I needed to maintain my garden, but I also still mow my own lawn. Taking charge of my own lawn care has been a never ending source of frustration, even though when I'm actually doing it successfully, I find it very meditative. I'm currently on (at least) my third riding mower of my adult life.
The first one I used was a relic probably from the 70s that my dad gave me. That thing survived my abuse for at least a decade before the oil drain plug vibrated loose while I was mowing. I happily continued without realizing it until it just stopped in its tracks. I weighed the cost of repairing it vs. buying something new and ultimately decided to get a shiny new Cub Cadet. This more or less worked fine when I lived on a flat property with a traditional lawn.
After moving to a hilly, rocky property, loaded with trees, it became clear how this was just a horrible piece of modern plastic junk. It didn't have enough power to go up some of the hills and all of the safety features were constantly engaging to shut off the blades. It didn't take long before this device stopped running in the middle of my yard and it sat there until someone showed up to take it away in order to use what remained for parts.
This brings me to the most recent time that I was required to buy another riding mower. I went to a local dealer and explained my frustrations with the old Cub Cadet. "Oh, you have a lawn mower" he told me... "You need a Lawn Tractor"... Ok, perfect. Will this handle the hills on my property? "Yes! It has a giant motor" Great, looks like it's actually made of metal instead of plastic, I'll buy it. Big regret...
This machine cost three times as much as the Cub Cadet and I would argue it was ultimately less effective. Sure it had a giant engine, and it moved great... on flat land. It still suffered from the same issue on hills. Putting fuel in this thing was a pain because there was a flaw with the gas tank that prevented gasoline going into it any faster than a snails pace (I ultimately learned that there was a recall issued for
this that I could never get the dealer to honor.). Within months all of the great 'electronic' features no longer worked. So I couldn't even raise/lower the deck without using wrenches. Dealer refused to backup the product or do any sort of repairs.
At least the metal parts seemed a bit more robust. However, one day while mowing, the torque from the giant engine caused a tiny bracket that held the whole thing together
to snap. This thing sat in the yard for a bit, until my dad asked me about it one day. We spent a few hours and were able to fashion a bracket to get it functioning again from a few parts we purchased from Tractor Supply.
This brings me to the present... First time I used it this year, the metal roller on one side of the deck fell off, requiring another hack to prevent it from mowing the lawn down to dirt. Then, at the
beginning of the month, it just stopped running while I was mowing. I got my boys to help me lug it to the garage and there it sat while I tried to diagnose the issue. Bad battery? Broken ignition? It's got to be an electrical problem. Every time I was home, that's where I spent my time.
My dad visited a few weeks ago and asked me about the problematic mower. I showed it to him and explained
everything that I did to try to get it running again. Within minutes, he found a 'safety feature' that I wasn't aware of, bypassed it and the thing started right up!
So what's the whole point of this? It's partially me justifying why I didn't have the time to do anything more interesting this month. It's also me laying the groundwork to ask if anyone has a modern riding mower that they like and think would work in my
situation. I'm at the point now where I'm pretty much convinced that I need to upgrade to a much more serious piece of equipment. Anyone have recommendations?
