Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Lawn mower operation part II

The patient lay on blocks, its cutting guts sprawled out over a plywood operating table. Socket wrenches, pliers, a hammer, carburator cleaners, and nuts and bolts lay about. The surgeon was finally able to remove the problematic drive shaft from teh right cutting wheel. To my horror the bearings and the stainless steal housing, had partially congealed around the shaft itself, smeared around it like metallic chewing gum. The ball-bearing, rather than looking like polished marbles, looked like musketballs dug up in some Civil War battlefield park. The exterior cap that had contained and protected the bearing had been melted and ripped into razor sharp rings.
The patient looked moribund. I could not simply buy new bearings. The shaft was toast too. I thought birefly of somehow grinding the steal chewing gum off, but the shaft looked so burnt with that bluish iridescence indicative of being over tempered, that it would probably snap under operation.
What to do? Then I looked over at the cadaver of the old riding mower. Could it's drive shafts be the same? I went over and with far less precisioin turned the thing over and pulled the set pins and quickly disembowled it. It took the part into the sunlight and compared it to the melted part. Not only did it look to be a perfect match it looked to be in far superior condition than even the "good" drive shaft that I had not removed.
The only problem was that the mounting bracket that had held the old blade was rusted onto the shaft. I tried to pound it off to no avail.
I then decided to use my dremal tool and cut it off. After much sparks and a few burnt hairs, the rusty bracket cleaved in two and I was able to hammer the other side off. The part in hand I now have to attempt to complete the operation.

No comments: