Lawn Tractor in trouble again

Thank God for my riding mower. It has been a college level course in small engine mechanics, mechanical engineering, and anger management.

Yesterday as I finished mowing the lawn for the last time this season the old beast began making a sound like bearing wearing out and burning up. It turned out to be bearings wearing out and burning up. So I drove it back to the barn and today spent three hours disassembling the centeral mowing attachment from the underside of the tractor. I have never done this before but then again I had not fixed tirods on front axles either, or any of a dozen other fixes.

Where as the other fixes were like athroscopic knee surgery today was like full blown open-hart surgery. Any time it takes three hours just to get to the spot where the problem is mean it is serious. The patina of the cutting unit is wonderful to behold, but incredibly unhelpful as far as nut and bolt removal. Years of mowing has built up, over all the metal a rich green laquer, polished glassy smooth and rock hard. It took a lot of work with a pen-knife to cut away the stuff to even get to the bolts that have never been removed.

Digging into the inards of machinery makes me really respect human beings who design such stuff. All the parts overwich I worked operate at high speed and are subjected to great and divrgent forces. There are the counter spining blades of carbon steel, the pully system that takes engergy from the engine, the suspension system that allows the mowing deck to hover at the correct elevation over the terrain, the twin wheels on the deck to conform to terrain, and all the engineering that ties the unit together to a series of levers that gives the operator the ability with littel effort to change cutting hight and kill the blades.

Upon inspection of the unit, once it sat on a makeshift table of plywood and saw horses, revealed burnt bearings, melted steel, basically a big mess. I figure the work, if I paid someone to get this far, would probably have set me back $150. On Monday I will go to United Bearing and drive to see if I can buy a new set of bearings. I think I will get 4. Change both sets on the mower and put two away just in case. There are other parts that have worn out that may be harder to come by.

The Patient is still on the table. I will let you know how it turns out.