Mower Repair

Before

After

You can tell it's finally summer, it's mower fixing time. I hit something a few weeks ago and it poked a hole in the deck. It wasn't as bad as the hole would indicate. The deck was paper thin in that spot from a combination of rust and the abrasive action of the sandy soil I have. Other than taking it off, taking it over to school and dragging all the tools out, it was a piece of cake to fix. I cut a piece of 16 gauge and formed it up pretty close to fitting, then just worked in down while tacking it and welded it up. I could have made the piece a little longer. The bottom fell out in one spot but easy to patch up with a MIG. Just increase your stickout length a little and trigger it in. I usually run the machine a little on the hot side but I'd rather fix a little spot that got too hot than have things fall apart because it was too cold. Even though I ground the deck down prior to welding, MIG welds have a tendency to come off anything that has rust on it. The tack welds will lift the rust off the base metal rather than sticking.

While the deck is off, I got a couple of new belts to put on and I sharpened the blades. I ordered a couple of pieces for the steering. The teeth on the steering gear located on the bottom of the steering shaft are worn out. I ordered a new shaft, the bushing that holds it in place and the mating gear it goes into. I got a new air and oil cleaner for it the other day to throw on as well. I should probably get a new spark plug while I'm at it. Hopefully, that will do it for the rest of this year. I bought the mower in 2003 and it's been pretty reliable but it's starting to show it's age. I'd like to get at least another year out of it, just to get my money back from the new parts I put in it this year, if nothing else.

I cleaned out the chicken coop today so I can transfer the Golden Comets to their new home. I got a little time in between the rain drops to shovel some poop and add new straw. I always wear a respirator when doing that chore, which is pleasant when the humidity is 100%, but I don't need to come down with "chicken handler's disease". Tomorrow is moving day for the little darlings come rain or shine.

I talked to the insurance guy about the barn this morning and I should be getting a check pretty soon. If it's not raining too much tomorrow I'm going to try to get out there and do a little head scratching to come up with a plan. The house mover never got back to me like he promised, so I think I'm going to write him out of the picture. That basically leaves two options. Take it all apart and start over or try to rig some type of cradle under it and lift the top back up onto new walls. We'll see what I come up with.