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| Lawn mower float bowl. © Eugene Brennan |
I
usually wear safety glasses when cutting the grass bank outside the
house. I don't in the garden, but outside there can frequently be
accumulations of stuff since the last cut: rocks and stones and
sometimes parts that come off vehicles. I've hit the handle of a bucket
on one occasion, which flew out from under the front of the mower and
became airborne. Today I found this pin. Not sure what it is, but it
seems to have broken off a longer piece and has a wear mark as though
something was rubbing it. It could easily have struck someone walking
along the footpath, either from me hitting it with the blade or when it
came off a vehicle. Anyway, I do a recce before cutting to check for
such items and also dog poo. Hitting something hard like this usually
puts a big dent in the blade.
Mower Repair Frustration
I
starting cutting grass this morning. Then I got delayed on a long phone
call. I was going to paint the cappings of my gate pier this afternoon,
but ended up attempting to resume grass cutting instead. But of course
the mower wouldn't start. I predicted a fuel flow problem, took the
float bowl off (It functions pretty much the same as a toilet cistern)
and just as expected, dirty fuel with some black grime particles ran out
of the bowl. This stuff comes from the filling station, because my
Jerry can is sealed and dust doesn't go into it. I guess the tanks in
filling stations aren't exactly pristine and corrode over time or
coatings on the inside wear off. Or maybe the grime is in the fuel on
delivery. Anyway, fixing something outdoors isn't a good idea, because
parts usually get lost in grass or gravel, but I decided to do it in
situ, rather than dragging the mower back to the workshop. I thought I
had lost the sealing washer from the bowl on the driveway because I had
heard something falling. I wasn't sure what I was looking for and I
couldn't remember what the washer looked like, so I had to put a post on
a lawn mower repair forum to enquire. It turned out it wasn't lost, but
stuck to the underside of the bowl. After all that, I put everything
back together and the mower started on first pull. Then I started it
again outside the wall and it decided to backfire and snapped the
starter rope. So that'll have to be fixed tomorrow. These farcical
scenarios are regular occurrences, or a variation on the theme is
"There's a hole in the bucket dear Liza" versions, where 5 minute jobs
turn into day-long projects.
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| Float bowl. © Eugene Brennan |
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| Carburetor jet. © Eugene Brennan |
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| Float bowl float. © Eugene Brennan |
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| Broken starter rope. © Eugene Brennan | |
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| Lucky I didn't hit this with the blade! © Eugene Brennan |
