Damn Lawnmowers to Hell!!!
Not again! How the Hell does this keep happening?
Lawnmower # 1 was a second hand that lasted me all of two months before it died.
So I bought # 2 Brand spanking new. Sure it was the $99.99 special, but I needed it to mow the lawn. It ran the rest of the summer. Come spring it decided to double as a mosquito fogger. Burning through the oil, needing topped off every time you used it. Wife asked a friend of ours to mow the lawn, he didn’t know about the oil situation. Amazingly it did half the large yard we had before it croaked in a noisy smoking pile of innards.
Enter lawnmower # 3 Actually I don’t remember if I paid for this one, I think another friend donated it. My elder sister ran it over, and my tool box. Luckily the garage door was open and she did find the brakes before she punched out the back wall.
4 Floor model, big back wheels, grass catcher was extra. Lasted 1 1/2 summers, it just quit, kaput. Was mowing the lawn and thought I had run out of gas. Still had a half a tank.
5 My father had just bought himself a brand new mower and sold me his old one for $5.00 It finished the summer and died the first mowing day of spring.
Borrowed lawnmowers for a whole summer then bought one from a flea marked for $20.00. Mowed the lawn twice, had to repair the recoil, It developed starting problems after that. Started smoking, Must have died of lung cancer. Borrowed another lawnmower.
February, My younger sister bought me a very nice weed-eater lawnmower. Have been using it all summer with no problems whatsoever. Started up real good ran without dieing. I got 1/3 of the way done with my lawn today. BANG! It still sorta runs, if you can stand the noise, and if you could keep the oil in it.
Is this planned obsolescence??? It can’t be maintenance issues. I know how to change oil, sharpen blades, store them over the winter properly. None of them has lasted long enough for me to do any of that shit to them dammit!
Anyone gotta extra lawnmower I could borrow? At least if it isn’t mine, they don’t die suddenly.
so, uh, this is the second time the lawn has “gotten out of hand” and I’ve had to call somebody to bring his gas guzzling monster to cut it. But theoretically my lawnmower is simple, quiet, and elegant. It is, really, and I do like it, when I think to mow the lawn in time.
You ever think of, oh,I don’t know, PAYING for a DECENT mower?
Holy shit guy. You’re lucky to have found so many people to leech mowers off of for so many years.
No sympathy from me. Either learn how to fix broke mowers or go down to Home Depot and buy yourself something other than the fucking floor model or the 2hp special of the week.
Do the models they have now operate without a cord? I used to mow my grandmother’s very large lawn with an electric lawnmower and found that I needed a very large cord to do it. It seemed to get unplugged quite often and was a real PITA lugging the cord around and making sure it didn’t get in the path of the mower.
Ugh. I’ve been having lawnmower trouble, too. I have had mine for about three years, then this summer, it started going dodgy on my. I took it in and got it serviced, and it ran fine for about a month, then started getting dodgy again, got it fixed AGAIN (by this time, I’ve put as much $ in it for repairs as I’ve paid for it), it lated two mows, then started getting dodgy again. I struggled through the last mow with it this way, now my yeard needs mowing. I’m gonna break down and buy another, just so I can mow the 2 or 3 more times this season. At least there’s some good sales on decent used ones right now.
Could care less about sympathy.
Three of those junkpiles were brand new. Two brought home in the box and one was the floor model because they didn’t have any more in stock. If you don’t have the $$ to buy a new one you borrow one or buy a used one. I was fortunate enough to have a friend who picked em up from the curb and frankenstiened them together. Some of those I got from him, lasted longer than he or I even dreamed of. As far as fixing them, If I had that kinda money, I would just go buy a new one. Looks like I will be borrowing my dad’s until the last mow of the season, Income tax time I will go get another POS and see how long it lives. I do know of a place that specializes in small engine repair, maybe I will check them out.
I know this is the pit and all of that (gosh darn it to heck!!), but have you considered small engine repair as a hobby? It’s not too terribly difficult and you’ve got a lot of raw material to work with. So after you get a working lawnmower, tear the old one down as far as you can, figure out what’s broken and fix it if possible. You’ll be out little more than your time if repair is impossible. And if you can fix it you have a.) a backup mower or motor available and b.) gained the know-how to fix the next DOA POS.
I don’t know much about small engine repair myself since I’ve used and abused the same Toro mower for almost 15 years with only minor repairs. Your luck sucks.
By far, the best lawn mower I’ve ever had is a Lawn Boy I purchased this year. Light weight, beautiful cut, good mulching, good power, and generally starts without even having to prime the bulb. It’s one of the Insight series…#10682, to be exact!
I feel your pain, sorta. I bought a pawnshop lawnmower back in '99. Lasted until 2003 with no problems, then the recoil spring broke. Paid $5 to get a new one (because like you, I’m poor and can’t afford an extravagant model), lasted that summer just fine. Next summer, drag it out, go to fire it up, and the spring breaks again. Pop in a new one,it lasts a couple of months, then breaks again. Get another one, and it makes it through the summer. Next summer, same thing all over again. And again until this summer. I buy the part, but am too busy to put it in, one of my coworkers rebuilds them for a living and offers to sell me a much nicer one than I have, for $75. I figure what the hell? Buy it. It’s waaaay easier to start than mine, but it smokes pretty heavily. Thankfully, I won’t have to cut the lawn too much longer, so I’m hoping that by the time next summer rolls around, I’ll have my backup plan ready.
