Ever have "one of those days"? Sure you have. We all have. Mine was today. I have a beat up old ride on mower that is about 25 years old or more. It was my fathers and he was going to throw it out several years ago when he bought a new one. Yeah it was in that bad shape. It's an old 10 Hp 34 inch cut Mastercraft (Canadian Tire brand made by MTD). The crankcase seals are leaking, the blades are pretty much shot and next to impossible to find, the battery is shot and the tires are weather cracked so bad that one won't hold air and needs to be refilled twice while mowing the lawn.. But it was free and it still works. At first I just used it to mow down the area adjacent to the lawn that consisted of weeds and blackberry bushes etc. it worked well and no the entire place looks nice mowed. We I got tired of a few things and I don't really want to spend much money on it as it is not worth it and I don't really have the money for a new one especially since my parents are looking at moving into a seniors complex in the next year or so and I will get Dad's new one.
OK Back to the leaky tires. One of the front tires will not hold air and needs to be refilled a couple times during mowing. Today I went out to start it and it just turned over once and died. The battery would not even hold a charge since yesterday. I had a nice little garden tractor battery I bought a couple years ago at Walmart and had not used except for a couple little things I needed 12 volts for. It was too big to fit in where the motorcycle type battery was mounted so I made a mount for it behind the riders seat and extended the wiring to it. First turn of the key and it leaped to life like it never has before.SUCCESS! Now I turned my thoughts to the flat tire. I pulled it off the axle and inspected it all over. It was really weather cracked and I thought about installing a tube. fat chance of getting one that small but off I went ion search of one anyway. At the hardware store I found one The last one in stock. A 13x5.0x6.0 tube! SUCCESS AGAIN! Boy things were in my favour today. Off I went home to install my newly acquired tube which was the last one in stock. talk about luck. I got home and man for a small tire it was a real pain to get off the rim with just some extra large screwdrivers and a pry bar.Installing the tube was even worse trying not to pinch it while doing so. I eventually got it installed back on the rim and inflated it. IT LEAKED!! I had pinched the frigging tube when installing it. Now I had to tear it apart and patch the hole. Remember i mentioned it was a royal pain to remove from the rim? This was the second time to do it today. I looked for the tire patch kit and all I found was the rubber cement and no patches. Great! The wife announced that she was taking us out for supper somewhere and perhaps I should get cleaned up. Good I thought. I needed a break from the frustration and would pick up a repair kit when we were out. Upon getting back home I decided to patch the tube tonight and get it over with as i had other things to do tomorrow. The patch went on fine. The tube installed inside the tire much easier than the first time. The tire installed onto the rim MUCH easier than the last time. Oh the God's were smiling down on me now!
The valve stem was almost in perfect alignment with the hole in the rim only requiring me to turn the rim about half an inch. I lined the valve stem up with the hole and using a pair of small needle nose pliers grasped the valve stem and pulled it thru the hole. Well at least the threaded part on the end came thru.The rest stayed inside the tire.
The tube is now ruined
. Did I mention it was the last one in stock?
OK Back to the leaky tires. One of the front tires will not hold air and needs to be refilled a couple times during mowing. Today I went out to start it and it just turned over once and died. The battery would not even hold a charge since yesterday. I had a nice little garden tractor battery I bought a couple years ago at Walmart and had not used except for a couple little things I needed 12 volts for. It was too big to fit in where the motorcycle type battery was mounted so I made a mount for it behind the riders seat and extended the wiring to it. First turn of the key and it leaped to life like it never has before.SUCCESS! Now I turned my thoughts to the flat tire. I pulled it off the axle and inspected it all over. It was really weather cracked and I thought about installing a tube. fat chance of getting one that small but off I went ion search of one anyway. At the hardware store I found one The last one in stock. A 13x5.0x6.0 tube! SUCCESS AGAIN! Boy things were in my favour today. Off I went home to install my newly acquired tube which was the last one in stock. talk about luck. I got home and man for a small tire it was a real pain to get off the rim with just some extra large screwdrivers and a pry bar.Installing the tube was even worse trying not to pinch it while doing so. I eventually got it installed back on the rim and inflated it. IT LEAKED!! I had pinched the frigging tube when installing it. Now I had to tear it apart and patch the hole. Remember i mentioned it was a royal pain to remove from the rim? This was the second time to do it today. I looked for the tire patch kit and all I found was the rubber cement and no patches. Great! The wife announced that she was taking us out for supper somewhere and perhaps I should get cleaned up. Good I thought. I needed a break from the frustration and would pick up a repair kit when we were out. Upon getting back home I decided to patch the tube tonight and get it over with as i had other things to do tomorrow. The patch went on fine. The tube installed inside the tire much easier than the first time. The tire installed onto the rim MUCH easier than the last time. Oh the God's were smiling down on me now!
