I finally bought a house in Cave Country! W00T!!!

[The Chairman]

As I alluded to, I just repowered my 2017 Hustler Raptor SD 60" zero-turn. I must admit, that I hate this thing. It's required far, far more of my attention than any other machine I've ever owned. My Grandnephew ran it out of gas in early December, and it sat for about a month before I got to it. It's not been doing well, bogging down in high grass, and when I went out to deal with it, there was gas pouring out of the carburetor. I had replaced it a year or two ago with a cheap Chinese one, so I sprung for an OE carb from Hustler. It still wouldn't start. A quick pressure check showed 55psi on the right and 85psi on the left. Not good. I really don't have the time to rebuild this one and zero-turns have skyrocketed in price, so I bought a direct replacement Kohler for about $1300. It was easy to take the engine out, about an hour, and easy enough to install the new one, at about twice the time. I was surprised at how easy it was to replace the blade clutch. There's not a lot of wiggle room, and the keyway was perfectly aligned somehow. I did have to flip the drive pulley as I failed to mark which way was up on disassembly.

Now, I'm experiencing the failure of the right hydrostatic transmission. These have a history of check valves backing off, so you have great traction for about a half hour and then it starts slipping and groaning. New transmissions are $800/side, but the parts to reseal both is about $150. I've also invested in an electric winch, which I will be installing in the rafters after I finish this post. It should allow an easier and safer method of jacking up the Hustler.

 

[The Chairman]

So today was special. Good friends came over in order to teach their son to use guns. It was neat to see mom and dad properly teach, and more than awesome to see him listen and understand the gravity of what he's learning. I shot an AR45, with an ultra short barrell. Very accurate even in these old shaky hands.

In addition to that, I mounted my hoist and started the transmission rebuilds. I mounted this 1,760 # capacity hoist to a good length of Unistrut so that it distributes weight over 4 rafters. It's so, so nice to have it at this height, though I could actually pull the Hustler off the ground. Having no impediments to the underside is amazing. I've undone the linkages and drained the oil. There's the oil tube that will have to be removed when it starts to drop down after I undo six bolts on either side. The air tools will make that a cinch. Changing blades is going to be way, way, way easy now, and far safer too. As a precaution, I've set the mower on the floor when I'm not working on it. Never taunty gravity. it only takes ten seconds with no effort on my part to lift it back up.

 

[The Chairman]

I took a little trip a few days ago... down the steps and on to the lawn. Ouch! Cats can be more trouble than they are worth. I have sustained a high ankle sprain close to the plates they put in my left leg when I broke it. I'll be limping for a few days to a week. On the bright side, it's given me time to create a few routines on Alexa. "Shop Air On" initiates the compressor and opens the main valve. "Shop Air Off" reverses that and opens the drain for 15 seconds. Automation is cool. It's tough enough to hobble out to the shop, where I can sit and work. Having to go out to the compressor would make using my air tools nigh onto impossible. This has hampered me finishing the work on the zero-turn.

The right side transmission has been removed, disassembled, and assembled back together with new seals installed. I see I've forgotten a circlip, so I'll have to take the cover off and add that. All that silicone will have to come off. Grrrrr! I hope to do that and install it today. I'm rethinking doing the same thing to the left side. It was resealed a few years ago, so it should be fine. The oil is drained, so I'll haave accomplished that. The hoist makes working on this a breaze now, so I'll take my chances.