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

[The Chairman]

Christmas in May... The county did us a solid this past week by filling in all of our driveways with lime-rock. I went to the dump one morning only to see this:

 

[Richard FDC]

Well, it's about time! I was planning on bringing a shovel on the next visit

 

[The Chairman]

I finally lost my marbles, er bearings. I have 57 hours on my Hustler Raptor SD 60" zero turn. Man, they've been some hard hours and between @Moose and I, we've taken down 8' weeds, cleared forest floors and gone through a butt tonne of drive belts. I've abused this machine more than anything else I've ever owned. It takes a lickin' but needs some fixin! The past couple times I've mowed, I've heard a bearing howl from the mower deck. It's not a pretty sound. I've replaced blades twice now and sharpened them a few times as well. I went ahead and ordered three hubs through ebay, supposedly OEM for when I had to replace them. Why replace just one when they are only $20/each? Today was mowing day and I think I could do it in 8-q0 hours if I don't have an issue. I started the day @7:30am by replacing the drive belt. It only takes five/ten minutes, and today I found an easier way to handle the deck belt than I had been doing. Much easier with less sweat involved. I took a half hour lunch and then around 3:00 pm, @Moose called me to chat. I throttled down, moved into the shade and killed the mower so he could hear me. The noise cancelling Bose headphones allow me to hear with the mower going, but they take out so much sound that often the other end can't hear me! After the call, I started her up, throttled up and engaged the blades... and nothing. Oh hell, there was smoke as I started to burn the belt, so I turned off the deck and headed to the shed. I use the farm jack to lift the front up as it's lighter and quicker than the floor jack. I crawled under the deck and the blades were locked. Pulling the belt off, I determined that the center blade was the culprit. I put the impact to remove the blade and it freed right up, but oh the amount of play. So, I lowered the mower, dropped the deck to the ground, pulled the 6 clevis pins and backed the mower over the deck. Once apart, it was obvious that I had the wrong parts. ARRRRGH! A quick call to Byrd's Mower and I was in luck: they had one. Only one and for $45. Once there, I found out that they had all the bearings for only about $5/per... 2 bearings are needed ber hub. I took the hub and the bearings having little idea how easy/hard replacing the bearings might be.

So, the bearings came home with me and what an easy thing to change. Replacing all 6 bearings and installing the hubs back into the deck took about 20 minutes. The center bearing was utterly destroyed and the left one had obvious issues. But $34 later and I have all new bearings in the mower deck. Kewl. Tomorrow I'm going to dress up the blades. They aren't that bad, but they could be sharper and then I'll re-install the deck so I can finish the lawn. I give an hour for repair and another 4 to 6 to finish mowing. I'll return the hub the next time I'm at Byrds. I have a 10" diameter x 31' long hose ordered for my leaf catcher.

 

[The Chairman]

BTW, this is a bit late, but the homestead has a couple new 'tenants'. With the loss of Silt, I decided to add a couple of kittens to keep Ma~ company. So far, she's not impressed. Natasha is a black beauty and Mishka (little mouse) looks like a grey lynx. They are too stinking cute, so here are some pics:

They just love sitting and sleeping on my left shoulder.

They are cuddle bugs.

Mishka will simply drape himself over anything to catnap.

Such a cutie!

I am a lynx, Rowr!​

 

[The Chairman]

Last week I bought a Woods RD7200 Finish mower in less than perfect condition. There's a leak in the gearbox and boy is this going to be a toughie. The leak is far larger than was described to me and the hypoid flows out almost as fast as I can pour it in.

The gearbox has been taken apart

The old o-ring was covered in Silicone. I've ordered a thicker o-ring from Certified Hydraulics in Branford.
Hopefully, it gets in today!​

I can't wait to see if a thicker o-ring will work. It seems like a logical solution. Actually, it seems like the only solution. I wouldn't mind replacing the gearbox, but they are hard to find.

 

[aquacat8]

BTW, this is a bit late, but the homestead has a couple new 'tenants'. With the loss of Silt, I decided to add a couple of kittens to keep Ma~ company. So far, she's not impressed. Natasha is a black beauty and Mishka (little mouse) looks like a grey lynx. They are too stinking cute, so here are some pics:

View attachment 462076

They just love sitting and sleeping on my left shoulder.

View attachment 462077

They are cuddle bugs.

View attachment 462078

Mishka will simply drape himself over anything to catnap.

View attachment 462079

Such a cutie!

View attachment 462080

I am a lynx, Rowr!​

Congrats on the new kitties! So cute!

 

[The Chairman]

Congrats on the new kitties! So cute!

And they know it, too.

Natasha has taken up Lamp Shade Climbing.

They both love to snuggle

Mishka loves the sun! ​

 

[ofg-1]

Damn, Pete, you are running a cat house.

 

[WarrenZ]

Damn, Pete, you are running a cat house.

Not Petes first time in a cathouse Im sure.

 

[The Chairman]

Just the three.