Yes my lawn mower mechanic was impressed I had it running. He has known me most of my life so he has seen me do worse than start a mower with a spatula. I smiled last night as I laid in bed because that mower was in the barn when I heard the rain start.
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Man I needed the laugh I got when I saw the picture of the spatula. Still chuckling as I write this.
The truck looks like a Toyota! I have an '86 4x4 with a blown head gasket Iām working on in the garage.
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I had one of those 70ās Graveleys- yes a tank- lots of cast iron parts, used it for 25 years.
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Seems im always fixing something or working on itā¦ Tonight had to drive through the yard to get to the lawn mower to give it a jump with my old farm truck. The battery is pretty old in that mower. These things are innocent enough but hard to explain to someone else. Toyotas are rock solid i own a couple of old ones. The one in the picture i bought for $7500 when it was 2 years old. It never had an air conditioner. One thing i have learned through the years is new is not always better which is the case with my vehicles and my mowers. This sounds like a recurring theme but itās going to rain and i dont like my mowers getting wet.
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I have a John Deere z950a. This is a commercial variety that I purchased used from a landscaping company. This company was one of my clients who I knew took care of their equipment. For some reason they turn over their equipment every 3 years so it had relatively low hours. They were selling 10 of them so I had first pick.
I have had it about 4 years with no problems.
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A business uses those mowers as a depreciation expense on taxes its a win win congratulations!
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I have a cub cadet XT1 LT46 and its got maybe 15 hours on it in 2 years. Its junk. I replaced a starterā¦and i think the starter solenoid is badā¦ the belt jumps off every several mows. I replaced the battery too. I think ive worked on it more than ive mowed with it.
I push mow most everything now to not have to fool with it. More exercise. Got a little craftsman push mower bagger with a honda engineā¦i enjoy it. I like the bagger to do leaves and compost stuff as well.
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The battery i recommend is an interstate 435 they are good ones.
Learned the hard way over the years the battery matters a lot so get the one with the highest cca it costs around $75 direct from interstate. The ones with 1/4 that cca will let you down at a bad time.
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Cub Cadet LTX 1050 here. I purchased it new in 2014 and have mowed with it 9 summers counting this one. The transmission went out when it had 36 hours on it. It was just past the warranty, but Cub honored the warranty anyway so I got a new transmission gratis. Iāve replaced the belt once and the blades twice since then. It now has about 250 hours of run time on it. I donāt like the Kawasaki engine. It has a shut-off on the fuel feed to the carburetor that can cause problems. It is also very susceptible to a clogged air filter. Would I recommend a cub? Qualified no, mostly because this mower is not built heavy enough for the type mowing I use it to do. To be fair, at the time I purchased it, I was mowing about 1/2 acre. I am now mowing close to 2 acres so there is a lot more cutting and running time. I will look hard at a good commercial mower when I replace the cub.
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My neighbor has that LTX 1050 but i think it has a kohler engine. He lives almost a half mile from me but the deck blades are so loud i can hear it good. He has to use ear protection with his. My deck isnt half as loud as his. He mows seems like 3X a week and no issues.
I will likely sell mine next springā¦ i hate it. With inflation i might break even. I think i paid $1700 for it pre-covid on sale and with a coupon from Home Depot.
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I know Iām late to the party here BUT I have been using the same Gravely for 24 years now. Iāve had to put new seals in the engine and a head gasket. Some small odds and ends maintenance wise but all in all a really reliable and great cutting lawn mower I have the bigger deck on it ( I think 60"). It does well in deep grass and up and down hills fine. Occasional I have to have the power clutch adjusted but thatās been about all. I know I paid a lot for it back then but all in all it has been worth it.
During the time I had to have the seals replaced , during Covid and the supply chain issues, the lawn mower was in the shop for about two months ( disassembled of course waiting on ONE seal). So I had no mower. I had a lawn company come and try , try mind you, to mow my 5 acres. They broke their mowers trying to cut my grass. They even rented a bigger mower to try and cut my grass. They got about 4 swipes in my fields and it stopped on them. They wanted to get a bush hog to finish it up. I told them " no way". I got my Gravely lawn mower back about two weeks later. I mowed my 5 acres with no problem just using the Gravely. Long story but this Gravely has been a very good lawn mower for me. I do not think they make this version any longer. They went to making all of the zero turn versions. I could not use a zero turn because of the amount of steep hills I have. If you can find a used one of the 16 G Gravely mowers it may be worth getting. Just my 2 cents worth.
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Mowed the front hill of the office for years with something similar. Absolutely no safety features but man that thing was a tank. It went as fast as I would dare to go.
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