I often get a good laugh out of some of the very makeshift repairs I see on old mowers at the local Council tip. It is not unusual to see things tied up with wire for instance. Some repairs are quite sound, but others speak volumes about the operator's incompetence, impatience, frustration, or anger at the time.
There are clearly some extremely rough people out there. Saw a Rover at the tip a couple of days ago. Someone had stretched the governer spring all the way down and fastened it on to the cowl bolt. And they'd forced the control wire through the throttle lever and back into another hole in the opposing lever and then twisted it all into a knot with pliers. They had completely bent the throttle levers up in the air and had almost ripped the levers out of the control panel. Also they had drilled two holes nearby for some reason, which had come very close to puncturing the tank. Not sure what they were thinking. Speaks more of rage than anything else!!
Then of course there are the mowers that have like a teaspoon of thick tar in the sump that use to be oil once upon a time. Mowers so heavily coated in muck that you can't even see what brand they are. Mowers with 4 different sized wheels with no bearings all tied on with wire. Mowers with 2 blades worn down to tiny stubs, a third blade mostly there but split in two, and the fourth blade missing entirely. You can only shake your head and laugh at times.
