OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums General Discussion Forum Off Topics When Homer Simpson tries to fix his mower

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.

I have a mate who fixes everything with fencing wire. As he lives in the inner Melbourne suburbs it never fails to amaze me as to where he continues to find the fencing wire for all his repairs. I know he doesn't have a roll of it at his place but everything he brings here is held together with fencing wire.

He must had visited my area as I repaired a go cart a couple years that the governor was fixed using fence wire. The operator had to being the cart when it was started as it off like stray that was shot at.

Vint_mow I just kill a Husqvarna with a Honda engine that had only half of the blade left. Crankshaft was so loose at the top bearing that it was actually hitting the coil.

Of course I even one dude that had duct tape his bar blade on.

Sometimes I don't think some operators are even as bright as the dimmest light bulb in the shop.

Over the years, I have come across some very clever backyard mending jobs to various mowers, most quite well done, some not so, but adequate. I think finding mowers with these eclectic repair jobs they can be a great way to get ideas and make the machines unique.
I have a Victa Vortex with some very solid over engineered repairs to the base and catcher. I actually like them and it makes my mower unique and doesn't detract from it's style.

There must be a lot of intelligent people in Woy Woy Mowerfreak. Well I have seen some very clever mending jobs up here too, especially some re-engineered blade disks that are actually superior to the originals. Also a lot of adapting of parts off different brands of mowers and engines that are really clever. But the thing is this is generally found on pre-loved mowers that I've purchased from the owners. Many of the ones at the tip seem to have been abused by idiots who had no understanding of how anything works. I forgot to mention I came across one mower that had so much baling twine and fine wire wrapped around the shaft that it had put a brake on the engine, to the point that it had stopped it dead. I unwound about 20 metres of the stuff and then tried the mower. It still ran. You've got to wonder at people who seem oblivious to what is actually a very simple problem. As I said before, you can only laugh. And the great thing is if it were not for these kinds of rough backyard attempts at fixing stuff and failing, there would not be as many mowers at the tip. At least most of the parts are still okay, apart from the ones that someone has got mad with and broken.