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So I was Mowing my Lawn......

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So I was mowing my lawn, and my mower quit. It was about 15 minutes before the rain was to start, and I had 1 acre left to get done (Would take about 5 minutes on my rider or about 1 hour with a push mower of any type).

I tried everything I could think of to get it running again. Cranked. Checked spark, oil, even checked compression..... Guess what I forgot..... Apparently, it uses this dangerous highly explosive and flammable liquid commonly known as Gasoline. Apparently, the resovour that contains this dangerous liquid (A paper thin plastic tank of all things....). In my haste, I seem to have forgotten that this ancient style machine doesn't refuel via power outlet in it's "downtime" like my car, leaf blower, weed wacker, and every other piece of equipment do.......

What a day...
 
That's the best way to leave an ICE - with the tank sucked dry. I've always gotten in trouble when I leave gasoline in the tank, nasty stuff.
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This is generally a problem with gasoline with ethanol in it.

If you can at all avoid it - don't use E10 for any small engines, and if you have to use it, drain it after a max of 90 days of non-use.

It's getting very difficult to find non-ethanol gasoline. I have to drive 30 miles these days to refill my lawn equipment. So much for the supposed location convenience of gas stations :(.
 
This is generally a problem with gasoline with ethanol in it.

If you can at all avoid it - don't use E10 for any small engines, and if you have to use it, drain it after a max of 90 days of non-use.

It's getting very difficult to find non-ethanol gasoline. I have to drive 30 miles these days to refill my lawn equipment. So much for the supposed location convenience of gas stations :(.
Best to just go cold turkey off liquid fuels. You can replace most landscape equipment with manual,electric or battery powered. No more time and expense fiddling with ancient dinosaur equipment. (If your estate is too large you probably need a lawn service.)
 
Best to just go cold turkey off liquid fuels. You can replace most landscape equipment with manual,electric or battery powered. No more time and expense fiddling with ancient dinosaur equipment. (If your estate is too large you probably need a lawn service.)
I'd love to go cold turkey. a nice Lithium powered rider :) However, Cant justify the cost. This things fairly efficient. It's got a 1 1/2 gallon tank, and thats enough to last me 1/2 the summer. The stuff in the tank was still the stabilized fuel from last fall when I mulched all the leaves (Cant justify raking leaves, when mulching them makes them disappear :) )
I also cant justify replacing a perfectly fine piece of equipment. I am also a motorcycle mechanic among other things, and I take care of all my equipment. It runs flawless. Even still using the 7 year old starting battery :) Heck, only thing it needs regularly is oil changes, 1qt, and that gets recycled back into the motor, as I mix it with the gas over time to burn it all up. Did this with my old truck too. Burned over 300 gallons of waste motor oil (after going through coffee filter) in my truck. Since my truck was mainly used for towing 5,000lbs trailer, and ran nice and hot hot hot doing so, that extra added lubrication of the motor oil made things run smooth. reliable sob too, runs as good as the day I bought it. I'd mix 1/2 gallon motor oil to 19 gallons gasoline. Made towing nice and smooth too. still starts with barely a turn of a key, despite it in retirement with reserve status, now that the Model S has taken over!

But I am counting the days until that lawnmower motor goes pop, and I can shove a nice 20kW DC with a 120v Curtis Controller on this baby. I think I will also replace the belt drive with chain at that time. Maybe put in the transmission from my old alfa ;)
 
I'd love to go cold turkey. a nice Lithium powered rider :) However, Cant justify the cost. This things fairly efficient. It's got a 1 1/2 gallon tank, and thats enough to last me 1/2 the summer. The stuff in the tank was still the stabilized fuel from last fall when I mulched all the leaves (Cant justify raking leaves, when mulching them makes them disappear :) )
I also cant justify replacing a perfectly fine piece of equipment. I am also a motorcycle mechanic among other things, and I take care of all my equipment. It runs flawless. Even still using the 7 year old starting battery :) Heck, only thing it needs regularly is oil changes, 1qt, and that gets recycled back into the motor, as I mix it with the gas over time to burn it all up. Did this with my old truck too. Burned over 300 gallons of waste motor oil (after going through coffee filter) in my truck. Since my truck was mainly used for towing 5,000lbs trailer, and ran nice and hot hot hot doing so, that extra added lubrication of the motor oil made things run smooth. reliable sob too, runs as good as the day I bought it. I'd mix 1/2 gallon motor oil to 19 gallons gasoline. Made towing nice and smooth too. still starts with barely a turn of a key, despite it in retirement with reserve status, now that the Model S has taken over!

But I am counting the days until that lawnmower motor goes pop, and I can shove a nice 20kW DC with a 120v Curtis Controller on this baby. I think I will also replace the belt drive with chain at that time. Maybe put in the transmission from my old alfa ;)
Sounds like you're a great mechanic... an expert at dinosaur technology (and probably other tech also).
However, at some point it's best to put this stuff in a museum to keep it from spewing pollution. Really, adding motor oil to gasoline makes your towing nicer but is terrible for the environment.
Since you've had the foresight to replace your ICE with a Tesla, I think you understand the principle of investing in clean technology.
 
Heres an idea..

At St Georges golf course, (the one where the British golf open is sometimes played), the guy who does the fairway parts uses a golf cart which is electric and attaches self revolving cylinder cutters to the back of it, essentially bigger hand power mowers in a row.

He bombs it faster than you can with an ice tractor and being cylinder cutters it gives a better cut than rotary, and as you can attach multiple cylinders in a row you can cut more at once than an ICE ride on tractor lawn mower.

Worth a try.:wink:

Edit: Found a video of some guy in states doing same thing...

 
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Sounds like you're a great mechanic... an expert at dinosaur technology (and probably other tech also).
However, at some point it's best to put this stuff in a museum to keep it from spewing pollution. Really, adding motor oil to gasoline makes your towing nicer but is terrible for the environment.
Since you've had the foresight to replace your ICE with a Tesla, I think you understand the principle of investing in clean technology.

Pretty Much all that truck did was tow :) 140,000 miles of towing a 5,000 lbs trailer ;)
Now, not the cleanest to burn motor oil, however, a few points. #1, got rid of the waste oil. #2, increased towing performance, and kept engine cooler/ slightly more lubricated (Think 2 stroke motor), #3, because of the better tow job, I didn't need to purchase a different vehicle, saving both a ton of money, and also not needing yet another vehicle to be produced. #4, take motor in for recycling, a considerable amount of energy goes into re-refining motor oil to be used as motor oil again. So, if I got it, why not benefit from it ;-)

Foresight to replace my ICE with a Tesla? Heck, I was Wisconsin's FIRST Electric Car Dealer. I've done 26 conversions ^_^ I've earned my stripes at this point. You should see my push mower..... Car battery powered using a old car starter to spin the blade. That sucker goes forever on a charge. But it's cut path is so small, I only use it for trimming where the rider cant get, and cutting the grass on my train tracks.
 
Foresight to replace my ICE with a Tesla? Heck, I was Wisconsin's FIRST Electric Car Dealer. I've done 26 conversions ^_^ I've earned my stripes at this point. You should see my push mower..... Car battery powered using a old car starter to spin the blade. That sucker goes forever on a charge. But it's cut path is so small, I only use it for trimming where the rider cant get, and cutting the grass on my train tracks.
Impressive.
Train? I'd like to see your train...
 
Might I recommend the GreenWorks 80V mower? We have their 40V line and I've been itching to upgrade as the yard is pretty big and I have to swap batteries a few times to get the job done. Easy enough though, one battery charges while I'm using the other. Or if you really want to splurge there's always those robotic mowers by LawnBott.
 
Impressive.
Train? I'd like to see your train...

And on weekends, we help out here and drive some of these trains :)


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Might I recommend the GreenWorks 80V mower? We have their 40V line and I've been itching to upgrade as the yard is pretty big and I have to swap batteries a few times to get the job done. Easy enough though, one battery charges while I'm using the other. Or if you really want to splurge there's always those robotic mowers by LawnBott.
I'd need to go with a rider. It just takes too dang long to cut by hand. I did it by hand with a gas push mower the first year I lived here...... No more. I did like the exercise, but man, killed a day. With my cheap rider, and some different pullies on the shafts (Different gear ratio), I can mow the front and back in 22 minutes, not counting trimming.
I wills say, the 20v Worx Trimmer and Blower are amazing! I can trip all 400ft of train track on a single charge (As long as I dont put off trimming for 2-3 weeks).

Cub Cadet has a rider, but, dang expensive. If I had 5 ares like my parents do, I might splurge for it.

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Personally :D I'd like to have a steam powered mower haha. Or car... I do know someone with a steam powered car, built on a old VW Bug frame. Goes about 26mph, fun as heck. And during BBQ's, opens the boiler up and tosses the corn in :D
 
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I'm still waiting on finding a good lithium ion riding mower. For awhile I was considering doing a conversion, but with a conversion it is still expensive and then you still have noise from the belt and pulley system. What is needed is a regular looking riding mower with an electric motor for drive and an electric motor for each blade. I kind of wish Tesla would sell one. That would satisfy my Tesla craving for a few years until I can really afford one of their cars.

I really hate my Troybilt mower with Kohler engine (Kohler Courage SV470-610). It routinely leaks gas out the intake; I had to install a fuel cutoff so it wouldn't leak gas on my floor when not in operation. It backfires louder than hell every time you shut it off. It's louder than my SUV even when it's not mowing or backfiring. It's yet another giant advertisement for why electric is better.

Mean Green Mowers makes some lithium ion mowers, but they suffer from ridiculous costs and having no reasonable products. The only one you can sit down on costs as much as a new car, because it's intended for gouging commercial customers.

We desperately need a "Powerwall" for the yard maintenance market. Just like the Powerwall will revolutionize home solar energy storage, something is needed to revolutionize home yard maintenance. And there are a hell of a lot more people that need a mower than need a solar power energy storage device.

So what would a realistic and revolutionary riding mower be? If we were to parallel the car market, it would cost about 4 times what a cheap new one costs, and it would be awesome. A cheap new one costs maybe $1000, so it's reasonable to think a good battery powered one today should be around $4000. What we have now in electric mowers is a hell of a lot of NOT awesome, and a Mean Green mower that costs $16,000. So that's 16x the cost for something that is maybe half decent. Not cool. And red hot ready for a new disruptive company to jump in and deliver something spectacular compared to what is currently out there.

Riding mower companies haven't even learned what a muffler is yet. For God's sake! Somebody PLEASE!!!! Make a decent mower, just once. Somebody save us! I'd happily even take a gas mower if they would just learn from the auto companies how to make a proper muffler system. Use a bigger engine if you have to. Just for once make something that doesn't suck ass. And stop charging 2K more for zero-turn models, that is a complete ripoff for a feature that is not in any way remarkable.

Someone needs to force Elon to mow his own grass. Then things would change but quick.
 
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I'm still waiting on finding a good lithium ion riding mower. For awhile I was considering doing a conversion, but with a conversion it is still expensive and then you still have noise from the belt and pulley system. What is needed is a regular looking riding mower with an electric motor for drive and an electric motor for each blade. I kind of wish Tesla would sell one. That would satisfy my Tesla craving for a few years until I can really afford one of their cars.

Someone needs to force Elon to mow his own grass. Then things would change but quick.
Check out this lawn tractor:
Plans for 1300W Yard Tractor - Page 1.