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Extra maintainance

2335 Views 9 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  themidniteryder, 
The Commercial King
4
I regularly maintain my 48" Scag zero turn mower (I mow commercially) But never thought as part of maintaining to check belt adjusters . A few weeks ago I was cutting my last pass before a steep hill (that I mow with my walkbehind) and my adjuster pully for my drive belt threw a bearing. The belt popped off , I had no stearing and was heading down hill so fast that the ebrake would have threw me from the machine. So I was along for the ride strait into a tree.(There was a large branch that jutted out so I thank god to walk away from that one). Anyhow the Scag did not fare so well , the right front caster wheel went up and back into the mower deck .(moved probably a foot). Being up here in Pennsylvania our season was ending and I was able to pull it out enough to do my leaf cleanups . Just wanted to get the word out . Here are a few pictures ..1st is the tree ... then some pictures of my wheels after I bent it back , keep in mind, both front wheels should touch the front of the trailer at the same time.






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Five Points
Wow! Glad you fared alright and you were able to straiten out the wheel and finish the job. You bring up a good point about not checking the idler/adjuster pulleys. You can easily miss a bad pulley if the belt looks good and its under tension. Thanks for sharing that with us, and we're glad your alright!
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bwdbrn1
Yikes! Glad you're O.K.!
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Austen
That's scary, glad that you're okay and able to tell the story!

It is definitely a great reminder to check over everything as with most machines, everything on them serves a purpose and when something breaks or doesn't function right, it can be a danger.
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Mark / Ohio
Dang, you must have hit hard! :eek:
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T
First and foremost, glat you are none the worse for wear. As a repair shop, I have quite a few commercial customers, some of whom I think feel I beat them up a little. When I charge for a tune up, it's not just change the fluids, filters, plugs and sharpen the blades. They get a full bumper to bumper inspection and a list of suggested repairs. I believe in catching the small issues before they become big issues. Funny how that works though. If I catch a frayed belt and suggest a replacement, they either don't want to do it or grumble about the cost. If I miss it, or more the case it gets damaged and breaks a couple weeks after being in here they jump up and down wondering why I didnt fix it while it was in here as now they have unscheduled down time.
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The Commercial King
themidniteryder said:
First and foremost, glat you are none the worse for wear. As a repair shop, I have quite a few commercial customers, some of whom I think feel I beat them up a little. When I charge for a tune up, it's not just change the fluids, filters, plugs and sharpen the blades. They get a full bumper to bumper inspection and a list of suggested repairs. I believe in catching the small issues before they become big issues. Funny how that works though. If I catch a frayed belt and suggest a replacement, they either don't want to do it or grumble about the cost. If I miss it, or more the case it gets damaged and breaks a couple weeks after being in here they jump up and down wondering why I didnt fix it while it was in here as now they have unscheduled down time.
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I wish you were my repair shop , my $8 bearings will cost me $200+ to replace the whole front piece. :mad:
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T
Glad to hear you are replacing it rather than just bending it back till its "good enough" like a lot of others would opt to do. some repairs ya just dont take shortcuts on.

Keep your fingers crossed that we soon move to an area near you. We aint gonna be in Cali forever! If I had my way, we would of moved last weekend.
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The Commercial King
themidniteryder said:
Glad to hear you are replacing it rather than just bending it back till its "good enough" like a lot of others would opt to do. some repairs ya just dont take shortcuts on.

Keep your fingers crossed that we soon move to an area near you. We aint gonna be in Cali forever! If I had my way, we would of moved last weekend.
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I bent it back just to finish my leaf cleanups , The bag capacity is much greater than my Lesco walkbehind ... but I always try to stay on top of things , I am not a big company that can upgrade every year or two , I need my things to last . If you guys are moving , western Pa is a looong move !
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T
Any move will be a long move...even just across the street...have you seen how much stuff we got? :) I am hoping for outside Chattanooga Tn. she is pushing for outside Cedar Rapids Iowa. I AM NOT backing down on this one! Am I? I dont think I am, well I hope I dont. :dunno:
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