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jeepwm69

Things best left to a professional

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Most of you know I pretty much like to at least TRY to do everything myself.  This means I don't get as much done as I need done (time constraints), and in some cases, I'm not the most efficient, because some people do one thing well, some people do lots of things and do an ok job, but most don't do lots of things well.

 

I picked up another old John Deere lawn mower a few weeks ago.  Oddball, one year only (1985) model, but has a Kawasaki FB460V engine and hydrotstat, and I have one already that my grandparents bought new when I was 10 that I still use mowing every year.   This one popped up about 90 miles away, looked rough-ish, but the guy said it ran and pulled and it was $125 so I figured I could get it and use it for parts if it was too rough to use.

 

Get over there, and it's in better shape than the one I have.  Fired right up with a booster back, and pulled onto the trailer on two front dry-rotted flat tires.

 

Put a battery on it, ordered new tires for the front.  I've change a lot of truck and ATV tires on my harbor fright (spelled it that way on purpose) tire changer, but the hole in the middle of these front mower wheels is tiny so I was unable to use anything other than pry bars changing them out.   Probably took me 30 minutes each to get the old tires off, and I ended up losing my patience with it and cheating with a dremel to cut the bead to get the old tires off.  Wire wheeled the wheels down and got them cleaned up, painted them a nice John Deere Yellow, and then spent 45 minutes yesterday morning getting ONE of them on the rim, and ended up using gas to blow the tire up on the rim because I couldn't get it to seat.

 

I admitted defeat and took the other to Walmart on my lunch break yesterday.  I watched the two guys who are the go-to guys in the shop for tough projects.  They wrestled with it for 15 mins and finally got it on the rim.  Had to fight to get it to seat on the bead too, but in the end, I got a nice shiny rim with a new tire on it that hopefully will last a long time.

 

Total cost at Walmart?  $5.50

 

Sometimes you're better off paying someone else to do things.

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I hate those little tires but with 3 thin tire irons they aren't that bad to do. If possible I lock the rim in the vise when taking the old tire off.

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You right Sometimes it's best to pay to get things done,if you do not have the tools to get the job done,like happens to me at times.Or you don't know what you doing and want it done right the first time.

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yep... I've had to turn in my 'man card' for periods of time-out  many times (grin)

used to do most all my own car work...basics..brakes, fuel pump, water pump, etc...but I always handed it off when it was a transmission..not even interested in getting into that.

I don't know why, but I can't get interested in mowers..so after I beat the crap out of my lawn tractor for a couple seasons and finally break a blade spindle etc.. I just load it up in the trailer, haul it to the local small engine shop and pay whatever the heck they want.

 

when my old fourtrax 300 was due for some love, I considered getting elbows into it, but decided that it deserved a good going over by a pro shop..in case they might see other issues that I would miss...so again, paid too much but let the pros handle it.

 

there's a flat rear tire on my 79 CT90 at the moment and I keep thinking I'm going to get out there and wrestle that tire off with my tire irons..it takes as long to unmount the wheel as it does to patch the tube and that takes less time than running it down to local cheap tire store where they usually have a dozen folks waiting in line...so it's more about me being lazy vs being impatient.

 

if a pro shop tells me, as they often do, that they are 2 months backed up ..then I'll just get frustrated and do the work myself..all my offroad golf cart work is my hands..all of it..but occassionally I realize I need a pro - recent boat refurb is a great example...i don't own the lift etc I need to pull a 305 merc I/O out  and replace it...and my back doesn't much care for me crawling around in tight places redoing wiring, etc...so...pay the man!!!  and I'm so glad I did...

 

 

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The fine line is something I know that I CAN do, but am better off not doing myself.  Yesterday I thought to myself "I got up at 5AM to get some work done, and spent most of the time I had before work doing something that is super cheap to have done at the shop"

 

Admittedly part of it is a guilty conscience.  I know those guys are like "Every time that guy comes in here it's some job that's hard as heck to do"

 

Last thing I took up there were some ancient 589's on Rubicon wheels.  I wanted the wheels, and bent my bead breaker trying to get those hardened 589's off them them. 

 

Even the guys who know what they're doing weren't able to get them off.  I had to take them to the farmers coop to get it done.

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