After the episode with the lawn mower earlier in the week, I was temped to drive a twelve inch Phillips-head screwdriver through my right temple with a sledge hammer, or perhaps use my pneumatic nail-gun to put a few ten penny nails in my eyes. But if you read the aforementioned entry, you would know that my air compressor is broken and so I COULDN'T USE MY PNEUMATIC NAIL-GUN!!!!!!
After that episode, I had a nice glass of wine and calmed down to the point that when I laid down, I only twitched half the night.
Today, I went outside and sat on the grass beside the lawn mower. I talked to it in a father-to-lawn-mower fashion.
I looked at the inner workings of the steering section. And for the first time, I actually "saw" it. There, down inside the innards of the machine was a small part that had worn out and actually fallen out of place and become lodged.
I smiled when I saw it. I wiggled my hand inside and fished it out. When I went inside and looked at the parts diagram, I realized that this little worn out piece was the culprit.
I jotted down the part number from the diagram, and then drove out to the local parts store to pick it up.
It cost $2.45.
I slipped the new part into place, and when I put everything back together, I knew at once it was fixed. It steers like it did the day I brought that baby home
What this means is, I didn't have to use the impact wrench to remove the larger parts. All the aggravation was for naught.
As I sit here writing, I'm trying to think about what I learned from this. Obviously, I'd heard about the Occam's Razor principle which says something to the effect that "the simplest explanation is usually the correct one." I'd heard of it, but I obviously did not consider it.
I was trying to replace big parts assuming that since my problem was so frustrating that it must be something big. When in reality,the smallest part in the assembly was the culprit.
Oh well, I'm happy to put an end to this saga. It was also fortuitous that my compressor was broken or else I may have had serious ocular issues.
Y'all have a great weekend.
Glad you got it fixed before you hurt yourself.
ReplyDeleteI'm pleased to read that you got the mower fixed. I know what you mean about the twitching, DIY jobs have that effect on me too. I guess all that remains now it to cut the grass and repair whatever it was that was spitting fire and blowing smoke - good luck.
ReplyDeleteI pay a man to mow the yard at work, which is the only yard I'm responsible for. I could do it and did for the first 5 years I had the place. I bought a new mower the first year and when I had finally killed that mower and had to buy another one, I concluded it was worth the $25 I pay him per mow.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to your lawnmower experience. The night that Mr. Slug brought home my new vaccuum cleaner, we plugged it in, it roared to life and chased us 'round the living room. Good to see you were able to get a handle on the problem before it got out of hand! Best of luck with your "new" lawnmower! Love, Mrs. Slug
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