Lawn tractor broke, mowed front lawn with big tractor. . .

[Melensdad]

Lawn tractor is broken, my master carpentry and tile setting skills do not translate into lawn mower repair skills. So I got the big diesel tractor out, started mowing with that on the rain soaked lawn, pretty much have deep muddy ruts in the front lawn now. Wife is not happy with me.

[bczoom]

What's wrong with the lawn mower?

Even I know better than to put the big tractor on a soft lawn. I hope you have a big roller or cultipacker.

[Doc]

Originally Posted by bczoom

What's wrong with the lawn mower?

Even I know better than to put the big tractor on a soft lawn. I hope you have a big roller or cultipacker.

Sometimes doing something like that is the only way to get the little woman excited.

I did tell ya about those things they call 'push mowers' a while back. You must've forgot about those, huh?

[EastTexFrank]

Oh, Bob. What can I say. Probably not much because I did the same thing about 3-years ago. Luckily, I started as far away from the house as it's possible to get and it took me about 10 minutes to figure out that it wasn't one of my better ideas. What a mess.

I did it because I'd been waiting almost 4 weeks for parts to come for the RFM on the B2400. I just couldn't stand it so I just had to try the big tractor and bush hog on it. Never again. Before anyone says it, I do have a walk behind mower but have you ever tried cutting a 4-acre yard with one, especially with 5 week tall grass?? I did it once many years ago and I still remember the experience and it wasn't positive.

[bczoom]

When I bought my tractor years ago, I got a RFM for it thinking I was all set. Well, between R1 tires and wet ground, I knew that wasn't going to do. Got rid of the RFM and got a garden tractor. That was just too slow as it took almost 3 hours to mow. Got rid of that and got a ZTR. Now I mow in 45 minutes and can do it on wet ground.

I did a push mow... once. Like EFT, no way I'd do that again.

Bob - sounds like you're in a perfect situation to talk Mrs. Bob into letting you get a ZTR.

[Melensdad]

Originally Posted by bczoom

Bob - sounds like you're in a perfect situation to talk Mrs. Bob into letting you get a ZTR.

No ZTR for me.

Can't mow the slopes. Just not practical enough on my property.

[bczoom]

The right ZTR will climb like a billy goat. :) I mow hills my garden tractor wouldn't have a chance of doing without flipping over.

[bczoom]

It's steeper than it looks in the pics but here's 2 pics of a hill I mow with the ZTR. With the garden tractor, the front end would come off the ground about 2/3 of the way up.

[Melensdad]

Maybe ZTRs have gotten better on slopes but this is my Ventrac that is broken, and nothing does slopes as fast or safe as a Ventrac articulated mower.

The deck drive clutch seems to be the culprit?

[bczoom]

Forgot you had the Ventrac. My bad for even mentioning a ZTR for hills compared to that thing.

What seems to be the problem? Symptoms?

[Melensdad]

Wife was mowing last week.

She said "one of the blades fell off the deck"

So I went out and I'm missing 1 part that she lost in the grass (not a big surprise about that).

But beyond that spacer that is missing every time you hit the switch (electric) to engage the clutch to start up the front mower deck the machine dies. It bogs down and the engine dies. I checked everything on the deck and there is nothing on the deck that is binding. I put the machine up on a hoist and I can't see anything that would cause binding. I cleaned it up, poked, prodded and peeked at everything I could figure out.

[Doc]

I guess the clutch on all these burn out after a while. I had to replace the one on my Scag a couple of years ago, So i would start up the blades with the engine on low (to save the clutch) and then move up the throttle. This year I blew a fuse and it would try to start but then die. I had to take it in for the tech to figure it out. I told him what I was doing with the clutch and he said that might have caused the fuse to blow. Better to have the engine at full RPM when engaging the clutch ...at least on mine. Less drag on the motor and the electrical system. Oh well, live and learn.
Good luck with your clutch issue Bob.