Captain is the model for "Kelly" in the Seven Cow series. A VERY handy guy.
He asked "Why do you want to spend that kind of money for something that might work?"
Then he elaborated. He plowed snow for a gentleman in his 80s. He did it pro bono. He just happened to notice that there was a brush-hog in the weeds right next to the yard.
He asked about it at the time. The gentleman mentioned that the blades hit the housing.
Fast forward.
The gentleman would be delighted to have the Captain look at the mower to see if he could make it work. Of course he could use the mower as long as he brought it back when he was done.
The blades were attached to a bell and the bell was bent. The blades must have hit rocks. The Captain blocked the blade/bell assembly and used the front-end loader of his tractor to un-bend the bell. The blades no longer hit the housing.
I was surprised that the shafts and drive turned freely. Opening the angle drive case I could see the case was half full of diffy-lube. The old man had taken very good care of his equipment.
The Captain plans to mow both of our pastures with the brush hog this week. Just to ensure that it is working well before he takes it back.
Win-win-win.
Cool!
ReplyDeleteI am riding on the Captain's coat-tails on this gig.
DeleteIt speaks worlds of the Captain's character that the old geezer is fine with the Captain working on it and using it.
Those old brush hogs WILL run forever if they're taken care of! :-)
ReplyDeleteNow there's a good solution. Howse was a medium duty brush hog - the manufacturer went out of business a few years ago. You can get replacement blade off Amazon, there's a particular Italian manufacturer that I like - the blades have the same shape (bends and air-rake) but are much thicker, wider, and have a longer cutting edge. It won't give you the same nice cut as a finish mower, but if you keep the blades sharp it'll get close.
ReplyDelete