Lawn mowers

The garden tractor is now working.

The starter did not have voltage. We could hear the solenoid clicking.

There was voltage on the output side of the solenoid when activated.

Clearly, there was a broken wire somewhere between the solenoid and the starter.

Engines vibrate. Trash and branches get pushed up into the innards. There are a lot of things that can stress a wire.

Wiggling the wire to see if I could feel a floppy spot found me nothing.

Before heading off to the farm store to purchase some terminals I could crimp on to the end of a length of scrap 6 gage wire that was left over from fixing the air-conditioner, I took one more check on the starter terminal.

I about fell on my but when the motor turned over and started.

It blew out a bunch of smoke but that was from when the "scrappers" picked it up. Since one of the scrappers was Kubota, he offered it to me for just a bit more than he could get at the scrap yard.

Southern Belle took it for a spin around the yard. The mower deck goes up-and-down and the blades spin.

The deck needs a little bit of tweaking because it hangs with a pronounced list to the right. I also want to get larger diameter bogey wheels. The mower was scalping the grass.

So I am now the owner of three mowers that run. The old one. The new push mower and now the garden tractor which still would benefit from a new wire from the solenoid to the starter.

Belladonna update
Belladonna finished her last prerequisite today to get into an accelerated nursing program. It is a competitive admission. I am proud to announce that she knocked out an A in every class for both Winter and Summer sessions.