This is what happens when you don't know sh!t about machinery.

[Runs With Scissors]

So there I am yesterday morning gassing up the blower and my buddy of 40 years pulls up.

As per usual, he has a car problem, and we talk for a while about the usual BS.

Well of course inflation comes up and I say to him "Man I was pricing out riding lawn mowers for Bill (my FIL) and holy sh!t, have they gone up in price!"

He immediately says "hold on Bill needs a tractor?" (he calls them tractors lol)

Paul: Yep, he's 85 and he's compl...........

Sam: Hold on, my neighbor pushed one out near the street last night and it has a "free" sign on it! It's still there, and it's SWEET, come on, lets get it before some other rat does..........get in lets go now.

Now mind you, ......I've known Sam for 40+ years and he is the most frugal person I have ever met, so his idea of "SWEET" and mine are often worlds apart.

He only lives about 1 minute away so what the hell, I jump in and ask him "Man if this thing is in such good shape, why is he just giving it away?"

Sam: He said that he F'ing bent the front axle and just pushed it to the front yard and wants it gone. Two rats came by and looked at it, but left it.....I'm sure you can fix it, It's sweet.....

Now my Spidey senses are tingling......There is no F'ing way I am going to take some hunk of sh!t and try to resurrect it, I have way too many things going on to add some "basket case POS "tractor" to the list.

To my surprise when we pulled up I thought "hmmmmm......not bad"

I grab the trailer and haul it home......Now I have 237,965 237,966 things to do......

As you can see the starboard tire is bent inward, but it looks to be in "OK shape"

 

[Runs With Scissors]

Sam called the guy and he claimed it ran fine, but the battery died.

So before doing too much to it, I decide to see if she runs. I grab the jump box, bypass the seat safety switch (battery is under seat), check the oil, and sure enough it fires right up.

Ok things are looking up.

So the steering linkage on the right side is all bent to hell. I'm pretty sure thats what he was calling the axle.

So I take the torches out to heat it up and bang away at it with the BFH. It moves a little but not like it should have......Hmmmmm.....something is amiss......

BAM there it is......It hits me like a sack of hammers.......all the grease zerks are factory new with no grease on them.....

I disconnect the "tie rod" and the wheel is frozen solid.

I try greasing them, but its still frozen.

I decide to take the tire off and grab the torches, and begin heating up the "King pin" (I have no idea what it's called)

 

[Runs With Scissors]

after a a minute or 2, I grab the impact chisel and have at it.

It moves a little, but its time for the BFH.

I start whacking at it, and it moves some more, but the top begins to mushroom a little.

I say F it, I pour some more heat into it and some more whacks with the BFH and Whala

It pops down, but I mushroomed the head too much for it to come out. A little work with the grinder and it's out.

Then a few seconds with the Bench wire wheel

 

[GreensvilleJay]

dang you're one LUCKY guy !!1 Looks like a very nice condition MTD !!!50/50 ACE/ATF dribbled in the 'joinery' will loosen it up overnight. cheap MTD have stamped steel axel, better(lke Cub cadet ) will have cast iron ones. One of those EASY fixin jobs..add oil, go to something else jobs.
once you get it all freed up ,you'll have a $2500 'tractor' for FREE !!!
nice

yeah, I jealous...

 

[Runs With Scissors]

After wire wheeling it and a little grease, It slides back in like "Budder".

Reassembly is quick and easy. But the alignment is still off by a mile.

A few turns on the tie rod ends and I'm in the ball park.

I decide to leave it slightly "toed in"

Well I don't think I'll be turning laps at Daytona with this alignment job, but it's good enough for doing laps around a 70' x 125' yard....LOL

 

[Runs With Scissors]

I run to Wally World and Home Depot, grab an oil filter, 2 quarts of "synthetic 5w-30" , a battery and some Sea Foam fuel treatment (I love that stuff)

And here she is in all her glory.....

turns out to be a 2011, with 142 hours on it.

A little soap and some easy pressure washing

 

[Runs With Scissors]

Here she is, ready for delivery.

She looks damn near new.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

Front tire is wasted, but it will work for now.

 

[cuboodle]

Nice Find. Every Sept 1st the the upscale hood a few miles away has collection days on the curb. We call it hillbilly Christmas. Got a "new" stihl trimmer and a honda mower that needed routine maintenance

 

[Nicksacco]

Outstanding!
It's amazing what people throw away.

I love the driveway picture with mower and all the tools scattered.
Ya can't do a job without bringing out the workshop! I tell my wife that all the time.

 

[Yooper]

Awesome score! And your write ups are very entertaining! You may have missed your true calling

 

[NCL4701]

Congratulations. That’s a little lottery win, there.

You’re write ups are very entertaining!

 

[Russell King]

Great find!

Didn't see that you replaced the air filter. I imagine if they didn’t grease it they never changed the filters either. Please at least check it out and clean the outer foam filter (if it has one)

 

[DaveFromMi]

I recently acquired a similar mower. The front left axel was bent the same way. I don't know how this could happen. I heated it up and got it close to straight.

 

[ve9aa]

I love these types of posts.

Great job - ONCE AGAIN !

 

[Runs With Scissors]

Nice Find. Every Sept 1st the the upscale hood a few miles away has collection days on the curb. We call it hillbilly Christmas. Got a "new" stihl trimmer and a honda mower that needed routine maintenance

Hahaha Hillbilly Christmas....Love it...Nice finds too.

Awesome score! And your write ups are very entertaining! You may have missed your true calling

Awesome score! And your write ups are very entertaining! You may have missed your true calling

I love these types of posts.

Great job - ONCE AGAIN !

Thank you for the kind words gentlemen.

I do like writing them up.

Great find!

Didn't see that you replaced the air filter. I imagine if they didn’t grease it they never changed the filters either. Please at least check it out and clean the outer foam filter (if it has one)

I did pull it, but it was like new, so no need to replace it.

I recently acquired a similar mower. The front left axel was bent the same way. I don't know how this could happen. I heated it up and got it close to straight.

Actually this one wasn't bent, it was rusted in that "turned position" because he never greased it.





I still can't believe it. I have never found a diamond in the rough this good before.

I spent all morning greasing all my stuff though....I've burned though 4 tubes of grease so far.......hahahaha

 

[D2Cat]

Nice find. Perhaps you owe Sam an apology for presuming his bad taste wouldn't suit you!

But I want to know when the neighbors are going to approach you for the "things" around the house,

 

[Runs With Scissors]

Nice find. Perhaps you owe Sam an apology for presuming his bad taste wouldn't suit you!

But I want to know when the neighbors are going to approach you for the "things" around the house,

D2,

Thanks!

After 40 years of friendship, no apologies necessary, we know each other very well, and trust me, this was just an anomaly. But a few cases of beer are in order.

Lastly, regarding my "things"....Since I took out my "rock scape" and put grass in, I've been a Fuc@ing Rock Star around here....Hahahaha...

People are driving by, purposely slowing down, smiling and "literally" giving me a big thumbs up!!!!!

 

[MOOTS]

If you want that thing to steer with one finger, get some needle roller thrust bearings and machined washers. I did the same on my cub and it is awesome.
My setup is a bit different than yours, but should still work.

 

[MOOTS]

Also, that kohler 19 is a ticking time bomb. Pull the fan cover, and flywheel and lock tite a few bolts so they don’t wiggle loose, hitting flywheel and breaking the block.