Worst thing you hit while cutting??? Damaged Engine?

[Doogiegh]

What's the worst thing you hit while cutting grass that you didn't know was there?

At my parents house, I hit a huge rock, the size of a baseball in deep grass. I don't know how it got into the yard, but it was there, the blade hit it and wham, bent crankshaft of this 21" walk behind crafstman mower... I had cut the grass many times before, some one must of thrown it into the yard or my brother put it there while playing baseball for a base or something..


Do you guys worry about hitting water/gas caps or small tree-trunks that would do damage to the mower when you're cutting a property for the first time?

If you DO hit a large rock or tree stub, and the blade wacks it good, will the belt break or can you do internal damage to the mower? How much can a Exmark or Scag 32-36 " take before it causes real damage?

Thanks

[65hoss]

A few years ago when we had a HUD contract we hit junk all the time. Most memorable was a 10-speed rim. Buried in 3 foot high grass.

[stslawncare]

i always look over new properties for any obstructions. i have hit my share of rocks on my own property (arnt sisters wonderful), but my worst was a few years ago with my old mower when a chunk of the deck fell off into the path of the blades, heard a loud noise then the blades stopped and so did the engine, warranty covered it (less then week old) and i got a new bigger and better mower.

[2 man crew]

They are not the worst thing to hit but Tennis balls are the best.
If you catch em just right they fly. I hit one over a two story house once.

[lee b]

Last year I hit a piece of cast iron wheel weight {about 100lbs worth} couldn't stop the blades before it stalled the motor. Broke the cast-iron into 3 pieces, was sure I had ruined my z , a Deere M665, but only damage was a ruined blade. I've heard some folks say the spindles on the 7-iron decks aren't any good, don't believe it, on the rough industrial sites I mow, I hit stuff all the time and no problems so far. It's definitely not something I like to happen, but it's one of the hazards of the job.

[1grnlwn]

I hit a piece of 3/4" x 3ft rebar. Had 10 hrs on my new ferris. Killed engine (of course) bent 2 blades , 1 spindle, bent top of deck on two spindle locations. Belt broke about 20 hours after that taking out a $80 hydro belt. Makes you sick.

Mark

[summitgroundskeeping]

I have an account in the middle of now where and sometimes there are dog toys or tennis balls in the yard. Sometimes I'll be mowing not see some like tennis ball and "thump" it just starts sailing into an open abondoned field. Thank god nothing is around because of a chance they could get hit.

But this guy had a pool installed so I wasn't able to mow in this area for like 3 weeks, and the contractor left stuf in the yard, and after I weedwhipped down the tall grass I hit a chuck of steel in the grass and twisted a blade up bad.

[BRIAN GALLO]

Last year while mowing we hit a piece of pipe sticking up out of the ground (must have been an old closeline pole) while trimming with a lawnboy. For some reason the blade driver, which is supposed to shear off under these conditions, didn't! the motor blew to pieces. even the carburator monuts cracked off.

[Tyner Lawn Service]

Been pretty lucky. Had a customer forget after they put up the water hose he left the small sprinkler laying in the grass. I caught it and shot it through a window. His wife had just minutes before been cleaning the window before we got there and since her husband forgot it he took the blame. Had one of those (screw in the ground )dog chain holders hit by the blades and stick in the side of the house. It was hidden in deep grass on a new account.

[Doogiegh]

I can see by how quick the responses are coming, seems like everyone hit something.

Just remembered, I was like 6 years old, my dad was cutting the grass and he told me to go inside (I was outside outback playing at the time, he was cutting the back grass).. I had no idea at the time, but he ran over a hole in the ground, which was a bunnies nest. There were babies in the nest, so of course when they went to ran, they had no idea what hit them.

I remembered years later that he was all upset and stuff, but my parents never told me what had happened, just that something was wrong with the mower. I was 6 years old, so what did I know? As I said, it was years later that the "truth" came out.. Yuch..

Poor bunnies..

How many of you have hit something with a mower that has killed the machine? Is a bent/cracked crankshart all that common?

What about better belt driven blades, like on the commercial brand stuff? Will the belt snap or the engine stall and die, hopefully without damage?

Gary

[heygrassman]

My grandfather one time, hit the gas shut off cover. The thing shot across the street and busted up the neighbors car.. Thank God no one was out there.

[Mykster]

Hotwheel car. It wasn't so hot after that. Luckily, the only damage was to the little car. Sorry kid....

[Richard Martin]

Let's see...

Objects that are movable would include turtles, a brick, a large brass fitting, golf balls and other stuff like that.

Immovable objects include a cast iron sewer cleanout, a large buried rock (kinda reminded me of a iceburg, most of it was under the ground) and a 10 ton chunk of concrete drain that suddenly jumped up out of the ground and ruined the blade on my brand new Dixie.

The only real thing I damaged in all of this the spindle on my Exmark went bad a year after hitting the cast iron sewer cleanout.

[David Haggerty]

I was mowing an apartment complex.
I was crowding my 72" Toro groundsmaster into a space that was too tight for it and hit something.

Had to go tell the apt. manager I'd hit a manhole cover.
He jumps to his feet like he's mad or something.
Really ranting and raveing about how he can't be responsible for everyone else's stuff!
That I'd have to be responsible for my own equipment!
He paused a minute to see how I was going to respond.
I said "good idea, everyone responsible for their own stuff!"

He looks at me kind of funny.
So I tell him, It didn't hurt the mower, but it did some damage to the manhole cover!
We go out to look at it and it was one of the new fiberglass manhole covers.
I'd shaved a neat little bevel across the protruding side.
He didn't say anything at all, so I went back to mowing.
I was prepared to pay for the manhole cover, but not after the way he had been yelling at me!

Dave

[rodfather]

Golf balls and tennis balls are real bad. Once ran over a survey marker on a new property. Ouch. Toss that blade.

Saw a neighbor next to a property I was mowing run over a tennis ball. Shot out into his dining room window. $900 damage...man was he ever p...ed.

Worst was the son to one of my dad's friends ran over one of the metal hoops you use in croquet to hit the wooden balls through. It shot out and went into his father's chest and killed him instantly.

[1stclasslawns]

Well I have wacked a wabbitt. scallopped snakes (thats cool cause I hate them) diced rats. But the worst is I hit a guy wire anchor to a high line wire with the open discharge of my great dane, It killed it and broke a blade but that was it, no further damage,

I also hit a piece of pipe sticking out of the ground while dodging "granny Gums" who jumped a curb while staring at me, That broke a spindel but my dealer covered it under warrentee "bad casting" he called it. I call it momentary case of opticalrectitus, the ol' lady had her head in a dark place. if ya know what I mean.


Jim

[weve]

I bent my first blade in 13 years last summer. Hit a cast iron water hydrant shutoff that sticks up six inches. I go around that 25 times a year but just swung into it. Always be alert!

[mdb landscaping]

Ive hit a few golf balls and a couple of tennis balls. One other time i hit a rock too, and it was such a dumb mistake because i knew it was there. I pressed the decked release foot pedal and released it to early, and caught the back side of the rock.

[awm]

ive hit many things.stumps cut just low enough to be hid,
gas lines and rocks ,iron stakes etc. been lucky enough so far that
blade damage was the only result.nothin more sickening that to hit something that just stops the engine.also lets u know u have one tough hombre machine,to survive it

[southside]

As I clear overgrown lots,I have a fairly extensive list of thing I've
hit. Most stuff doesn't hurt the tractor.Just mangles what it hits.
car axles,engine block(ouch),truck turntable,toilet bowl,fish tank,
bikes,old tv,a litter of kittens,numerous rats,an outhouse(my bad),
Massey Ferguson TE20 tractor hidden in 6' grass,car bodies,
inner spring mattress (major pain),garden hoses,wire,chains,
shopping trolleys(tougher than they look),tree stumps,
rocks/boulders,lumps of concrete,manhole covers,beehive,large
drum of rotten milk(splat/yuck),rabbits,snakes and other stuff I've
since forgotten about. Worst one was the garden hose,took a
day to get it out.Had to strip the slasher down and cut the hose out with oxy and an air chisel. Was about a 100' length.Man what
a pain in the arse.

:blob3:

[Robert Ewald]

The utility companies were going through an area that we mow, replacing phone poles and guy wires. Well they left a guy wire in a yard, it got burried with leaves and I found it with my Ferris IS stopped that thing cold. It took about an hour to get it all unwrapped from around the spindal and blades. Had to use bolt cutters to get if off. Other than dulling the blades no real damage to the machine.Dream , Believe, Dare, Do

[AielLandscaping]

i was cleaning up a rental property for my grandpa that the tenats had not taken care of in the 15 years they lived there. i thought i'd cleaned up all the big pieces of debris when i found a cinder block with a 21" honda i'd bought at home depot.. broke the blade, bent the crankshaft, and tore the engine half way off the frame... i called home depot and told them what happened, they told me to bring it in so they could see it... i took it in and they gave me a new one for free, and i didn't even have a reciept.

[Samurai WeedWacker]

My power rake once turned up some live ammunition on the lawn at the Wyoming Technical Institute. There were several .22 rimfires and a .357 magnum round. F'in scary. I wrote them a letter saying I was not interested in working on their lawn anymore until a search was done with a metal detector and explaining why. A couple years later I get a call from someone wanting a bid on power raking at Wyo Tech. I asked him if he knew about the letter I had sent. He said "no..."

[Bladewielder]

I've heard before that severe engine damage can occur if something strong and stationary is hit. I think however that decks with blades sharing a serpentine belt naturally provide some slip when something bad is encountered. I spoke with someone once who operated Walker mowers (Walker spindles are gear/shaft driven) and he had actual gear damage occur a few different times from hitting things. I for one would not put up with that kind of downtime from a machine. The worst thing I've hit would be a 5/8" eye bolt sunk in concrete to act as a mobile home tie down. The sound was like a bull moose being neutered with a chainsaw. I dulled the p_ss out of a blade but the mower was fine. Also, watch out around ball fields. We mow a large field beside a baseball field that always has a few baseballs lying in the tall grass. I've hit a few and they usually fly like a line drive.

[TOSLC]

SKUNKS!!!! I hit a nest of skunks while bush-hogging one day! YUCK!!

Other than the usual rocks and sticks pop cans have to be the worst. A pop can that has been on the road and mashed flat will fly it you hit it just right.

[LAWNS AND MOWER]

I believe I have polished all of the rocks on my accounts over the years. Once hit a rod that is screwed into the ground to support guy wires. The rod had fallen off a cable truck and landed on a commercial acct I was doing. Had a few kind words for the cable company. Turtles can be very messy. A lco buddy of mine once shot a rock through a nieghbor's window and landed on this ladies keyboard while she was typing!!!!

LAWNS AND MOWER

[Bob Minney]

I hit one of those eye screws for dog chains. Bent the crank on a 21"
Worst for messy is a snake and a mole. It ruins my day but I guess its better than being on the other end of the deal.

[FrankenScagMachines]

Hit lotsa stuff...
Hit a 3/8" chain about a foot long with a 1992 Wheel Horse 520H 48" garden tractor. Hit a stub from a steel fence post with it too. I think I hit a bike wheel too maybe... hit some frogs with a push mower and also a old Snapper and a snake or two with the Snapper. Hit strings with mowers and tillers. That is hard to remove.. rocks and sticks of course... definately the little flags surveyors use, small hollow aluminum stakes for marking things, hit telephone wire with a tiller too. Lots of things. No damage to anything though except when we put new bearings in the deck of that wheel horse one of the spindle assemblies had a chunk missing but I dunno when that happened :confused: Do you??? I don't think that 3/8" chain would have done that??? LOL... probably..
A local guy hit a 2' long maybe 1-2" wide bar stock with a mower and it went flyin' into his dad nearby.. it went several inches into him but he survived. Went into his stomach. His son on the mower was kinda not thinkin' - he pulled it out - ouch! on the scene.. then called 911. Oh well I hope that never happens to anyone.

[AielLandscaping]

this is a little different but since we're all talking about peices of metal flying about...

i ran out of string for my weedeater and started looking around in my truck to see if i had anything i could use.. i found a coil of 14 gauge electrical wire... that's the stuff in the walls of most houses.. anyhow i bent it into shape and stuck it into my weedeater and started using it to edge with.... it worked pretty good with the exception of scaring the sidewalk a little... i probally got about 50 feet from where i started when the wire broke and when straight up and stuck into a tree branch about 20 feet high...

[lawnkid]

Once I was cutting my neighbors grass and I was kinda rushing but doing a good job cause i had to go somewhere when all of a sudden I hear a loud noise like a gunshot. I realized I just ran over a croquet ball which was cut in half and the other half hit the back of my neighbors garage, Thank god no damage.

[Brad]

Just before we got married I bought a mobile home. For those of you not familiar with how they work, you basically have a very heavy electrical drop cord that plugs into an outlet on a pole beside the exterior wall. Very similar to an electric range or dryer. I had my $39.95 K-Mart special mower (1975) and was cutting up a storm. I hit the electrical cord with my brand new mower. The cord was 220v as we had an electric dryer outlet. I cut 1 hot wire completely apart, pretty well mangled the neutral, and cut into the second hot. Not only did I live thru the ordeal,(as far as I know) I didn't even make a spark or blow a fuse. Never did figure that one out.

Second in line, My daughter was helping me mow a commercial lawn that had a 6 inch cast iron pipe sticking up about 3 inches out of the ground. She was not happy about helping, so her attention was not on the job, to say the least. Wham with the old lawn-boy. Broke the pipe in a couple places, and the lawnboy ran rough after that. It took it about 3 weeks before the connecting rod finally broke the rest of the way off. Apparently twisted it about 45 degrees when it hit, but kept on cutting. That's when I picked up a used Craftsman to tide me over. That's when I learned I don't like Craftsman mowers. But that is a story for a new topic!

Brad

[LawnCrafters]

I was once cutting by myself with a hydro walkbehind with a sulky.... I was going pretty quick when the deck hit an old fence post that was cut off just above the ground. It slammed the mower to a stop so fast that I flipped over the bars and smacked my face on the top of the deck.
So now I'm laying over the bars, which held the safety down and pushed the speed all the way up,with my feet in the air. Somehow the levers were pulled in so the mower sterted going full speed backwards, right twards a huge tree.
I managed to get back on my feet and stop the mower inches before it hit the tree.
A lady in her car saw the whole thing happen, after her jaw hit the floor she went running over to see if I was OK.
Just a few scrapes and bruises and the mower was fine. Scared the h*ll out of me though.

[walker-talker]

Third day out on my new Walker and was mowing over a small ditch (couldn't tell because on the high grass) and hit a rolled up bundle of chain link fence. Thank the Lord for shear bolts. No damage, other than some down time.

A buddy of mine was bush-hogging and hit a man hole cover. Shot it out like a frisbee and flew over 100 feet and landed in a home owner's front yard. He said it would of certainly taken a person's head off.

MATT

[Doogiegh]

You've come across the largest amount of stuff, including bodies??

Just where abouts are you clearing this 6 foot high grass?

Out of all of them, I imagine the body or the beehive has to be a really bad day.

Gary

[david griggs]

well, neither of em was my fault but last year i hired a friend to work with me. once he ran over a dead squirel, it had been there for a while because it was like beef jerky. that thing was all wrapped around the blade and shaft and he wanted me to get it off! no way dude! i said you hit it you take it off. later on this same guy finished mowing with my 32" toro walker and was driving it up the ramp into the bed of my truck, but he forgot to disingage the blade!!! tore a huge chunk out of the ramp & my tail gate. just cost me a blade though. hehe i knew id be laughing about it some day.

[hollywood]

irrigation heads got hit alot one season at the same residential account. all by different employees. sewer cleanouts definitely do some damage. always feel bad killing animals though. sliced a 4 ft black snake in half and it was still trying to strike. had to stomp him to end the suffering.
on a side note, i damaged a 4in pvc drain pipe that lead to a concrete curb by a road. hit it with a pick while digging a hole for a cherry tree. had to patch the pipe, too long to dig up and fix, especially with concrete on the end.

[Grass_Slayer]

u guys have hit everything but the kitchen sink!!!!

o wait my dad did hit a kitchen sink!!!!!!!:D it was in front of our shop (we were gonna put it inside sometime) it was a cast iron porcelain sink. it took a chunk out of the sink but it didnt even choke down the old gravely!!!

[longviewlawncare]

I did not do this while doin lawn care but i was using a Triplex reelmower at the golf course i work at. One of the irrigation heads pops on and this thing si made of steel. It popped up after the front 2 reels had gone over so it hit the middle one. So much water gushed out that it stalled the desiel engine bent the forged reel and bedknive and had me dripping. It was a fun experince

[Mow&Snow]

I hit a golf ball once....went about 200 yards in a hurry. No damage tho

[anythinglawns]

Snakes, dead animals, frogs, big piles of dung,culvert pipes, rebar, rocks, chains....
A guy working for me one summer wanting to get off early that day intentionally ran over a pile of field stone. Broke the crank,craked the block, rod bolts broke and sent the piston into the head ruining it. only thing left was the carb and starter. When I confronted him about it he said he had not hit anything it just quit. of course the mower was about 2 feet from the pile with tracks going right over it.

[Mowingman]

Had a brand new Bobcat ZTR and first mowing job was an old abandoned city powerplant site. Hit a steel ground anchor sticking out of the ground in tall grass and destroyed one blade spindle and blade. Had all of 1 hour on the machine.
Last year I hit a brick in tall grass and threw it into the side of a new Honda minivan that was passing by on the highway. Didn't hurt the mower, but did over 2000.00 damage to the van. Thank God for liability insurance.:(

[yardboyltd]

20' steel cable, about 1/2" thick. It was hiding in the grass of a new lawn. The blades sucked that baby up, but the belt slipped and the engine stayed alive. I saw sparks flying out the chute and had no idea what had happened!!! :) Luckly, my z is a front mount and the deck flips for easy access. Had to get the bold cutters though, what a mess...

[Mow&Snow]

and the moral of these stories is.....we all hit ****.:cry: :cry: :cry:

[WatkinsLawn]

I hit one of those wire frames for training tomato plants. It was in a shady area that had grown right through the wire. As soon as I hit it I felt something hit my left leg about half way up my shin. I kill the blades, take it out of gear and look down to see blood spraying out of my left leg all over my right leg and all over the jungle wheels (I'm thinking "this can't be good".) I run to the owners door and bang as hard and loud as I could. When she finally got to the door. I said call 911 I think I hit an artery. By that time I was bleeding profusely all over her porch. She heads back into the house (I'm assuming to call for help) and I lay down and put my leg straight up in the air as I apply as much pressure as I could. She comes back with some ice cubes wrapped in a towel and tells me to put it on my cut. By now I'm starting to panic she still hadn't called 911 and I'm bleeding fast. I begin to yell at her to call 911 hoping the urgency in my voice will convince her to abide. She suddenly realizes how serious this situation was and called 911. By the time medics got there I was getting delirious and couldn't even remember my wife's name.
What happened was the wire I hit went through my leg and cut an artery. Medics got me to hospital and I got sowed up just fine. That was a close one.

[jaybird24]

Ive hit alot of crap - but the worst was when I first started out. I was mowing an office building and they had a pond with 4" rip rap around it and I mowed right along it with my discharge facing the rock-you guessed it I shot that thing 50' across the pond and right into a nice tinted office window. The lady in that cubicle screamed so loud I heard it clear as day with the mower running.Needless to say I don't mow there anymore- and it sure did suck standing there with about 100 people looking out their windows at me. Felt like I had my beans caught above my frank for public display.

[LJ lawn]

i hit a pipe sticking 4" out of the ground covered by some leaves.i hit it with the deck down movin' pretty good on a snapper z.it put a dent in the deck but i hurt my back real bad.i couldn't really move for about 20 minutes the pain was so bad.it would have been better if i was thrown off the mower but i stayed with it.now i walk every foot of a new lawn looking for crap like this.

[darryl gesner]

I hit rocks the size of softballs or bigger every time I mow my lawn. They stick up out of the ground a bit and pop out when hit by the front of my mower deck, causing me to run them over. They don't really do any damage though, just little nicks in the blades and little dents in the deck from the broken pieces. The worst thing I hit was an old guard rail cable about 20 feet long...wrapped that baby up good and stalled out the motor. Took a while to unwrap it, but no damage.

[southside]

Originally posted by Doogiegh
You've come across the largest amount of stuff, including bodies??

Just where abouts are you clearing this 6 foot high grass?

Out of all of them, I imagine the body or the beehive has to be a really bad day.

Gary

Not human bodies,car bodies. As in dumped vehicle shell.
You'd be suprised how long people let their grass grow over here.
I usually get a phone call from the customer when the local council
gets around to sending an overgrown land notice.

[PrimeGreen Lawn]

Originally posted by Tyner Lawn Service
Been pretty lucky. Had a customer forget after they put up the water hose he left the small sprinkler laying in the grass. I caught it and shot it through a window. His wife had just minutes before been cleaning the window before we got there and since her husband forgot it he took the blame. Had one of those (screw in the ground )dog chain holders hit by the blades and stick in the side of the house. It was hidden in deep grass on a new account.

Hit one of thoes also. This one had the chain still attached. Made the most god-awful sound you ever heard as my Lazer went over it. Chain wrapped around all three blades and the screw-in-the-ground part took out a spindle. Took 2 hours to get all that mess out. (Had to do it on site) Glad I always carry spare blades and a spindle or two!

Scott

[lawnman25]

:angry: The worst thing I have ever hit was a 1/2 inch log chain buried by my competiter .In a yard that he lost a bid on against me . Did not find out who until 3 years later when I heard one of his employee's bragging about how they were trying to put me out of business !!!! It ruined a set of blades and bent a spindle . It could have been worse . The funny thing is that was 7 years ago and I am still here . He has tried everything to drive me out to no avail . :D I have learned to work smarter , not harder . Also , Iwas not the low bidder for the job . My Quality of work was what got me the contract . For 5 years straight !!!!!!!!!!!

[RoewMow]

The worst thing I hit happened on 2 different mowers on 2 different occasions.

The first was a push mower in my dads yard. I was mowing a ditch line and lifted the front of the mower and dropped it on a steel culvert. Sliced into the culvert about 8" and that mower never cut/ran right after that. I was in middle school when that one happened.

The second one was a Kubota tractor (L2500 I believe 60" bellymower). I was a freshman in high school and was mowing my grandparents yard. Approximately 2.5-3 acres. It took like 4 hours every time because the mower was so darn big and not very maneuverable and a couple killer slopes/ditches. Anyway I always mowed around one oak tree the same direction, well this day I went the other way and caught the vertical exhaust on a low branch. I cracked the exhaust manifold on a mower that was less than six months old. Dad taught me a lesson though cuz I had to mow that lawn the next few times with an old 42"???? cub cadet rider til the manifold was fixed. Man was he mad!!!:blob2:

Ever since, he never let me live it down.

Told me to be VERY CAREFUL with my new equipment.:p