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

Doogiegh · Mar 25, 2002

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 · Mar 25, 2002

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 · Mar 25, 2002

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 · Mar 25, 2002

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 · Mar 25, 2002

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 · Mar 25, 2002

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 · Mar 25, 2002

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 · Mar 25, 2002

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 · Mar 25, 2002

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 · Mar 25, 2002

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 · Mar 25, 2002

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 · Mar 25, 2002

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

Richard Martin · Mar 25, 2002

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 · Mar 25, 2002

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 · Mar 25, 2002

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 · Mar 25, 2002

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 · Mar 25, 2002

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 · Mar 25, 2002

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 · Mar 25, 2002

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 · Mar 25, 2002

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 · Mar 25, 2002

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 · Mar 25, 2002

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 · Mar 25, 2002

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 · Mar 25, 2002

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 · Mar 25, 2002

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 · Mar 25, 2002

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

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

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