My worst story would be running over a quarter inch dog cable. It wraped up so tight I had to bring out the old trusty gerber multiplier and cut each strand one by one to get it loose. Needless to say I did not make my dollar a minute quota.
Similarly, i ran over a 12' fish tape (that an electrician uses to snake wires in the wall. They are very difficult to cut through !<p>jeff
i've wrapped several cables and they are a PIA.<p>the worst was a 50 pound lead window counterweight that somone had thrown in the tall grass. that one bent a spindle shaft.<p>what is so bad is that it is a family that is in really, really bad physical condition and can not cut their own grass. I feel finincially they are in the same shape so I cut their grass voluntarily. I dont mind the occasional cutting except when I tear up my mower.<p>GEO
A dog cable. I had to prop the machine up on a low wall (the cable was still attached and I had no way of cutting it) and remove the blades with a pair of vise-grips I found under the seat.<p>I now carry a more varied assortment of tools.<p>I hit the top of a water co. curb box once, sounded like a bomb went off, cast iron shrapnel flew everywhere, but only nicked a blade-I kept right on mowing.<p>Bill
Hit a dog run stake in the beginning of the season when the grass was growing faster than it is now (if that<br>s possible ). One of those half inch re-bar ones that sink in a foot and have the dome on top to which you attach the dog cable. Wasn't there the week before. Literally bent the shaft in half pushing the dome below ground. Only thing it did to the mower was break the blade bolt loose. Needless to say I leaned the pole against the property owners back wall and politely asked if this could be placed in the landscape bed. No problems with the owner and they even told me not to worry about replacing it. <p>All in a "bad" day's work......
Oh the storys my mower would tell. I think the worst is a 1/2" thick steel plate. It covers a water meter or something and everytime i have one of my employees cut that particular lawn they think that they can make it over. It is out in the open. They DO see it. Torched my aerins last year and bent a spindle this year.<p>Another fav of mine was the DRIVE LINE that was burried straight up and down in the yard. Only the top 4 inches stuck out. Lawn was long and was first time of season. KLANG!
My worst was a Rubber coated dog tie-out cable with my Scag 36". Actually tore the steel in the deck right at the edge of the reinforcement ring around the spindle. With the help of a local welder, I had the mower running the next day.<p>Bill
I was mowing next to a boat parked in a lot and hit a 1/2 mooring rope for the boat. I didn't see it because the grass was so tall but I didn't know I hit untill the engine geared down and then died. It really didn't hurt the rope (only a 21" push) but I learned my lesson-trimmers are good!
Let's see now. Objects I've run over include but is not limited to: 1 plastic sewer cap (the mower won), 2 cast iron sewer caps (the mower won one and the cap won the other), bricks a whole bunch of times (they are real good for getting any stuck grass out from under the deck), tons of those darn plastic strips they tie newspapers with, a dog run wire, assorted wrenches of various sizes, a large copper plumbing fixture and a 1" diameter 4' long piece of rope which stopped the mower cold.
Iron sewer cleanout, mangled blade and turned it into sod cutter. Had no replacement blades (now required) so I had a half hour each way to replace. Then the force of the impact caused the blade to tighten to where my breaker bar was too strong for my foot. So I put a car jack under the deck and used that to keep the blade from rotating. Good learning experience, but screwed up the schedule.
