2010 07 22 - Lawn mower finally dies

2010 07 22 - Lawn mower finally dies

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The lawn mower finally died. We moved into our home on Cherokee Avenue on Feb 2, 1986. We had brought a nice manual push mower from Utah when we moved here. I used that to cut the grass, but the ground isn't very smooth and it was quite the job. Our neighbors behind us bought a new power mower and gave us their old one, for which we were very grateful. We used that mower for years and years. I replaced the blade on it a couple of times and the spark plug maybe once. I think I also replaced the air filter once. The pull start broke a few years back so I drilled out the rivets, fixed the line, and put it back with my pop rivet gun. A few years back the neighbor's "new" lawn mower died and they ended up borrowing ours, the one they had given us in 1986. They did that for several weeks until they replaced theirs again. So, finally, after more than 25 years of use the lawn mower died. Phillip was cutting the gras on this day when the mower really started to shake and vibrate. He got a little worried and was standing way back and leaning over. He turned the corner and started walking when all of a sudden a piece of the engine went flying off. He jumped back in alarm and the lawn mower died. He found the piece of the engine wall that had been blown off. If you look carefully at these pictures you can see the piston arm hanging out the hole. I don't know the name for the part, but the end clamp broke off.

I took the dead mower to the dump on July 24th. I got it there with no problems right until I took it out of the van to carry it over to the metal scrap dumpster. I must have tilted the mower at an angle. I felt something warm and wet on my leg. Looking down I realized that oil from the engine had poured out of the hole in the side of the engine and run down my shirt and pant leg and onto my right shoe. Fortunately I was wearing really grungy clothing as I had been hauling construction debris from the basement bathroom project to the dump that morning. I threw all the clothing away when I got home.
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