I'm stupid

davyfireball · Sep 27, 2014

I noticed the grass wasn't cutting very good.So I finished mowing the yard anyway. I went to sharpen the blades and I had them upside down. Just so this might happen to someone else the sharp side goes up. I feel dumb I had to have done it myself.And I know better.

Leaky Boot · Sep 27, 2014

I drilled a bunch of holes in concrete block with a mason bit. It sure was dull and I had to push with all I had. Woops---I put drill in forward rotation and it worked much better.

Two Dogs · Sep 27, 2014

After hitting a few of our fire ant hills it doesn't much matter what WAS the sharp edge. TDF

Zachary Hoyt · Sep 27, 2014

I went to an independent mower shop to get the little cast piece
that holds the blade onto the crankshaft on a push mower. The
guy gave me the usual spiel about how I should be buying his
special ethanol free gas and then said he would sharpen the
blade free of charge for me, so I said thank you and let him. He
put the blade on with the new cast piece and I went home. Later
I looked underneath and found out he had put the blade on
upside down. It was a high-lift blade with big wings on the back
corners so it was really obvious which way up it had to go, and
he was supposedly a professional. Needless to say I have not
been back to his emporium. One time I was mowing on a hill
with a push mower, let go of the mower to move a tree branch
that had fallen and the mower rolled down the hill and ran into a
tree and broke one front wheel. Now I orient the mower the
other way if I have to leave it on a slope.
Zach

Dick2 · Sep 27, 2014

The first rock that you hit will take care of the sharp edge.

Stan in Oly, WA · Sep 27, 2014

It took me the best part of 50 years, but I finally figured out that it saves me time overall to mark things with magic marker (like the down side of a lawn mower blade), make sketches, take notes, mark things with tape---whatever it takes to be able to put things back together the way they came apart. The alternatives are so time consuming, cumulatively speaking. For instance, my lawn mower blade looks much the same when it's mounted regardless of which side is up. So when I took it off without making a note of how to put it back, I had to figure out how to determine the direction of rotation to get it right. I can assure you that took much longer than it would have taken to read a note on the blade saying "This side down".

Stan

Bob - MI · Sep 27, 2014

Cashier at the local Menard's agrees with me that instead of an "easy" button we should make "dumb azz" ones. I would be the first in line.

MarkB_MI · Sep 27, 2014

I'm sure I've done that at least once.

notjustair · Sep 27, 2014

I kept thinking that the yard didn't look right when I mowed it
with the big mower. I sharpened and balanced the blades - no
change. Suddenly it dawned on me to check the spindles. A
bearing was out of one and it had dropped the blade an inch
lower than the other two. I felt really nice for running it that
way.

Oh well, I have a spindle rebuilding project when the snow
flies.

Dean · Sep 27, 2014

Four years ago, I bought a new Woods 10 1/2' mounted twin spindle rotary cutter.

After the dealer had set it up and attached it to a tractor for in shop "test" I commented about how quiet it was when running.

After delivery but before I had used it they came back to pick it up.

Incorrect spindle gearboxes had been installed at the factory and the blades were turning backwards and at much lower speed than intended.

Woods caught the mistake and notified the dealer but not before the mower had been delivered.

Both gearboxes were swapped and all seems well.

Dean

JD Seller · Sep 27, 2014

I was doing the DOT inspections on the grain trucks. In the middle of doing it I had to stop and go do something else. When I came back the brake lights would not work on the truck or trailer. I spent a few hours looking and checking stuff out like the fuses and wiring. Then I remembered that this truck had to have air up so the brake light switch would work. It has a brake sender that is like a oil pressure switch. Started the truck up and let it build the air up and all the lights worked.

This is just the latest DUMB move I have done.

tractorguy2 · Sep 27, 2014

Some mower do have the blades marked "UP"

Stephen Newell · Sep 27, 2014

My mother gave me her lawn mower which nobody could do anything with. It ran bad and did a poor job cutting the grass. She even had a local lawn mower mechanic look at it and couldn't fix it. In a little more than an hour I had the mower running great. The carburetor needed cleaning and the blade was on upside down. Even the mechanic didn't catch it.

Greg1959 · Sep 27, 2014

Plumbers 'rule'...HOT ON THE LEFT, COLD ON THE RIGHT
AND STUFF DOES NOT RUN UP HILL.

So, while I was building my house, I needed to plumb
up a shower stall. I was on the back side of the
stall on the outer wall. Hot on the left and cold on
the right. I did not think about reversing the
faucets.

To this day it is still that way. I just adjusted.

da.bees · Sep 27, 2014

I have been helping grandson fix up an old,new to him pick-up. He's never turned wrenches or other mechanical work so I'm supposed to teach him same as I did with his dad. While tracking down reason fuel pump wasn't working,I realized EVERTHING seemed to have lost 12 volt power. Commented that It looked like we were causing more problems than we were fixing. He asked me if both cables should be on battery because I had pulled ground off 15 minutes earlier. They say one of the perks of growing old and feeble is you can hide your own easter eggs.

jeffcat · Sep 27, 2014

Here you go...real simple.. When I sharpen my blades with a 4 1/2 angle grinder with a 120 grit sand paper disk. Makes them very nice and sharp and you can do your little Zen thing as you sharpen. Now next is putting them on a ballance wobble gizmo. Last is that I take a can of spray paint and just zip about a 3/8 stripe of paint down the sharp clean edge. Yellow paint for the 42 inch machine. Orange paint for the 46 inch machine. Green for the 54 inch Husqvarna. No mix ups and you mount the sand blades correctly. They have VERY little lift so you do not grind up your deck.

Richard fro SE AZ · Sep 27, 2014

HUMMM, gonna have to look at mine tomorrow. Just put some on and are supposed to be high lift mulching but after using it yesterday crap was blowing out from under the deck worse than I have ever seen and literally covering me up. Didn't seem to be cutting as good as I expected either.

Fawteen · Sep 28, 2014

Sigh.

Putting seal kits in the hydraulic cylinders on a loader.

Took the first one off, cleaned the outside all up, took it all apart and laid the pieces out "exploded view" style on nice clean oil-soak pads so I'd remember how to put it back together.

Very carefully removed all the old seals and o-rings, cleaned everything up nice, put all the new components on and put it back together, put the cylinder back on the loader.

Took the second cylinder off and as soon as I got it apart it was obvious that I'd put the )#($ ing piston on the first cylinder back on bass-ackwards...

sms · Sep 28, 2014

PAYDAY IS FRIDAY AND DON'T CHEW YOUR FINGERNAILS!!!!

Wayne in MN · Sep 28, 2014

Power steering on my JD lawn tractor sprung a leak at the shaft.
Went to the dealer and got the seal kit (surprise-28year old machine).
The mechanic loaned me the jig fixture to hold while repairing.
6 layers of square plates, o-rings & seals later (oh, and 6 small springs like in a ball point pen) it was together. Install & go mowing; seems like it is hard to steer?
So, do it all over again; much quicker to r & r this time. Found one seal had a Teflon side that was upside down. Install & NO HYDRAULICS!
So left it for a day, r & r again. Took it apart & nothing seemed out of place so back together again. NO HYDRAULICS!
Sat down & wondered if a 2 lines were crossed (5 connections all alike). Changed the only 2 that could be reversed & WA-LA, everything works now!
Dumb mistakes can improve your r & r times. Got it down to less than 2 hours now.
Isn't experience a great teacher?

ASEguy · Sep 28, 2014

Almost lost my coffee on that last comment!

Dick L · Sep 28, 2014

We all do those kinda things. On three bladed mower decks I have on several occasions put one of the blades on up side down. So far I have seen it before I let the deck down and turned it over. The older and crippled up I get the more I have to double check every thing I do. The key phrase id (so far) I would hate to list the things I didn't catch.

davyfireball · Sep 28, 2014

I guess I'm just getting old. After reading others mistakes. It's a case of don't get excited. You know the bolts arn't rusted. Just take it with a grain of salt and take it apart again. Thanks Guys for not making fun of me.dave

Waltmo · Sep 28, 2014

When mowing the sharp edge of the blade should be down. If the blade is upside down you are trying to cut with the back side of the blade.

Brown Swiss · Sep 28, 2014

Don't feel bad, I have a brother that left his
chainsaws here once and I turned the chains around
on them and then giggled when he went to use them!
Brotherly love! HAHAHA I was called a f...er

fixerupper · Sep 28, 2014

I am a professional at putting things together backwards or upside down. If you want something put together backward give me a call.

old popper · Sep 29, 2014

My son-in-law gave me his old mower. Bought a new one because the old one wouldn't cut the grass after he sharpened the blade. Turned the blade right side up and it was fine. I never told him though, those college grads get kind of testy being told they made a mistake.

Bob Harvey · Sep 29, 2014

I made a mistake in 1972, a Tuesday as I remember. ;^) grin !

Ron-MO · Sep 30, 2014

Reminds me of the bush hog that I purchased a
couple years ago. I noticed an ad for a 10 ft.
used Howse which looked in the photos to be near
new condition, so I called, and drove down to look
at it, and could not find anything obvious wrong
with it, so I had him load onto my trailer and
took it home. Seemed to work ok, but after
backing into a stump and bending the sheet metal
to the point a blade was hitting I turned in up
right to straighten. I quickly found that both
blades were on backward, and spindle nuts loose.
After swapping sides and a couple large washers to
take up the slop it has worked fine since. My
guess is the seller never could get it to cut
right, and was selling cheap. Very much longer
with those spindle nuts loose and the spindles
would have to have been replaced.

knuckledave · Oct 31, 2014

(quoted from post at 06:03:11 09/28/14) Power steering on my JD lawn tractor sprung a leak at the shaft.
Went to the dealer and got the seal kit (surprise-28year old machine).
The mechanic loaned me the jig fixture to hold while repairing.
6 layers of square plates, o-rings & seals later (oh, and 6 small springs like in a ball point pen) it was together. Install & go mowing; seems like it is hard to steer?
So, do it all over again; much quicker to r & r this time. Found one seal had a Teflon side that was upside down. Install & NO HYDRAULICS!
So left it for a day, r & r again. Took it apart & nothing seemed out of place so back together again. NO HYDRAULICS!
Sat down & wondered if a 2 lines were crossed (5 connections all alike). Changed the only 2 that could be reversed & WA-LA, everything works now!
Dumb mistakes can improve your r & r times. Got it down to less than 2 hours now.
Isn't experience a great teacher?

EXPERIENCE IS knowing when you have made the same STUPID MISTAKE AGAIN ! Been there done that now I have experience

I'm stupid

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