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Can't buy anything that lasts any more...

Fawteen

Fawteen

Well-known Member
Location
Downeast Maine
My 1995 John Deere LX178 lawn tractor shed it's drag link in the middle of mowing the front yard.

New one on order, be about a week.

Fortunately, it's been dry and what didn't get cut doesn't look too bad anyway. Mostly just clipping the weeds and evening things up.
 
Could have it Monday, if ordered machine down and pay the freight. Otherwise it will come in on a stock order and no freight, or should.
 
I had to put two downstream sensors in my Tahoe this week. Doggone things only lasted 200k miles. What a piece of junk. lol
 
In the late 1990's I had an inexpensive MTD mower that did the same thing, but it was less than 5 years old at the time, no where close to 25. Naturally it broke on a Saturday afternoon. As a temporary fix I was able to pop the ball joint back in its socket and then dimple the metal above it enough to hold it in place until I found a replacement.
 
Well if it is as simple as the the socket popped off the balll? If you have any kind of welder? Put the socket back on the ball and run a a strategical weld bead on the socket to act as a retainer to keep it from popping back off. Do take care NOT to weld the socket to the ball. You will be back to mowing in less than 15 minutes while you wait on the new part to arrive.

My ole cheap Murray rider did this about 15 years ago....15 years later and my repaired one is still on there and working just fine. I would never do this type of repair on a car or even a tractor that may travel down the road at a decent clip of speed. However on a riding mower that never leaves the yard or exceeds 5 to 6 mph top speed it is not a problem for me anyway.
 
Several times I have finished the lawn after removing the wprn out tie rod end or drag link, viced it and peened the hole closed around the ball using a flat punch. Works till you get to town or the parts get in.
 
Happy that you were able to get it figured out and, hopefully, be back up and running soon.

As for the "buy anything that lasts" part - soo 25 years isn't reasonable to you?

If you want a grass cutter that will run for 100+ years, I have a an antique push reel mower for you.

Since you are buying 100 years of future service? Selling price: $50,000 😀

Obviously tongue-in-cheek - but have think, 25 years for a couple thousand dollar lawn mower - what is that? $100 a year?

Sounds to me like JD engineers did a fine job.
 
I bought a 98 Weedeater (Poulan) brand riding mower and used it to mow almost 3 acres of lawn and rough ground. I pulled trailers around with it and general worked it BUT it was kept under cover. Finally i
about 2012 the wiring started shorting out. My neighbor bought the same model in 99 and did not use it a lot but put a new gas tank with a non vented cap. Pressure from the heated gas forced gasoline into the oil and eventually locked the engine up. I put my 98 motor on her 99 body and made Frankentractor. She used it and then gave it to the guy who did her mowing. He used it to mow all over the 'hood for several years. He got a different mower and gave it to a friend. It is still mowing!
 
Yup, I was being a wise-a$$. Sort of my default.

And that was a $5000 mower in 1995. I looked a couple of years ago, it'd cost over $9000 to replace it with a similar quality machine today.

Other than belts, batteries and blades, I've put one set of front tires and a carburetor on it. It lives in my garage and every fall the deck is removed, scraped, wire-brushed and painted.

I fully expect it to last another 25 years, which is more than I can say for me...
 
[i:654c4848f0]Do you still have your F12?[/i:654c4848f0]

Nope, sold it a couple of years ago. Lost my shirt but wasn't using it and had better things to do with the space.
 
Resurrected my 20+ year old Craftsman 20HP mower after sitting for 3 years. New nose cone $95 was the most expensive part, hood was falling off. Was so happy to have two mowers, I even waxed it. And the cheesy headlights work also. I think I got my monies worth.
cvphoto51405.jpg
 
The ball and socket on that drag link can be temporally fixed. Take off, clamp in vise take punch and drive down edge of socket around ball. It will at least help you finish the job. Or clamp is vise and whack end with hammer.
 
Farm stores and some hardware stores have the ball joint for lawn tractors. Menards has Heim joints. I replaced the ball joint type on my cub cadet with heim joints.
Google heim joint if you not know what I mean.
 
I was being a turd too 😀

My first thought for a response was - 25 years isn't good enough for durability? Yikes, would hate to see your underwear drawer 😂

All jokes aside - what is irking is the idea that back in the day, mostly, more money meant better built, beefier - greater durability.

Today, more money usually means more electronics, more "creature" comforts, more "technically unecessary" features at a cost of durability.

I get the performance and life-limit engineering aspect - which isn't desgined for durability, per se.

But give me a company that says - hey, we have our base model, designed to work for the next couple years, then we have of beefier model, does a little more but mainly designed for the next 20 years etc...

Maybe they exist butt I don't see 'em.
 
(quoted from post at 16:33:26 07/25/20) My 1995 John Deere LX178 lawn tractor shed it's drag link in the middle of mowing the front yard.
Click to expand...

If you mean the socket came off the ball, it can be hammered back around the ball to get you by for quite a while.
 
Yup, a couple of "field expedient" fixes occurred to me, but the lawn doesn't need mowing that badly and it's too flippin' hot for this ol' Tundra Yankee to be messing around in the shop.

'druther sit in front of the fan and b!tch about it..."8^)
 
Know the feeling! Sometimes it's more relaxing to sit & bi_ _ _ (complain) over a barley pop than it actually do anything about it! Especially at our latitude when there are no cooling breezes.
 
The older ones if maintained, sure, but the newer ones - yeah, you can get it to run for 25 years, as long as you keep replacing everything that breaks or needs replacing.

Heck, anything technically could last for centuries as long as you were able to save one tiny little piece from the original and keep swapping everything else out 😆

I could just see it now, in 2092:

P1: Look at that old 1989 Chevy, had it for over 100 years and still running strong!

P2: WOW! It looks great, can't believe it still goes.

P1: Runs like a top, now mind you I've swapped motors 4 times, 5 tranny's, rebuilt and then replaced the frame and subframe - umm let's see what else, put at least 10 new front-end components in it over the years - you know, axles, shocks, struts, tie-rods, u-joints, bearings etc, fuel tanks, fuel lines, brake lines, fuel pump, blah blah blah (he drones on for 10 more minutes) then finishes with - but that mirror, THAT is original! Oh, wait, the glass is original but the housing isn't.

P2: Ummm, okay...

😆😆😆
 
Wish I could say your wrong but I just came in from replacing few broken hay rake teeth that where maybe a year or less old. I use an old IH 5 bar rake and some of the old teeth that where on it when I got it are still on it
 
all i remember about old riding lawn mowers (when they were new) is they were small and broke down all the time!
 
I use an Ih 16 5 Bar rake. The only teeth available are made in China. New ones will break faster than some 20 year old ones on it. I raised it up a half inch and that stopped most of the losses. Can'e see that it is leaving any alfalfa on the field. If you are raking grass and clovers you can run it even higher. Try running it on a dirt road. If you see scratch marks you are way too low.
 
Can't buy anything at all that lasts? Hmmmm, ask any Honda or Toyota owner that has driven one of their cars in the last 20-30 years. Then ask some oldtimer how many miles he got out of his '50 Ford Customline before he needed an engine job. No offense but I think your title is somewhat exaggerated .... good luck with your fix. Oh, someone did mention your machine was 25 years old.
 
Just had a new O'Reilly's 350 CID engine put in my '77 Chebby 4X4, new Edelbrock carb. Runs much better.
 
Tee be careful. I could use those for parts to some of my one running still. And No I didn't just replace everything but the rad cap, and say it lasted 40 or 50 years.
 
I bought a $25 marriage license and it cost me $250000 and a brand new Yukon xl Denali. Best money I ever spent tho ( not the 25!)
 
Good Evening Fawteen
Just foe info.
If its the ball joint I ve taken a flat washer that fits just under the ball
Notched the washer then either brazed or weld the washer the cap that sets on the ball , lasted for awhile '

Azpeapicker John
 
What you say has a ring of truth but there are some things that defy all logic. Ford tractors of the late 1950s among them. And, I might add, every Toyota truck I've ever owned.
 
Takes two weeks to get a part for a 56 rake or 6 months to get a needle for a d1000 baler but hey maybe they can do better getting parts for your iveco bus?
cvphoto51429.jpg
 
Thats the problem I have with buying used vehicles anymore. Just buying someone else's problems usually. Better off to get something coming off a two or three year lease and not take 40% depreciation on it for buying new. We've got a 4 year old Husqvarna zero turn mower. I think its been in the shop 7 times and it has less than 150 hours on it. Went and bought a Cub Cadet rider just to have something to cut with when that one goes in for repairs, and I'm thinking about buying a third mower. Similar to full size tractors. Can you have too many?
 
(quoted from post at 08:33:26 07/25/20) My 1995 John Deere LX178 lawn tractor shed it's drag link in the middle of mowing the front yard.

New one on order, be about a week.

Fortunately, it's been dry and what didn't get cut doesn't look too bad anyway. Mostly just clipping the weeds and evening things up.
Click to expand...

You're not "fixing" it, you're SWAPPING PARTS!

You're one of them no-good PARTS SWAPPERS!

If you were truly a mechanic, you would fix that drag link.

(Yes this is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the fact that the only difference between a "mechanic" and a "parts swapper" is the age of the machine they work on.)
 
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