Warning dont buy one "M.T.D."

Hi folks,
I had a phone call today from a friend here (english) who was having trouble getting the cable for his (1yr old ) ride on mower ,

Make MTD, its fitted with the brigg/stratten engine but all the other bits ie cables are registered via MTD engines "an american company" and these have gone bust 2 years ago.
Not a word was said last year when he bought this costly mower and he's been trying to buy the cable on the www; and has got nothing, every company he's tried have come back and said "NO"
So now he cant use this mower because the cable thats gone is this main booster cable with a special bent hard metal fixing
cable "
The one that increases the blade 's speed" without this cable the engine starts but the two blades wont speed up to cut the grass.

A lot of places are selling these mowers MTD at reduced prices and the reason is this company has gone to the dogs and spare 's are both very hard to come by and im sure will be high on cost.

Just a warning if your thinking of buying a ride -on- mower!!!
Stick to the well known tried and tested makes such as john deer,
they're not the cheapest but they're a very good well respected company & make machines to last and parts are no trouble to get if needed.

 

Thanks for this moonraker. Has your friend tried local agricultural mechanics and mechanics that repair mowers etc., to see if they could make a suitable adapted part. I know it won't be as cheap as buying a cable, but it would mean he could use the mower again?

 

I know its not ideal, but most things can be botched when there's no practical alternative.

 

Hi julie and clueless 1
Well thats why he rang me up, my other interest are classic motor bikes and my car and he knows i'll sort it out,

Infact an hour ago the dogs started barking and as ive said we live deep into countryside "no street lights or anything like that" but we do have deer and the wild boar's around so i thought it may have been something like that but as i looked out of the back door i could see headlights flashing and it was Bill bouncing along the track.

He came in and asked if i'd have a look at it,
I said yes we'll have to get it round here "he lives 50 km from us (31mile) tomorrow!

Oh i thought you'd say that so ive got it on the trailer "outside"

So im booked tomorrow to have a look at what i can do,

He was telling me it broke because he put a small chimney sweeps pipe brush down the side of the engine to clear a mouse nest away.

Some ideas just dont work do they!

I'll let you know how it all goe's.

 

Well when I was a Kid in the 50's and our bikes brake cable snapped, we just solderd the nipples on a new piece of cable and job a good one five minutes
Most times the damage was at the nipple itself, and not being able to afford a new piece of cable, we used the extra half inch at the good end by de soldering and moving the nipple to its limits , giving us the extra half inch we needed to put a new nipple at the damaged end
So get you bolt on the gas ring ready :-)

Jack McH

 

Hi folks,
Well i sorted the ride on mower cable problem out and it took hours due to trying to get to the hole the cable fitted into, this meant taking the fancy tin side off and then still couldnt get my hand near to the tiny hole the cable needs to fir into So the front cooler and light holder had to come off,
It was then i found the problem,
Its not a normal cable with a nipple on the end "But instead it has a dog leg bend in the actual cable wire, no soldering a solid fitting piece of hard (like metal coat hanger wire)
As i say its a dog-leg shape and this had been broken off half way down this piece,
So it was'nt going to fit back in the hole,
Its a strange idea to hold a cable in place "but " what ive done is use an old A.J.S. motor bike cable, this was far to long but i fiited the wire through the hole then solderd the small nipple back on it, and the lever for more speed end was just a case of re(fitting the end of cable to that,

It took longer to put all the tin work back than to do the job "But" a few turns of the key and its started,
Im made up with the results and when its owner collects i think he will be.

I'll tell you something i was amazed at how much dead & dried grass could be found under the engine and between the cylinder fins, i would have thought this could be a fire risk?