The Glade 4.0

Not really a normal "tech" item, but lately I've been into picking up old lawnmowers and such and trying to fix them. So far, not much success.....
My inlaws gave me an old walk behind mower that they said quit working, and they put it in a shed for a few years. It's pretty nice, and I rebuilt the carb on it, but I think the flywheel key is broken and I don't yet have the tools to get to it. Need to go get some air tools, because that booger is on there good.

They also got some freebies from others and gave them to me. A John Deere L100, which I have been trying to diagnose. It's either wiring or the starter. Gotta get some torx wrenches to get the dang shroud off, though. Tested and charged the battery. Fixed (I think) a junky battery cable on the anode side. It tried briefly to turn over, but then nothing. Gonna take the starter off once I get the torx wrenches, and do a direct connection to the batter to see if it will spin. Need to also test the solenoid, I guess.

I got a cheap, old mulch mower by Troy-bilt also, with a 4 HP briggs quantum. Tried to do a cheap fix of the carb today. Didn't have an O ring for the bowl, but had pretty much everything else. Cleaned it up, and sprayed carb cleaner in the carb, and it would start for a second and die. Thinking the carb is shot, since I manually cleaned the ports and all. Since it's a real cheap mower, probably will just store it for now. Not even sure i want to spend the 25 bucks for a new carb, right now.

Hoping to get some more things, as I've put the word out. Would like to get some chainsaws and such. Haven't touched a 2 cycle engine yet.

I need to get my father's stuff also, which needs fixing.

My wife is constantly ***** me out, though. I have been stinking of gas and carb cleaner, and it drives her nuts. I'm finding it amazing that people throw away so much. The John Deere had a lot of decent stuff on it. It even had a bumper, which costs 80 bucks new. Not to mention the body was not bad, and the tires and wheels were okay. Battery took a charge also.

Anyone else mess with this stuff, or am I the only crazy one?

Whenever possible. I keep running into the problem where it costs nearly as much to replace the part as it would to buy new. Albeit that is on smaller items. I just replaced a carb on a weedwacker, it was like $200 new (big 4 cycle) but the gas intake in the carb was a plastic fitting, and I couldn't find a replacement when it snapped, so I had to buy a new carb for $70 when I could have purchased a 2 cycle for $90...

I also hate the idea of throwing away table saw/miter saw blades when they get dull. Except they cost as much to sharpen as they do to replace (not to mention the carbide tips).

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"Dress cops up as soldiers, give them military equipment, train them in military tactics, tell them they’re fighting a ‘war,’ and the consequences are predictable." —Radley Balko

One day, Henry Ford asked his engineers to find out what component in his vehicles had the longest lifespan. So his engineers went out to junkyards to test various parts on as wide a range of junked Fords as they could get their hands on. After a few months of data gathering, they came back, compared findings, and went to report to Henry.
"Sir, we've found that in every instance, the solenoid was still in perfect condition."
"Well, then! Stop making the solenoids so good."

Apropos of nothing, really, just saw "solenoid" and it reminded me of the joke.

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