Lawnmower Legacy
There comes a time when a person becomes a legend. They have overcome impossible odds, rose to the challenge, stayed the course and leave a legacy. This is not so much about a person but an object, namely a lawnmower. It is also a testimony to my father’s ability to get every dollar out of something he buys.
Twenty seven years ago, my father broke down and bought a Snapper riding lawnmower. Now I don’t remember why he did. Our yard was not that big. But I do remember the day that he got it.
Life for “Old Paint”, as it has come to be called over the years, started off like any other riding mower. We used it to cut the front yard and most of the back yard. Occasionally we would help to cut the neighbor’s yard.
My 5th grade year, I was sent to this experimental school. Parent involvement was the big push so my father got involved by cutting the grass. Now this was an old 4 room building stuck in the middle of some old fields out in the middle of no where. What was needed was a bushhog on a good size tractor. Paint was called to duty and I remember my father bouncing around those 4 or so acres on that riding mower. Just about every other week, the old man loaded up the mower and hauled it out to the school site. This went on for about a year and a half. Mowing the school, mowing my dad’s yard, mowing the neighbor’s yard.
Around my 7th and 8th grade years, I used it to cut an acre or so in our neighborhood for the whopping sum of $15 a cut. I don’t know how many times I did that but it did that in addition to it’s usual duties for a couple of years. It also towed a small trailer around the yard to get it out of the way when cutting the grass. This caused the replacement and reenforcement of one of the rear bumpers.
“Paint” spent most of my high school years cutting my father’s yard and the elderly neighbor’s yard next door. During that time, it encountered a water meter, several large rocks and bricks. Time was taking it’s toll on the deck so some patching was in order.
The deck was patched with this hard epoxy that was painted around in the cracks and holes in the deck. The front of the deck had been bent back numerous times from running into things or being used as a bulldozer moving shell around in the driveway. I came home one day to my father welding a 1/8″ piece of steel plate to the front of the deck. “Let’s see that bend.” my father said in his usual I challenge the world tone.
Many years and repairs later, my wife and I got about 3 acres of overgrown farmland. Paint was called to duty yet again. It took weeks to clear off that land. Many times I would look up to see Paint being run up small trees as my father attempted to knock them over. He had a system: Backup about 20 feet. Put it in high gear with the blade spinning and go forward until the mower came to a stop or was over forty five degrees off of the ground. Then he would just jump up and down, often times with the back wheels still spinning until the mower was level again. Then he would back up and start the process all over.
It cut that lot many many times. I was on the tractor cutting the ditch and some of the large open area. The old man was on his mower usually making better time then I was. Never once complaining.
Age was taking it’s toll on Paint’s engine. Many times you would have to pour oil into the cylinder just to get enough compression to start. Still it would find enough life left to get “just one more cutting” done. After a while, it simply would not run anymore.
Paint sat idol for a while then one day the old man called me. “I got a new mower.” I didn’t know how to respond. “You mean you got a new engine?” “No, a new mower.” There was a long silence. This was so unlike my father to just get something new. Of course, he did buy a new Prius so maybe he was going through a phase.
He didn’t know what to do with Old Paint. I know what most people would do with a 27 year old mower. I offered to take it up to the farm and keep it there. Time passed.
Someone gave him another motor that was similar but needed work. He spent hours getting that engine cleaned and running. It required a couple of pieces to be replaced. In the old man language that means he is going to have to make something. Nothing gets bought if it can be made.
He got that old engine running and one hot afternoon we put the “new” engine on Old Paint. It was pretty much an exact fit. Just had to do a couple of modifications. Once that was done, it was pretty much ready to go. Well, sort of. The original 27 year old tires held air for about 5 minutes before they went flat. There were a few other things as well. Remember nothing gets bought if it can be made? In this case scrounged up.
One of my relatives had a newer model Snapper that was flooded in hurricane Rita. It wasn’t running and he wanted to get rid of it. We made the trip and picked up a newer model but heavily rusted mower.
Now Paint had newer wheels and tires and was ready to roll. It cut the grass up at the farm with my wife at the wheel and my father on his new mower. We brought it out to my mother in laws house and plowed through the tall grass there. My father did his famous “Drop the deck to the ground and plow through the weeds” routine.
Then one day, things didn’t sound quite right. There was a bit of a marbles in the engine sound and Old Paint wasn’t running quite right. It stopped after about 30 minutes and wouldn’t restart. I loaded it up and headed to the old man’s house. We found a sheered key on the flywheel which didn’t make much sense but changed it and got it running again.
The next mowing, it died again. This time for good. There was a loud backfire, crack and the engine spun down. No compression. Not good. Seems as though there was a crack in the lower part of the engine and well, there was lots of metal floating around where it shouldn’t have been. End of engine number two.
I brought Old Paint back to the Old Man’s house once again. I started working on the motor that was on the other mower. We cleaned and moved parts around most of the day. By the end of the day, it was running again. We stripped off everything that was salvageable and moved it over to Old Paint or kept it for replacement parts. Remember that whole nothing gets bought routine.
So now, Paint is back up at the Farm waiting it’s first assignment with engine number three. This one sounds much better right from the start. It is going to get well used for another twenty or so years. I can’t wait for my next grass cutting.
