I got the mower in to the shop this morning, to fix the broken belt.

Because I had to drive in from out of town and was going to wait, they worked on my mower first thing after they did their parts run.

It was the drive belt that broke, which controls the cutting blades.  The entire section had to be unhooked for the new belt to be installed.  They got me a high end Kevlar belt, so it should last many years!

But…

There just has to be a but, doesn’t there?

When I was leaving home, as I braked to take a turn turn, I felt what I thought was the ramps sliding forward to hit my seat.  Nope; it was the mower rolling forward, then pushing the cooler into my seat.  I commented on it when I got there, and the guy reminded me that there is a parking brake.  I didn’t even think of it, partly because I was already driving when it happened.

So when they loaded it into the van after the repair (not an easy job, because once the wheels clear the “lip” of the van, the whole thing drops, then the outside half – the rear, which has the full weight of the engine – needs to be lifted to get it the rest of the way in or out), the guy that guided it from the inside of the van set the parking break for me.

On the way home, however, it still rolled forward.

When my younger daughter and I unloaded it, I did confirm that the parking brake was still on.

After it was unloaded, I took advantage of my daughter being there and showed her everything to check on it and how to work it, then got her to start it and drive it around.

Which is when we discovered, the brake doesn’t work.  Not only that, but it will keep rolling even when the drive pedal is NOT engaged.  It should come to a stop when the drive pedal is disengaged, even without the brake being used.

I think something broke when it was being loaded back into the van.

I’ve sent them an email, copying my brother who bought it for us, describing what it’s doing.  My husband has a medical appointment tomorrow, so the earliest we can take it back is the day after.

Damn.

At least it’s still under labour warranty.

Before I try loading it back into the van, I will have to find something a few inches thick to lay down on the floor of the back, to keep the mower from dropping.

The Re-Farmer

UPDATE: I checked the van and discovered some of the foam insulation that was used around the house during the winter was thick enough to match the height of the “lip” at the back of the van.  Not only that, but after checking the space, I discovered that we wouldn’t even have to take the seats out again to fit the mower.  I phoned the shop and they were unsure what it might be.  I had time enough for my daughter and I to load up the van and drive it over (a 40 minute drive), about an hour and a half before they closed.  They unloaded the mower – using their own ramp, this time – then the guy that worked on it before started it up and tested it out.  Sure enough, as soon as he put it in gear, it started moving and the brake didn’t work.  In fact, he ended up getting hung up on a corner of the ramp, because he couldn’t stop it.  He had to shut it off!

So he pushed it into the shop and checked it out.  The brake mechanism was working fine.  He thought a belt might be loose, but that was also fine.  So he went even further under the mower.  It turns out there are two bolts that were too far forward, as if they were too tight.  It’s possible, he tightened them too much when he reassembled it earlier, or it’s possible that when it did the drop as it was being loaded into the van and the front tires passed the point of no return, and the deck bed hit the ramp/edge of the van opening, it got jammed forward.  No way to know for sure.  He adjusted them, though, then tested it out.  Forward and reverse, driving it out of the shop, and doing a loop before driving to the back of our van.  It was working fine!

Unloading, testing, fixing, testing again, then reloading: about 15 minutes.

I just got back from mowing the lawn. :-D

I did as much as I intend to in the outer yard; the grass it just too thick to do all of what I’d wanted to do.  It’s not just the new growing grass, but the thatch from last year’s grass underneath, that it making it so hard on the mower.  I’ll just have to make sure to keep up with maintaining the parts I have done, so they don’t get overgrown again.  As long as we can access, the barn, storage shed and burn barrel.

Then I mowed the south yards by the house.  Because I could! :-D