Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

OK, we've all done stupid things with a piece of our OPE whether it's trimmers, snowblowers, mowers, blowers, tractors, pressure washers etc. You know, the kind of thing you look around when it's over to see if anyone was watching? 

One of mine involved a slide that's part of a wooden swing set in my backyard. I was mowing on my Snapper RER and was trying to get as close as I could to the end of the slide, pointing toward it, before I would back-up and then mow closely down the side of it.

We'll right when my left foot decided it didn't like being on the clutch, it decided to slip off the clutch which resulted in the thing doing a wheelie and running right up the slide. I was very lucky that it didn't tip over to one side and end up on top of me. Well, I instantly let off the blade engagment with my right foot and while sitting there at a 35-45 degree angle,  feeling so damn stupid, I started looking around to see who all was laughing and pointing. I would have never lived it down.....hey, did you see what dad did........ Hey, did you see what Dad did? I could here it already.

Thankfully, I was not seen, got off and backed the RER down off the slide while feeling very sheepish and acting like I meant to do it, just in case I missed someone. 

What's some of your stupid happenings?

Marshall,
Sounds like you having a spaz on a yard bug, and Dave trying to turn over Aunties Chevy with the Gravely are the only two  goofy things to happen to any of us. I can't imagine blowing the head off a lawn tractor with too much starting fluid., Only some goof ball like you or Dave woud do something like that.

I heard from a reader who was blowing snow with his Gilson out near the back yard. There was a rope on the ground  that was tied up in a tree. The snowblower snagged the rope and proceeded to winch it's self up into the tree. He had fun explaining that one to his wife!

Pete

Sounds like an idiot I know that picked up the extention cord to the Christmas lights and wrapped the cord and the lights around the blower. Brings a smile to my face. Forgot about that one.

What a bunch of dopes we know.

So we are in our third year in our new home, second year with the Honda.  Christmas is approaching in a few weeks and the wife strings some lights on the two front pine tree shrubs on either side of the stairs leading up to our porch.  There is a small pine shrub to the left and actually three on the right on a row lining the side of house until they meet the front of the house.  The wife has in the past placed lights on the two shrubs on either side of the stairs.

We get our first pretty good storm of the year, about a foot or so of snow.  I come along the front of the house clearing a walk path.  I then begin clearing snow up to the porch.  As I approach the shrubs lining house on the right with the blower the strangest thing starts to happen.  The shrub in front of me starts to do this weird dance shaking all of it's snow off of it.  I watched this show with a strange fascination as the tree began to dance like a hula dancer shaking and moving and doing a weird jig.  Then tree next to it closer to the house starts to do it, man this is so strange, I am absolutely mesmorized as it is all happening so fast.  Then the shrub on the right of the stairs begins this strange ritual again all happening so fast I just can't comprehend what is going on.  Finally the shrub on the left of the porch shakes and then if all of this wasn't weird enough, it's top slowly starts to bend down and the tree starts to bend too like a giant finger pointing at me like the accusing finger of God.  I am totally at a loss now as to what is going on and then suddenly the Honda (which has been engaged the entire time) pulls forward in my hands like magic as if the pointing tree of accusation was calling it over.  I then suddenly realize,  that the machine is being pulled so I quickly release the auger handle and the mysterious show stops as I hear a snap and the pine shrub snaps back to attenion.  In shock I walk to the front of the Honda and there I stare in horror as about 30 ft of Christmas tree lights hopelessly entangled in the auger blades. 

I calmly walk inside where my wife is cooking dinner and I say "honey",,"yes",,"did you decorate the front shrubs this year with lights..."yes, I did it the other day"...."Did you decorate the front two like usual?"  No she said, I decorated the front four like usual"...I calmly start to shake, "honey," "yes", she says, "you have never decorated the front four before, only the left and the right one next to the stairs".  "No I don't" she says,,,"I always do all four", "don't they look great"?......I just shake my head and walk away....It took me a half of an hour with sharp scissors and multiple knives to finally get the auger housing clear  the tree lights.

C 

One day while cutting the grass with my old Sears LT-10/36, I made my usual tight turn around a particular birch tree at my property line. My female neighbor drew my attention away from mowing (easy to do - she's MUCHO eye candy! ), and instead of backing up, I left the trans in forward & proceeded to smash the RH tire right into that birch tree. KA-POW!!! The tire blew out off the rim & she saw it all. Thank God the spindle didn't bend or crack! Neighbor saw it all and found it quite amusing. So much for my "cool" status that day...

Marty

very funny stories here.  I bet your wife was in shock Chris!  anyway I don't have any OPE stories, many auto ones like using torch to get hose on gas tank- and I lived, But God gets the credit for that one. but this isn't about autos so I want to just mention what I saw the other day.  my neighbor 'weed wacking' about 1-2 inches of snow off his drive!  strange but it was working!    thanks for the laughs.     Gene

Yes, those swing sets can be a problem, especially mowing under the swings. Ours has the one with two seats facing each other. The vertical pieces stick out about an inch below the floor. I was pushing it up with one hand and pushing the mower under it with the other. I didn't coordinate things quite right and the swing came down on the mower with one end of the vertical pieces going through the sreen on top of the mower and taking out a number of cooling fins.

I'm going to start a "stupid auto/motorcycle happenings" over in NPT/Chat....and even start it with one of my own embarrassing stories...

Paula

Interesting happenings folks !


ChrisS... didn't check the snowblowing area before the 1st snow... eh ?
(maybe you did)


Used 2x10" planks for a ramp to put the garden tractor into/out of the pickup truck...
Mistake !

Backing off the damp planks... about 1/2 down...
WhoooAAAAA ! 

There I was on the ground with part of the tractor on me...
Luckily only the rear fender got bent...

Soon after... bought aluminum ramps made for this...

Saving the Gravely story for another day...


Dave...

LOL...Yeah Geno she was.

Dave I did not check there because she never put lights on those two front shrubs before.  I think she did it the day I was working and got home late and the storm hit the next day so I never had a chance to see them on to know about them.

Of course she swears to this day that she ALWAYS puts them there but funny thing is...she has never done it since so some tradition huh? lol....

She actually could'nt figure out why she just couldn't re-use them lol....gotta love her lol....I showed her the pieces and then she understood....

C

Stupid OPE happenings...................OK, we've all done stupid things...................

Well, not me, unless you count the time I mowed half of my back yard before I realized I never reinstalled the chute from the deck to the bagger sending grass flying out the back like a jet engine?  Luckily, nobody was watching.

LL

This happened to one of my students at the Vo Tech . He was at the part of the curriculum where I would let them overhaul engines, etc. . He did a beautiful job of cleaning and disassembling the engine, laid all he pieces on his work bench, installed everything by the book. He just did a beautiful job. Mounted the engine on the Snapper . Then he took it out back where we had a grassy place to test them.. About the time he got out there I could hear the engine slowing down, like it was tightening up, then shortly it stopped. I realized what he had done------he forgot to put the oil in the engine. It can happen and when it does it makes you want to crawl in the ground. You can imagine how the youngster felt----Your friend--Will

It was about 35 years ago when I was still a teenager. My mom had this old (even then) Hahn Eclipse mower that had seen better days. It wouldn't shut down when the throttle was pushed to off, so I got in the habit of carrying a screw driver in my back pocket to ground out the plug. The screw driver came in handy to flick a clog out of the chute, or adjusting or tightening the stuff that was always getting loose on the mower. One day, I was grounding out the plug to shut it down and my finger slipped off the insulated handle and I got hit with the electricity meant for the spark plug........

I opened up my eyes 50 feet away from the mower that was still running, thankful I hadn't landed on the screw driver stabbing my self. I also fixed the mower to properly shut off.

I don't have any such exciting stories, except for forgetting to tighten the return line of my pool filter when hooking it up this past summer, and then turning the filter on after the pool had filled.  Not only did I get about 500 gal of water in the "specials" courtesy of the return outlet and my proximity to the pool, but i also got beat senseless by the return hose flailing about  as the filter pump happily did its job. always check those hose clamps...

About 25 years ago  I rented a commercial tiller. It was the first time I laid eyes on one. I thought the drag stake was a kick-stand so I tossed it aside. Big mistake.

My neighbor stood there watching me rev up the engine full throttle. I think the governor was broke. I grabbed both handles and the last thing my neighbor saw was the back of my shoes. I left toe marks about 40 feet as I refused to let go of the handles. By the time I had enough sense to let go of the control handle I was out to the street. My pants had pulled down (had no belt on) and my shirt pockets were full of dirt. I can still taste the small pebbles in my mouth. My neighbor almost wet his pants. Lucky I wasn't killed.. just bruised here and there.

Lesson learned: Don't assume anything. If you don't know anyrthing about  OPE, ask somebody who knows. Second, always wear a belt before tilling.

What I learned was you have to respect power equipment. I figure that I learned the hard way. I want to pass my experiences on, so other folks don't tear up their clothes and maybe get hurt or worse.

These stories are great!  And its nice to know that you guys make mistakes too.......and that we ladies don't have the market cornered on embarrassing 'mechanical' mistakes...

Paula

Well, this is kind of an OPE story.....I WAS outside , using power equipment.  We were newly married, and poor, of coarse, so I was building much of the furniture we needed.
I borrowed my father in law's belt sander to use, and brought the piece I was working on outside because of the dust.
I got interrupted, and then needed tthe power cord for something else. I laid the belt sander on the piece, and then when I went back to plug it back into the extension cord, I didn't realize I had the "hold on" button depressed.........It went flying across the table and landed over 15 feet into the driveway.

No one saw this, and I never told him..........not a scratch and it still works fine 25 years later.

Us lefties always need to watch out for that "hold button", always on the wrong side........

Frank D.

       

             A guy I work with decided to play a trick on the cleaning lady one night. She didn't no we were in the building so he snuck in the crew room and unplugged her commerical buffer while she was buffing the long hallway that leads down the center of the building . when she came down to check on why it wasn't working he decided to plug it back in. Bad idea she didn't turn the machine off like he thought and she ran screeming down the hall trying to catch it. . It was't pretty!!!!!!

              Tom   

pulled the most impressive wheelie trying to get the tractor in the shed over the 2 by 4 ledge that ran across the doorway...........................

cut half the yard without lowering the mower deck , gettin' madder every pass that the grass wasn't gettin' shorter............stopped the tractor to figure out why..............................then made two passes without engaging the blades.................got madder yet............

owned a tractor for 10 years, always knowing it had no brakes......................except for the one time i decided to cut the grass down the hill instead of across like usual..................fun ride till i went to slow it down.........................had brakes after that ride ...................

many more stories of other people in my family.........................its a wonder i ever was born.............

thanks for the relived memories of my own stupidity ,

bill

Using an old cement mixer 2 years ago...
This type... but old... 1950's old... was my Father's in fact...



The tub had a seam in it... and the outter edge had a protrusion on it...

Well... I was holding a bag of cement when I got too close to the tub...

The metal protrusion on it grabbed my pants... an I was lifted into the air in an arc...   
Luckily... my pants ripped before I went around !

Scary slow-motion seconds...


Dave...

Some of these are hilarious! 

not ope but hilarious after the fact, none the less: a lady i know who shall remain nameless (my wife would probably break my arm if she knew i told this ) picked up some cans of spray paint at one of the local discount stores. keeping in mind the spray paint selection was at the end of an isle & across the cross isle began the displays of clothing. Putting her cans of paint in the shopping cart, she dropped one, and the can struck the edge of the basket, puncturing a hole in it,  (just what are the odds of this happening???) then falling on the floor and went spinning down the clothing isle spraying paint all over clothes hanging on racks, AND chasing some old lady that was approaching her, down the isle, back the way she had come.

to make matters worse, when the store help came to clean up the mess the employee tried to clean it up with a dry mop......and the mop stuck to the floor, (duhhhhhhhh) , i just had to turn and walk away........

I learned a lesson early in life. About age 14, I was cutting the grass at the house I grew up in. The mower clogged and you guessed it. I thought I could clean it with my hand. Blades didn't look that close. Well, lucky for me, it just hit the tip of my fingernail, but stung real bad. I went running into the house mildly swearing and my father asked what happened. When I told him, I thought he'd say, are you OK or something like that. He just said, "you dumb azz, what in the hell did you do that for"and walked out of the room. You can be sure I never put my hand near a chute again, and whenever I unclog one, I think of my fathers kind words.  LOL                                                             Kevin

Mine involved an electric hedge trimmer and a long cord. Well, it started off as a long cord and through the season got shorter and shorter. Each time it happened I was impressed by the sparks.

Jerry

I have made a simular mistake. This is why I don't like a clutch system! Iwas mowing a persons yard with my LT. I wanted to get as close to a tree as possible. Usually when I do this, I put it in gear one, and let off the clutch barely. Well, the mistake I made was that I did not look over when I changed the gear and thought I had it in gear one, when actually it was in gear 3! I barely let off the clutch when WAAMM! I hit the dam tree. I felt the same way you did and looked around to see if anyone saw it, but I was lucky. No one did!

Edit to add more info...

When I first get out in the morning to mow the lawn, I like to start the LT and let it run for a couple minutes at low idle. Usually when I do this, I have it in park. Well, I have no saftey switches on this LT because it is from the 80's. It was not in gear at all! But it was not in park and was on a hill. I quit late that night and just left it on the hill instead of putting it away. All the sudden, I turned my head to see the LT rolling down the hill. I was like SH**T. I was running after it. My mom saw it! She was laughing so hard she had to sit down. As I was running after it, I was thinking to myself, I am such a dumb A**

Anyone ever try to start your engine and it would not start and after checking lots of things, it took you an hour to find out that it did not have any gas lol?

Vangellis wrote:

Kevin

I bet you scared about 10 years off your dad's life......might explain his response.

Paula

        Marshall

        You just had to start this post

        We were patroling a line this afternoon and I had to get across a small river with a four wheeler. Water was almost up to the top of the motor and I was getting nervous. Everything went fine until I got to the other side. The darn thing wouldn't pull itself up out of the water . I finally jumped off on the bank and used the front winch to pull it out of the water. All went well till I noticed the guy working with me was rolling on the ground laughing. Then I thought about this post !!

                    Tom    

sawme wrote: But a memory you made!   

I learned my lesson with swing sets about 5 years ago. On my old Snapper RER trying to cut in and around it. The handle bar got hung up in the swing chain and it rasied it all the way up and i fell off the back. I didnt get hurt but from that moment on i used my string trimmer to keep the grass cut around it from then on. Thank God the wife didnt see i would still be hearing it

Jody, nice pic in the sig line! 

Thanks Marshall Yours isnt bad eather i have one of those also but its 33 years old. They havent changed to much from the older ones.

test

What about mine Jody?

You are our Cub Cadet know it all here!

Edited to ask Marshall how he likes his Snapper?

Hey Termy how have you been . I like your picture also but i dont have one of thoseWhat kind of Deere is it and how do you like it?

Jody, I have been doing well thankyou.

You might say I like it very much after you see the specs it has. The price tag however is a little steap, but what do you expect?

It is a John Deer X595SE 4WD Garden Tractor. The best in its class for a residential mower. I wish I owned one.

Click here to view the specs

Yes its pricey and nice one day youll have one to play around on.

"Playing" is a kids term Jody

I would use it for my lawn services. And if I get attachments for it, I could use it for gardening work aswell! And yes it would be fun to do, but I would not use the term "Playing"

Terminator20 wrote: Great review on it Termy, click the Review tab above.  

Terminator20 wrote:

I dont know i enjoy playing on my Cub every chance i get I just tell the wife that its work

Thats funny.