Well, my friend and i worked on that crazy riding mower today. Found out that the controls are decidedly different from USA type controls! At the front, on the steering column brace cover, down by yer feet, are two pedals. I haven't figured out what the left one does, but, the right one will send ya into the woods, or yer work-bench, at frightening speeds! So, when it doesn't stop, ya let up on the pedal, and that infernal machine backs up at the same speed as when it smashed into the work bench! The side gear shift sez it has 4 speeds and reverse, on a metal plate at the left side of the engine where the bent shift handle resides. Problem with that---it doesn't say where Neutral is--nothing to show its location! On the left side of the steering column plate, is another foot pedal, which i haven;t figgered out yet what it does. It took 7 minutes to find neutral, so i could even get the engine started, since it doesn't have electric start. At least, i haven't found that either, if it even has it. Finally, i did start the engine, got on it, moved the shifter handle to R (Does "R" mean something else in swedish?) And it ran swiftly into the arc welder and cart in front of it! I left up on the right pedal, and it backed out of the garage swiftly, then i pushed the pedal down and--yep--you guessed it--the arc welder cart again! By that time, i was sorry i had ever seen that infernal machine! It is going back to the owner-free-no charge! I did get it tamed down once and had it mowing and going along good, then Ruth called me for lunch, so i shut it off. I guess it had a fit of pique, because, after lunch, it did everything backwards, except it didn't put the grass back on the stems! After many years of using the right pedal for the braking process, to have it work just the opposite is scary! WEEEeee--over the cliff, foot firmly planted on the brake pedal!

Hey folks, so I'm posting this follow up in my original thread because I think I have a related problem. Last year, I replaced the PTO drive belt and the mower blade drive belts on my inherited JD STX 38 Yellow Deck. Today I took the mower out (NOT the first time this season) and had some serious issues. First of all, the grass is tall - 18-24 inches. I had the mower height set to the tallest height. The grass may have also been slightly damp - although not wet. I was able to cut basically one path, then I realized that although the PTO was engaged, the blades weren't cutting the grass. I was going at the slowest speed (first gear) and even tried cutting using only 1/2 of the mower deck width at a time - no help. I took the mower back to my driveway, cleared out lots of old clumped grass from the blades, and started the mower and the PTO. The blades were definitely turning. I turned off the mower again, and noticed that the PTO drive belt is looking terrible - it's all pitted and slack - it's not tight around the PTO shaft! So, my theory is this: the PTO drive belt is shot again (Although not broken yet) - so the blade spin when I'm not trying to cut anything, but when I come in contact with any sort of grass of substance, the slack belt is "slipping" and resulting in the blades not cutting? Does this make sense? Solution: replace the belt AGAIN???? A few more things to note: 1) I tried cutting shorter grass and drier grass and had very little luck. 2) why would my PTO drive belt, just replaced a year ago, be so shredded already? That's worrisome... any advice would be appreciated. thanks.

======================================================================================================================== Posted by: john999 (My Page) on Mon, Aug 15, 05 at 5:42 No, that is not true. Most engines are "interference" engines, they need to specifically designed to be otherwise. The old GM engines from the 70s didn't have a belt or a chain - the camshaft ran off a spur gear. When that disintegrated, the pistons would push the valves up against little resistance. They were interference engines. If you break a timing belt there is no connection between the camshaft and the crankshaft, so the pistons just push the valves back up against no pressure and nothing gets broken. On a timing chain engine, the chain usually breaks on one side only, so it is still connected to the camshaft. ======================================================================================================================== John999: No offense intended but your statement regarding Chvy engines from the 70s' in not at all correct. Almost ALL of those were run by a timing CHAIN . Cars and even some of the pick-ups used a CAM gear that had nylon teeth. When the teeth wore down enough, the Chain would jump a tooth and you'd have to go in and replace it. I personally hate nylon faced gears, opting instead for a good ole fasioned Cloyes Double roller set-up. In thier aim to quiet things down, the manufacturer made one more thing to wear out long before it should,based on it's original design. Now if you want to really get serious, go with a gear drive setup...AHHHH Love the sound of those.

We need to buy two new openers for our wood doors. One door is large- for a two car area & the smaller door would house one car. We hardly use the second door, it's just for storage, anyway. In our remodel both have broken. The large one was on it's last legs anyway so our contractor sent a guy out to check it out. His idea was that both doors need new springs (no big deal) new brackets and hinges and door buttons. I asked for weatherstripping on the bottom of the doors as well. The contractor's guy spec'd two Genie units (no model numbers) but I believe are both belt drives as quietness was discussed. The bid was $2500+!!! I called in a guy who my neighbor had used about 4 years ago. He put a Stealth in her same large garage door for $500 at the time. He came today and recomended a Liftmaster belt drive instead of the Genie recomended realignment and hinges etc and all told his price was $1800. You can guess what I'm going to tell our contractor. I don't have the quote yet (he's faxing it today or tomorrow)but is a Liftmaster better than the Genie Stealth? Not sure of the horsepower either is spec'ing. Input please!