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!

Thanks for the continued sharing. Another associate has left a deposit and I wished him well (if he has a larger yard and need). My friend last used the mower in 2012 and it ran well then and now. He mentioned the oil mess could be a gasket but really d/n know. The perspective buyer said he had a mechanic that should be able to take care of the problem. Someone mentioned it could be the oil dip stick tubeâÂÂs o-ring. My question to those of you that own or have owned or have an engine diagram: Is an o-ring or gasket that close to the full level that the mess could be from one or the other. Plus I d/n know if he has an incline that I feel c/h contributed. It was not considered an issue, which means I hope they know crankcase pressure is not involved.

I was going to put my blood type on the helmet too, but an EMT told me he would never pay attention to what someone claims their blood type to be, he uses universal plasma and at the hospital they use a quick blood typing test. The risks of infusing an incompatible blood type are too high. Medical insurance information sounds like a good idea. Although [rant] have you checked what your "insurance" actually covers, lately? Our family of four pays about $16K/year in employee contribution. And our total family deductible is around $12K/year. We have not consumed over $12K/yr of medical care in at least ten years, probably not since the last child was delivered. Basically we pay $16K/year - and my company pays at least as much - for catastrophic coverage. On a day-to-day basis, every doctor visit and every prescription is coming out of my pocket. I'd rather we had the system they have in France. Everyone, rich or poor, has basic, no-frills medical coverage. Those who want nicer, fancier, more sophisticated treatment - private rooms, cutting-edge technology, $100K/yr drugs - have the option of buying commercial insurance policies, if they can afford it and want to. But everyone, rich and poor, has a basic and decent level of care. We may get a version of that in the US, starting in 2014. Maybe. "There's many a slip, 'twixt the cup and the lip." Who knows if it will actually happen. [/rant] After reading this http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/21/technology/bicyclists-using-cameras-to-capture-accidents.html I got interested in wearing a video camera, so you see on the helmet my initial experiment. It is not the $300 GoPro that a serious biker-recorder wears, but a $38 micro-cam from a Hong Kong mail order hobby shop. Meant for use in radio control aircraft, helos, etc. After experimenting with this cheap camera, I'm putting a nicer videocam on my Santa list. Aside from the "evidence" aspect, it is instructive to view a recorded ride and think about what dangers I did and didn't perceive at the time. I've been riding in traffic since I was a 7 y/o boy riding in downtown Vancouver B.C. on my Peugeot ten-speed, but I still make mistakes every day. Just like we all make mistakes driving, even though we've been doing it all our lives. I'll post a link to some video later. Here is a link that might be useful: NYT Story

Not NO, but HELL NO!!!!!!!! When I was a 15yr old kid back on the farm my cousin and I found a 300ft length of 1/2" steel cable hanging in the shop and we got the brainstorm to make a zip line. We grabbed the cable and a couple clamps and headed to the woods where we strung the cable across a bit hollow. When we went looking for a pulley all we could find was a pulley designed for 2" rope, but when your a kid, that s close enough. I hung the pulley on the rope, then I got a stick about 2" in diameter and three feet long, which I attached to the pulley with bailer twine to make a seat. I then sat on the seat, gripped the bailer twine for dear life and let her go...zooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooom, only as I was rapidly approaching the tree at the bottom at about 40mph I realized, I had no brakes and sure enough,,,Whaaam, I hit the tree hard enough to knock the wind out of me... Well we weren't about to let anything as stupid as the lack of brakes from thwarting our effort, so we got an old burlap sack and wrapped it around the cable near the end, figuring the burlap would get jammed up in the pulley and serve as a brake, which it did very nicely,,,however, what we had not taken into consideration was that on the first pass my weight had pulled all the slack out of the line where it wrapped around the trees and this time it was sagging a bit lower on the finish end, which I soon discovered as it drug my butt through a blackberry bush at about 40mph, totally tearing the rear end out of my bluejeans, along with a substantial part of my backside. And if that was not bad enough, after I finally hobbled my tore up butt to the house I tried to sneak upstairs to change my jeans before Mom found out, only when I started up the stairs, Mom was right behind me, and she could not help noticing a raw bloody mess where the backside of my jeans was supposed to be. She made me lay face down on the bed and had my cousin bring a bucket of warm water, then Mom cleaned up the mess to see how bad I was hurt and for the next hour she sat there with a pair of tweezers digging blackberry thorns out of my butt. Believe me,,,I have had a lifetime supply of riding zip lines....LOL