keeley, I've had the exact same problem w/ a Sears version of your mower. I think it's an issue w/ the weigh & design of the mower and the levelness of your lawn (my guess). My mower would bounce up when it hit dense Bermuda or when it hit a bump in the lawn. The rear wheel design along w/ the light weight of the mower contributes to this bounce. I think NEWORLEANS suggestion on the Mascot sounds good as it's a heavier mower and its design has a roller on the back very close to the blade so bouncing is minimized. You might also consider the Fiskars Momentum as it is also heavy, but I think you would need to raise the cutting height as I'm guessing by your problem that your lawn may be a little bumpy to cut that low. Check out the thread below for a review of the Fiskars. Here is a link that might be useful: Reviews of several push reel mowers

S'pose I autta throw in my 2 cents.... Virtually every single house (with very few exceptions) in my neighborhood has bermudagrass. 99% of all the homeowners with bermudagrass mow around 1-1/2" to 2" up to maybe 3" with rotary mowers, and most the lawns look okay. Some mow way too infrequently & their lawns really look like $#!+. Very few mow very low/short (one guy in particular with a Lawn Boy about a block away) and no matter how hard he tries he leaves the dreaded rotary swirl marks. If you really want the thick dense short fairway looking bermudagrass there's only one way to do it..... Buy a reel mower. Keep your Murray....you say you got it running again? Mine's 8 years old now, I use it from time to time to mow the neighbor's lawn (he's up in years & health not so good) and I also use it to do clean up in spring/fall. You could use yours in that area of creek frontage & stuff. Now that it's running again, take care of it. Change the oil each year. Keep the blade sharp. Always use Sta-Bil in every can of gas you buy for your lawn equuipment. You can use your rotary Murray to mow while you decide what reel to buy. (Or while you look for a reel to buy.) You've obviously read many of the posts in this forum so I won't belabor the opinions of which brand is best. (But the Tru-Cut is best) 8^) Is it foolish (or necessary) to really want both? Nope. Keep ur current rotary. If you really feel you need to upgrade the rotary, go ahead, but if you take care of the one you have, it'll last longer than you think. Splurge for the reel so you can have the golf course look you want (Buy a used one if you don't wanna spring for new, I did & only spent around half.) I get many comments of praise from friends/relatives who come by to visit, but what really makes it worth it is when folks I don't even know just stop to tell me how good it looks. It seems to make it all worth while. You can't make it look like this with a rotary: My 2 cents.... Good day, Dan

This weekend I will dust off the McLane and take a photo-tutorial for you. In the meantime if you follow the reel shafts to the outside frame of the mower, mixed among the jumble of frame bolts and height adjustment bolts there will be an aluminum colored plate with small "ears" on it. There should be two bolts maybe three along the outer edges of this plate. Loosen all of the bolts on both sides. Use a drift punch and small hammer to tap the ears forward. Left side of mower counterclockwise, right side clockwise. This will rotate the entire reel down against the bedknife. Tap both sides equally until you cannot spin the reel at all, then start gently tapping the other way (away from the bedknife). You want to be able to turn the reel FORWARD with a single finger but still hear or feel very slight contact. Then get a sheet of newspaper and cut it into strips. You want the paper to be cut cleanly......not pinched or torn along the ENTIRE length of the bedknife. Once you get it, tighten down carefully. You may have to secure the reel position with your hand while tightening. Once you do this a few times you will know exactly what a proper mating feels and sounds like. You may have to adjust every week or so depending on your mowing habits. Stay away from mower shops that claim they sharpen reel mowers unless that is all they deal with. None of them get it right.

Boiling water kills weeds in my driveway, but it's more difficult in the grass as you don't want to kill the grass, too. You'll probably have to hand dig to remove the weeds, but it's easier after a soaking rain. This time of year might be difficult. A weed hound grips the weed firmly to remove the deep taproot, but the side of your palm gets sore even with gloves. One spring years ago I paid my 8 year old son per dandelion to finish up the last 100 or so left in the lawn. He eagerly prowled the grass after school & earned a good amount of $ because there were many hundreds still there. After you remove the weeds you'll need to spread grass seed, but it's easier in September after the rains come again. The weeds come back if you don't fill the space with something else. We've reduced the size of our lawns and created smooth curves for easy mowing, so is isn't hard to keep up. In fact our teen son mows the front in 7 minutes. I know because he timed himself to prove it's not too much lawn because he wanted us to keep enough turf for lawn games like croquet & bocce ball. On hot days it's nice to lay a blanket on the cool grass in the shade whereas it's not comfy to lay a blanket on wood chip or rocky paths or pavers. Plus the plentiful clippings in spring are useful in gardens as mulch once dried. Here is a link that might be useful: weed hound