Lawn Tractor Repair

[bjl584]

My lawn tractor started leaking oil.
Turns out that the front oil seal failed.
Rather than pay a few hundred dollars to have it repaired, I decided to do the job myself.
Here is a picture after I did the tear down.

$4 later for a new seal, and I am back up and running.

[disneysteve]

Great job. It’s so satisfying when you’re able to do it yourself.

[kork13]

There's alot of knowledge involved there that is valuable in its own right. To get from recognizing an oil leak to a full disassembly of the tractor's engine is a wide chasm of knowledge. You've clearly got that knowledge; I do not, and therefore have to pay someone else to get the benefit of that sort of knowledge. Cool project, and I do wish I was more mechanically inclined to be able to do such stuff myself. Alas, we all have different skills.

[disneysteve]

There's alot of knowledge involved there that is valuable in its own right. To get from recognizing an oil leak to a full disassembly of the tractor's engine is a wide chasm of knowledge. You've clearly got that knowledge; I do not, and therefore have to pay someone else to get the benefit of that sort of knowledge. Cool project, and I do wish I was more mechanically inclined to be able to do such stuff myself. Alas, we all have different skills.

I have surprised myself more than once by what I was able to accomplish mechanically thanks to the internet and YouTube specifically. I have disassembled and repaired both our washer and dryer, for example. Those were tasks I never would have attempted previously. There are some amazing step by step videos readily available for virtually everything.

The project at the top of my to do list right now is to repair our dehumidifier. It stopped collecting water. The online troubleshooting points to one of two components. As soon as I have the time and motivation, I will take it apart and try to figure out which part is bad and see if I can't get it up and running again. I did buy a new one already because we can't afford to be without one but it certainly wouldn't be bad to have two.

[JoeP]

A lot of what goes into successful repairs relies on an accurate diagnosis. Ask any doctor! Then experience kicks in, and that experience can be either direct "I've seen this before" or indirect "I've seen something like this before." Having good foundational exposure and hands-on knowledge helps as well.

I love diagnosing mechanical things like this. It helps to know how they work, what the insides look like, what's going on during operation, having mechanical knowledge, having the right tools, knowing how to use those tools, and having confidence! Like DS, I have repaired/replaced many household appliances: washer, dryer, dishwasher, garage door opener, furnace (inducer and diaphragm), plus light fixtures, outlets, cars, snowblower, lawn tractor, boat engine, plumbing, string trimmer...I was fortunate to have a father who learned from his father and passed the DIY gene onto me. Aside from the cost savings, the knowledge gained is invaluable.

Neighbor's son was mowing their lawn with their lawn tractor when it stopped. I got the call and within a couple minutes found that the drive belt had slipped off the drive pulley under the seat. A few minutes later, while explaining, I was able to get the belt reseated and the mower worked. A few minutes later another call from same neighbor saying blades aren't turning. Go back and found that linkage popped off due to a missing cotter pin. Threw in a spare and it's been working since. These exact scenarios never happened to me, but I banked on decades of domain knowledge...and looked like a miracle worker.