[Sbcgenii]

Attempt number 4 Not at the yard just making a thread. Only 3rd time on yard....
Quick breakdown of how the last year ended.
To heavy of a mower 72" zero turn JD. HOC off the charts 4" (look out ladies)
Yard is rutted from mower. Could never get a flat even cut last year probably a combination of the above and not to impressed with the deck either. Spent several hours last year trying to fix this issue. End of year ended up finding a great deal (I hope) on riding reel mower.

So recently I have come to believe I have a major thatch problem. I saw some YouTube videos of people using thatch takes. Unfortunately I tried 4 places this weekend and nobody had one so leaf rake it is. I have one side of the front dethatchished. 1/3 of the other side done. Still have 90% of the back to do. (Probably should rent something) LOL. This is what I got done Saturday.

 

[Sbcgenii]

Saturday spent a couple hours getting the reel mower running. Tried to start it wouldn't fire. Took air filter off pored some gas into the carb it lit right off but wouldn't stay running. Gas in tank, fuel filter good, fuel pump good, no fuel getting sprayed in carb while cranking. Discovered it was the anti afterfire valve was stuck. The valve opens with ignition and let's fuel go in the carb. It was stuck closed. The valve is is gold piece sticking out on the right side of carb.

 

[Sbcgenii]

So after getting the mower started and putting grease in the 20 something zerks on the front of this thing it was time to test it out.

Maybe reel low? Haven't had time to measure it yet.

 

[Sbcgenii]

Have lots of work to do on the mower. Thought we had a guy last year but he didn't work out. Supposed to have another guy fix it up after a golf tournament is done. First time using one and think I am in love. A little weird to drive at first... Will take a family picture of the equipment this weekend.

 

[TigerinFL]

we lived on 5 acres before moving to FL. i sure thought I wanted a 72" mower just to speed things up. everyone I talked with said don't go 72". you won't be happy. I ended up going with a 61" and it was OK but never was exactly what I wanted as far as the cut went. glad I didn't go 72". my yard wasn't nearly as nice as yours either.

doesn't HD rent a detatcher or a power rake? you'll get a whole lot more using one of those vs a hand rake.

can't wait to see your reel rider and what a difference it makes.

 

[Sbcgenii]

Today I started on the other side of the front yard. Got the pushmower running awesome to suck up and bag the thatch. Still raking the thatch out with a rake. Going to have to rent something to do the back. Not enough time to do it by hand.

 

[Sbcgenii]

Only pics of the yard from last year.

 

[Sbcgenii]

This is a picture of how the other side of the front is looking. It's Hard to look at. Lots of errors last year and the start of this year.

 

[Sbcgenii]

Yesterday I started a new night class so barely had time to cook dinner after work. In fact I only got 1 plain braut to go. Today I had to work 5:30 to 5:30 and was pretty tired. Only felt like eating half a left over braut when I got home. Worked all day without AC but it didn't matter because I was pumped to get back out in the yard and try to get the grass healthy again. Accomplished quite a bit of raking in around an hour. Another hour out front and it will be time to start on the back. This is probably a third of what I got done today.
This is what I am dealing with.

 

[Sbcgenii]

This is when it got ugly for me. After getting my old push mower up and running great yesterday it decided to be a pita again today and it's a relief to say it is no longer with us. I was going to run to the store real quick and buy a new one but it was already 7:30 and I had been wanting to drive my Camaro for awhile. Going to the store and buying a mower, putting it together and then still having to mow and bag wasn't going to work out. So I hopped on the rider and mulched the clippings up because I didn't think leaving them on top of my already struggling grass until Friday would be a good idea. So I went and picked my Camaro up and ended up blowing the engine up. < double sad face. Good news is it didn't happen on the way to work tomorrow. Pretty tough day today... I was ready to give up on the yard when I lost the mower. I just don't have enough free time for the amount of work it needs. I was ready to give up on the car too. Not a quitter though so Insert challenge accepted meme.

 

[Colonel K0rn]

Yeah, man, you need to rent a Power Rake from Home Depot, HERC Rentals, Sunbelt Rentals, somewhere for the weekend. It'll be much more effective and less tiring than doing it manually, and you'll get much better results. Get that thatch out of there, throw down some synthetic N, and you'll be in much better shape in a week.

 

[Sbcgenii]

I would like to do that. I just haven't had enough time all at once to do it. Just an hour here and there.

 

[Sbcgenii]

Well since my mower died Wednesday I was at Lowe's today seeing what they had for push mowers. Ended up getting a Kobalt 80v battery powered mower. They were out of new ones but had 1 push and 1 self propelled mowers that were returned with a $50 discount. I figured It probably wasn't going to work that great and would be returning it anyways so might as well take a newsed one. This thing rocks though no plans on taking it back. They also have trimmers, blowers, and chain saws that use the same battery's. If this mower holds up like I hope I might get the other tools too. It is just so much better in every way than my last mower.

While I was at Lowe's I looked for a thatch rake and was surprised by how many more tools they had at this store vs the last one I went too. Even had a thatch rake for me! Used it as soon as I got home and it's awesome had to force myself to stop using it so I could test the new mower out.
This I did today with the new mower.

 

[Sbcgenii]

Hopefully I can finish mowing tomorrow and get some dethatching done.

 

[Sbcgenii]

Cut this with my new kobalt 80v.

This is what I was dealing with last year with the rider. The deck not cutting level was one of the reasons for cutting so high last year.


The grass has always looked better up by the porch. I cut this yesterday with the push.




This is how the back is currently doing. Starting to come in nice. I haven't done much dethatching back here yet. All the tif needs it.


This is the Great brown spot out front.

 

[Guest]

I know this is the lawn forum but how about pics of the camaro &#129325;

 

[Sbcgenii]

Wish I had time to do the whole yard with the push mower. It's so easy to tell where I mowed with the rider vs the push. I am cutting on the lowest level of the push and it's not quite low enough. I did figure out earlier you could move the height selector below 1 though so I might try that.

 

[SGrabs33]

We want to see the National!!!

 

[Sbcgenii]

We want to see the National!!!

I was going to get a pic of it today but the weather wasn't cooperating this morning and I was watching my 4yo.

 

[SGrabs33]

We want to see the National!!!

I was going to get a pic of it today but the weather wasn't cooperating this morning and I was watching my 4yo.

I'm a patient man :thumbup: