Freebird

Stupidity. I hope that Karma comes. back and bikes him in the ....well....you know.

Well, my wife got me thinking about a new mower but after a little consideration, I really don't need one. I currently have a front deck Woods Mow 'n Machine. 22 HP Kawasaki motor, 61" front deck with power lift, etc. It's been, and still is, a good mower. I like the front deck as opposed to mid mounted because it allows me to get under all the evergreen trees we have that are low to the ground. I thought I would like to have a new Ferris FX800 front deck but have found that they were discontinued. There are very few options for a front deck system, Grasshopper and Walker seem to be the biggest players but they are very expensive. Then I started looking at used but nearly new ones. My Woods only as about 575 hours on it and most of the used ones have 1200 to 2500 hours on them and they are still asking around 10,000 and up for them. So, I figure if those are lasting over 2000 hours, mine with 575 hours should last a LONG time yet. So I'll take a ltttle better care of and hopefully it will last as long as I need it.

I'm going to need it very soon and it scares the heck out of me. Bering completely blind in one eye, I'm terrified about having the other one messed with

Well to be honest, I think that changing their oil and filters on a regular basis is the most important thing. Any oil that meets thee specs and is non energy reducing is fine. The truth is, I started using Mobil One back in the late nineties and have just come to trust it. People have some string opinions regarding which oil is best and I just use what has treated me well for many years. To be honest though, I've been riding for over 50 years and have used many different oils and have never had an oil related engine issue. I guess if I had to point out a reason, it would be because I don't have to drive to, order, or find a Yamaha dealership if I need oil when on a trip. That really isn't a big issue though because my RSVs have never needed any oil between changes and I've rarely taken a trip that requires an oil change before I get back. home. In fact, there has been only one trip that I probably should have changed it during the trip but didn't.

Hello OldTimer71, Welcome to Venture Rider. Please feel free to browse around and get to know the others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. OldTimer71 joined on the 07/02/2023. View Member

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I don't believe all those statistics that Home Depot is claiming but I do agree that it's being shoved down our throats.

Great deal. Especially right now when a lot of dealers are still trying to get more than MSRP. When Eileen totaled my truck last year, I couldn’t find one and ended up ordering one and paying MSRP but everybody else was trying to add 2500 to 5000 bucks.

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Hello cokeman277296, Welcome to Venture Rider. Please feel free to browse around and get to know the others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. cokeman277296 joined on the 06/27/2023. View Member

I’ve had decent luck except with the drill which I use the most. I also have the portable band saw, circular saw, metal cutting circular saw, small side grinder, and Brad nailer. Steel cutting circular saw has done ok but I backed over it with my tractor and it’s kind of messed up now but actually still works.

Actually, if I had a small yard where I used a push mower, I MIGHT consider one. In a residential area, the decreased noise level would be nice. I'm not against everything electric. I use Milwaukee Fuel 18 drils and saws for my stairlift installations. Much easier than dragging cords around but to he honest, they too are expensive and I don't get the life out of them that I should. Example, I use their 3/8 inch hammer drills. I don't abusd them in any way. I install about 110 to 120 stairlifts per year. Most have 4 brackets that screw to the stair treads and each bracket uses 4 wood screws, about 1 1/2" long and they are about a number 10 size. Not huge lag bolts. So 16 wood screws x 120 stairlifts means about 1920 screws per year. Sometimes there are a couple more per unit. That is VERY light use for a drill however. I typically only get about 3 years out roof a drill motor. The batteries actually last a bit longer than that. Not a good track record though. I have an EGO 56 Volt battery powered leaf blower. It's absolutely the best performing leaf blower I haver ever owned but you only get about 30 minute before it needs another charge and a few weeks ago, the charger quit working. It has a two year warranty and was about 18 months old when the charger went out. I called and they said that they would honor the warranty but the charger is apparently back ordered or something and now 3 weeks later, the order on their website still says waiting. I have no idea when it will ship.

In my opinion, it's just fake advertising. I just looked again and DR Powers website says 10.00 per hour operational saving vs. gas. It actually takes about 2 gallons of gas to mow my yard. It takes about 3 hours to mow my yard and about 2 gallons of gas so approximately 7:00 at current gas prides here. So that's about If I factor in a yearly oil change, that equals about 35 cents per hour for the annual oil change.and filter. So it cost me about 2.45 per hour to mow my yard. So how can they advertise that the electric mower saves 10.00 per hour over a gas mower when it only costs me 10.00 per hour to mow? If it didn't coast ANYTHING to charge the electric mower, it would save me about 2.45 per hour. Then figure new batteries at 4500.00 every five tears or so on top of that. Over 5 years, 4500 for new batteries minus 1200 for gas and oil means the electric would cost me 3300.00 more to operate over 5 years PLUS the cost of charging the batteries I'm not at all interested in an electric mower, just ran across these misleading ads while looking at various mowers. I can assure you that I will stick with gas or diesel. Most likely, gas.

Hello SamCan, Welcome to Venture Rider. Please feel free to browse around and get to know the others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. SamCan joined on the 06/25/2023. View Member

I'm in thee early stages of looking at new mowers. I now have a Woode Mow'n Machine with a 61" front deck and a Kawasaki engine. It's several years old now but hopefully won't need to replace it in the very near future but my wife mentioned that I should start thinking about it and If I need to replace it, should do it while I'm still working. Anyway, I started looking at what is available and ran across a DR Power electric zero turn with a 60" deck. You can buy it with one, two, or three batteries. I'm sure that for the size of my yard, it would require the three batteries to get it done with one charge. Now here's what puzzles me. They say that the electric mower will save an average of $10.00 per mowing vs. a gas motor. That's all well and good. They also say that there is a 5 year or 1000 hour warranty on the batteries and based upon my limited experience with these battery powered tools, that is about all you will get out of them. OK....so say that they last 5 years. The batteries are $1500.00 each. So in 5 years I have to spend $4500.00 to replace the three batteries. Based on my calculations, I would use about $1300.00 worth of gas and oil with my gas mower over 5 years. So how is this electric mower cheaper to operate? Do these manufacturers just hope that we don't do the math?

The '86 should make you a nice bike. That is not to say that you won't run into a few issues but with the help of the members here, if you need it, you should be good to go. There are a few things on the old Ventures that can end up needing attention but they will go many thousands of miles with no major issues.