Really should have checked that sooner.

john hall · #1 05-21-2018, 09:59 PM

My dad has gotten to the point he needs help to get off and on the lawnmower. So the past month or so he has felt like cutting grass so we make it a team effort an I put him on the 2072 while I run the 1811 (usually). Last week my son had the 982 and me on the 1811, so we cut a lot of grass with 170" of mower deck in play.

Anyway, I don't like being on top of each other running rotary mowers, be it lawn mowers or bushogs--just not a great idea. About 3 weeks ago I was near dad when he was turning and caught a slight odor of a strong gassy smelling exhaust. Odd for the 2072, but we kept on cutting. Noticed it again yesterday early on and figured I'd look into it, maybe the carb was out of adjustment. About the time we finished up, I was near enough to him I caught another whiff of it. That's it, I'll check when we get them to the shed. Its darn luck that he made it to the shed--massive fuel leak. Obviously it started out small and has gotten much larger. When he shut it down yesterday I raised the hood and the fuel line from the pump to carb was soaked along with that area of the engine. It wouldn't have taken much for a fire to have started. I'll run a new line from the tank to the carb. Now since dad has pretty much either done all the work on this machine since new, or at least been aware of it, we are inclined to think this fuel line is original. I've put new lines on everything else we have in running condition, just never thought about this one as it has pretty much always been a runner and the rest were in need of resurrection when they got here. Moral of the story, if you think something is wrong, do yourself a favor--stop and investigate.

Dirty Steve · #2 05-21-2018, 10:14 PM

Good catch, John. Would have been something terrible if it caught with your Dad on it.

zippy1 · #3 05-22-2018, 12:00 AM

Better now before something happens. Good thing nothing happened with you father on it.
A year or so ago, saw a picture of a burned down cub cadet. NEVER before gave it a thought, "what if" one I'm operating catches fire? F.U.B.A.R.
So from that day, not only do I check oil, fuel, I also give the fuel lines a good look over. And if they are hard, they get replaced. Sure, a leak could still happen, but a little less likely makes me feel a tad better...