My Neighbour Is Cutting Her Lawn

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Below is the random thought titled "My Neighbour Is Cutting Her Lawn". Be aware that these thoughts may be based on opinion, and my opinion might not agree with yours. Also, the thought below may be based on mood, time of day, or any number of other factors. Please keep this in mind.

And all I can think of while listening to her lawnmower surge, sputter and nearly die, while huffing unburned fuel fumes is "It would only take a few minutes to rig up my wideband to that little muffler"...Is that wrong?

The thing is running crazy rich and then alternately lean, with the governor struggling to compensate. Probably needs a new air filter, spark plug and a thorough carb cleanout followed by necessary adjustments. And then the whole process will need to repeat next spring because you just know it will be stored all winter with fuel in the tank.

Now that I have my own place I had to the option of course to retrieve one of the 5 or so gas lawnmowers I have stashed in my parents garage. All work fine, and are leftovers from a misspent youth cutting lawns and repairing small engines. All stored with empty tanks, fogged carbs/cylinders, new oil. I'm sure each one would crank up within 3/4 of the first pull of the cord. Even my radically cammed, bored, stroked (yes, you CAN get upgraded cams for B & S engines!), ungoverned, over-carbureted modified Uber Mower.

Instead I made the sane choice and purchased a Black and Decker 40V Li-Ion cordless mower w/matching trimmer. The mower came with 2 40V 2.2AH li-ion batteries, and a third came with the trimmer. My lot is about 240 x 50, half of which is grass. The mower will cut all the lawns on one battery, and then I just grab another to run the trimmer. With two chargers both batteries are ready to go an hour after use. Still leaving the 3rd battery if necessary.

No gas. No oil. No fumes. No starter cords. No filters. No fogging, fuel stabilizer and prep for the winter. When winter comes, just make sure the batteries are fully charged and bring them into the house so they don't freeze.

It's so nice to just clip in a battery then press a button and hear only the soft hum of motor and the whir of the blade. I do not miss the smell, sound and ickyness of gas lawnmowers, that's for sure. And the trimmer! Dear diety two stroke trimmers are unpleasant. Fuel oil mix, farting around with priming bulbs and the choke, two hands to start the thing pulling that stupid cord on a flywheel with no leverage. And the reward for those efforts? Ear splitting scream from a "muffler" only a few feet from your head. Instead I clip the battery in place, hit the trigger and then pick my speed with the throttle dial. On speed "2" it will cut down grass, weeds and saplings. Speed "8" is way more power than most small 2 strokes and more than adequate for edging and weed removal down to the dirt/concrete.

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