I spent today recovering from a huge purchase yesterday.
My faithful 1995 STX46 John Deere lawn tractor finally gave it up. I have rebuilt the carburetor twice (or was it 3x ?), put new blades and belts on, used a bungee cord to secure the plastic engine hood after the hinge mounts broke, and did everything I could to keep it running. The last time I ran it, it sounded pretty rough but I attributed that to the chronically sticking throttle/choke control. It cut the grass pretty well so I was not too concerned.
After a few weeks of very little rain and therefore no grass growth, I started it 3 days ago to give the now recovered lawn a trim. I had to charge the battery. While I was waiting, I noticed a fair amount of oil on the floor underneath it. I checked the oil level, and got it started.
It had very little power when I engaged the mower deck. Uh oh....
So I did half the lawn with my self propel push mower and contemplated what to do.
2 days ago, I wiped off all of the oil seepage, re-checked the oil level, and restarted it. Same thing, engine running rough and no power. I concluded that it either blew a valve or the engine crankcase seals gave way.
Did I want to try ordering/installing a new engine or do a short block gasket/valve job on a 17 year old machine? Would I even remember how to do that after so many years?
So I stimulated the economy and bought a brand new D110 John Deere lawn tractor.
John*Deere D110 Lawn Tractors JohnDeere.Com
The funny thing is the new machine cost almost $1K less (MSRP) in 2012 than the one bought in 1995. Go figure...
Mr B's VA card got us 10% off at Lowe's, which covered the sales tax and part of the delivery charge. And..it has a cup holder.
I plan to put the old one out on the street and let whoever wants to tinker with it or do metal recycling, take it away.