Technical > Home Improvement > Got my new Swedish Rider!

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Re: Got my new Swedish Rider!

reply to SwedishRider
Aside from the price I want one. I called my local dealer and they don't have any of these in stock to test. Building a new garage this year but next Spring maybe I can get one.

reply to SwedishRider
Very clever features - two pop out at me - the grass gets cut before the heavy wheels mash the grass down. I bet the day after mowing you cant see any wheel marks.
The deck flips up for easy cleaning, blade changes, an under deck re-paint if so desired. Very nice. At work I use a walk behind Husqy that does 8 to 9 hours duty per week and is 12 years old. It's getting a little long in the tooth, but the cut is incredible. The day after mowing the lawn looks like a green carpet. No wheel marks. Nice. Razor sharp balanced blades make a difference, to be sure.

Husqy is one of the few in that size category who have yet to yield to the lure of an MTD buyout. {Appalause}

Just to share, not as advice - - I have a 23 HP Kohler at home. The pleated paper air filter has a foam pre-cleaner element. The conventional wisdom around here is to not oil the pre-cleaner. After one particularly dusty mow, the dust passed through the pre-cleaner and was all up against the paper filter. This induced me to start oiling the pre-filter. I keep two pre-filters in rotation, and wash them in a coffee can full of either Dawn dish soap (because it has alcohol) or what I prefer - Pine Sol or generic Pine Sol and very hot tap water. Follow with a garden hose rinse, air dry, and re-oil. I swear my engine oil has stayed much cleaner per a visual evaluation. I don't think I'm imagining this, as I wasn't expecting the cleaner oil result. I recently started some mowing at night due to scheduling issues. Anyone who has mowed at night with headlights knows that mowing is a constant extreme dust situation, even when the grass is damp. Never knew that.

Another share - if buying rubber gloves to oil a pre-cleaner is a bother, oil in a sandwich baggie will work to distribute the oil into the pre-cleaner. Half a teaspoon or so of oil is probably enough. I use aerosol filter oil (which could well be refined waste oil - dunno) or regular engine oil works just as well.

One more share, for the 99th time - mice and air cooled engines. I asked two long time mower mechanics if mice were the number one cause of mower engine failures. They replied in perfect unison: "Yes." Dryer sheets, moth balls - none of that has worked for me. I surround the parked mower with mouse traps in hopes they will snap in before nest building in my engine. To blurt the obvious - the fan on top of a mower engine drives cooling air down around the pistons and out the bottom. The resultant air flow is absolutely essential to the engine's health and longevity. I grew very tired of pulling the engine shroud to remove engine cooling air flow blocking engine killing mouse nests. By now I could probably beat Junior Johnson in a Kohler engine shroud dismount/ mount contest.

For bonus points, and a cure for your insomnia -- can anyone tell me what single event caused the wide spread advent of air filter pre-cleaners?

If you read your Kohler manual it calls for oiling the pre-filter and gives instructions on how to do it.