Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

explorerx4

I have a 2 cycle mower, two 4 cycle mowers and a battery mower, all walk behind.
The 2 cycle is a Lawn Boy I brought in 1985. It's been sitting since 2009, long story. Was self propel but the trans is broken.
One of the 4 cycles is a John Deere I bought in 2009. Terrible mower, deck is floppy so it looses the cutting height and scalps the lawn when it does. Still runs, though.
Electric is from 2015 and still uses original batteries, only use it on part of the lawn.
Newest is a 2016 Honda used on the part of the lawn I don't use battery mower on.

explorerx4

Hey Imidazol97,
You might want to make sure your Malibu is well protected.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9Wuf4or1aE

jipster

My daughter test drove the 2022 Subaru Outback Premium the other day. Says she loves it. Likes the ride, handling and enough interior space for growing family... and dogs. So she's looking to order the car in the next day or two, as Subaru has special finance rates in March. Looking at 2.9% for 60 months.

Her 2007 Kia Optima will be detailed (by me) and be put up for sale private party or given to my son's girlfriend. The check engine light's been on for 5 or 6 years. Had it checked out. Gremlins or something. No big deal. Exterior is a bit rough. Clear coat is flaking off hood. Thought if I could get a hold of another hood, from the junk yard for a couple hundred, would be a good investment. Would make for another good whooptie in oldfarmers fleet. :-)

oldfarmer50

explorerx4 said:

Hey Imidazol97,
You might want to make sure your Malibu is well protected.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9Wuf4or1aE

What next, will they be stealing the teeth out of your head while you sleep?

oldfarmer50

jipster said:

My daughter test drove the 2022 Subaru Outback Premium the other day. Says she loves it. Likes the ride, handling and enough interior space for growing family... and dogs. So she's looking to order the car in the next day or two, as Subaru has special finance rates in March. Looking at 2.9% for 60 months.

Her 2007 Kia Optima will be detailed (by me) and be put up for sale private party or given to my son's girlfriend. The check engine light's been on for 5 or 6 years. Had it checked out. Gremlins or something. No big deal. Exterior is a bit rough. Clear coat is flaking off hood. Thought if I could get a hold of another hood, from the junk yard for a couple hundred, would be a good investment. Would make for another good whooptie in oldfarmers fleet. :-)

We’re always looking for rust free Florida cars in the rust belt. The car will be worth more if you fix the clear coat.

https://youtu.be/Hj9VqSnT-bs

In NY a CEL would make it flunk inspection.

jipster

⁰ @oldfarmer50 said:

We’re always looking for rust free Florida cars in the rust belt. The car will be worth more if you fix the clear coat.

https://youtu.be/Hj9VqSnT-bs

In NY a CEL would make it flunk inspection.

⁰⁰0⁰]

Thanks for the video. Thought about repairing the clear coat. But the more I thought about it, the more my head started to hurt . Would pretty much have to sand, paint (bright blue) and clear coat the whole hood. Would probably need to cut out a few steps for this beater.

venture

oldfarmer50 said:

tjc78 said:

@stickguy said:

and when I move, if it is a big yard I will contract it out. small yard will but a rechargeable mower and do it myself (unless I get lucky and it is a neighborhood where the HOA includes mowing, etc.)

I’m 1/3 acre and to me that’s big!

I do five acres a week and it’s time to start looking for a new lawn tractor before the current one bites the dust.

On my baseball field the outfield is about 3 acres counting the sidelines and I mow it at least twice a week. The infield I mow three times a week. Of course, that is through the main growing season. Later in the year I might only mow each once a week.

I have a John Deere X730 (54" cut) as well as a smaller Cub Cadet tractor LX46 (46" cut).

I don't know how big my lawn at the house is but there have been times I have taken the smaller tractor home to do it.

venture

Speaking of baseball fields. Today was the day I scheduled for fertilizing. It is currently 18 degrees outside and expected to only get up to 25. I think I will put that off until a little later in the week.

kyfdx

@jipster I don't think Subaru will lock financing on an ordered car. Something to think about.

roadburner

I cut 2.5 acres every 7-10 days. I use a Cub Cadet Enforcer 54” and a Dixon 5424 42”. Both are commercial grade so I hope to never have to replace them.
I also have an EGO push mower and a Kobalt string trimmer. Everything else is Stihl commercial gas equipment- 2 chain saws, a backpack blower and a hedge trimmer.

sb55

I own 7.5 acres with about 4 acres of grass. Each separate lawn seems to grow at a different rate. Some areas I do every week (or less in the spring). Some areas every 2 weeks especially if it's dry later in the summer. I used to do it all with a Kubota BX-24 with a 54" belly deck, and bought a Ferris 52" zero turn 3 years ago. That cut down the time by about 1/3rd. I hate weed whacking and only do that about every 2 mowings.

henryn

roadburner said:

I also have an EGO push mower and a Kobalt string trimmer.

There are definite advantages to having all of your battery operated equipment come from one company, so that you can interchange batteries when / if needed. I originally purchased the Ego string trimmer, and later added a chain saw and a leaf blower. Unfortunately I failed to do that with my hand held tools. I have a Dewalt drill driver and a separate Ryobi impact driver, and of course the batteries won't interchange.

henryn

oldfarmer50 said:

jipster said:

My daughter test drove the 2022 Subaru Outback Premium the other day. Says she loves it. Likes the ride, handling and enough interior space for growing family... and dogs. So she's looking to order the car in the next day or two, as Subaru has special finance rates in March. Looking at 2.9% for 60 months.

Her 2007 Kia Optima will be detailed (by me) and be put up for sale private party or given to my son's girlfriend. The check engine light's been on for 5 or 6 years. Had it checked out. Gremlins or something. No big deal. Exterior is a bit rough. Clear coat is flaking off hood. Thought if I could get a hold of another hood, from the junk yard for a couple hundred, would be a good investment. Would make for another good whooptie in oldfarmers fleet. :-)

We’re always looking for rust free Florida cars in the rust belt. The car will be worth more if you fix the clear coat.

https://youtu.be/Hj9VqSnT-bs

In NY a CEL would make it flunk inspection.

It will also flunk inspection here in Texas with any CEL. And something I just learned this year, they will fail your inspection if you have just cleared all codes. You have to drive it long enough / far enough for the normal codes to re-establish. No, not me, a friend of mine. Honest, I was just "asking for a friend", trust me!

On that clear coat fix, that looks like a lot of work. Basically, you are repainting the car. I remember back in 1966 helping a friend paint a 1953 Plymouth. We did it with paint brushes, outside under a shade tree. It actually came out half decent.

stickguy

some of the houses I am looking at buying include yard maintenance in the community (for an HOA fee of course). So definitely would not need equipment there.

and if I get anything electric I want to get the whole shebang so I can just swap batteries around.

how do the mowers work? Same battery as say the weedwhacker, or do you need bigger one for that? Would be nice if you could just put 2 in the mower vs. 1 in the smaller equipment!

stickguy

I failed inspection once years ago (probably around 2010) because I needed a battery and stopped at Walmart early AM to get one, then stopped at the inspection station (happened to be right across the street) on the way home. They failed it because of seeing the battery had recently been disconnected. and did not care that I had receipt for the new one!

just had to drive around a few days then take it back and it sailed right through.

henryn

stickguy said:

some of the houses I am looking at buying include yard maintenance in the community (for an HOA fee of course). So definitely would not need equipment there.

and if I get anything electric I want to get the whole shebang so I can just swap batteries around.

how do the mowers work? Same battery as say the weedwhacker, or do you need bigger one for that? Would be nice if you could just put 2 in the mower vs. 1 in the smaller equipment!

I can only speak for Ego equipment. All Ego batteries will interchange in all Ego equipment. But they do come in different capacities. The string trimmer uses a 2.5 AH battery. The chain saw uses a 5 AH battery. The push mower uses the 5 AH battery, and the self-propelled mower uses either a 7.5 AH or 10 AH battery. The leaf blower comes in 2 sizes, or strengths if you will. The lighter model uses the 2.5 AH battery, and the stronger model uses the 5 AH battery.

I have used the smaller battery from the string trimmer in the bigger leaf blower. It lasts long enough to do most jobs. And I have used the bigger battery in the string trimmer. That makes it heavier, and out of balance, but it will run forever.

I have 2 of the 2.5 AH batteries, used mostly on the string trimmer. Each battery runs about 40 minutes. In addition, I have 2 of the 5 AH batteries, which came with the chain saw and the leaf blower. I have, on a few occasions, ran down both batteries for the string trimmer, and used one of the big batteries.

The leaf blower is used regularly, I not only use it to clean off the driveway and sidewalk after mowing, I use it to blow grass and debris off the riding mower, and sometimes to dry my cars after washing them. The chain saw is used infrequently. It's handy to have when you really need it, but that doesn't come up very often around here.

roadburner

@henryn said:
There are definite advantages to having all of your battery operated equipment come from one company, so that you can interchange batteries when / if needed. I originally purchased the Ego string trimmer, and later added a chain saw and a leaf blower. Unfortunately I failed to do that with my hand held tools. I have a Dewalt drill driver and a separate Ryobi impact driver, and of course the batteries won't interchange.

All of my power tools(drills, impact wrench, etc.) are Makita.
I may eventually go with an electric ZTR, but I can afford to wait until they have significantly more range.

stickguy

I want a battery midsized chain saw. I don’t really want or need a full sized one. And it might sit for years which wreaks havoc with gas powered ones. Battery one should be able to sit forever sans electron pack and be just fine.

henryn

The next time I need a push mower, I probably will buy the Ego. The straight push mower, not self propelled. It uses the 5 AH battery, and I already have 2 of those batteries, so if I couldn't get the job done with 1 battery I would still be set. And I don't like self propelled mowers. I've never used one that was as easy to maneuver as a straight push mower.

An electric ZTR, well, yeah, not yet. That one is kind of like the fully electric car. I'm just not ready to go there, at least not yet.

stickguy

I won’t buy self propelled. Esidcislky because my lawn is flat!

stickguy

Oh yeah, if I end up back in snow country will likely get a battery powered snow blower too. That likely needs a big one.

ab348

Speaking of snow country, nasty weather today in PA led to this bedlam:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1508483965711224838

qbrozen

We got a few emergency broadcast warnings on our phones here today concerning these "squalls." In my area, at least, we got nowhere near zero visibility. It got windy, cloudy, and some very frozen precipitation swirling around. The school buses didn't seem to have any issues since my kid arrived exactly on time during the weather event. One of these days, a real emergency is going to happen but most people will ignore the warning because the broadcast system on our phones is WAY overused.

qbrozen

ab348 said:

Speaking of snow country, nasty weather today in PA led to this bedlam:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1508483965711224838

People in near death situations, and this jerk is laughing and worried about "my stuff" and "my Charger." Ugh.

explorerx4

Never stand down traffic from your car. The guy in the car stopped behind the Charger was so lucky he didn't get hit by his own car,
Narrator, no concern showed for anyone who might have been hurt or injured.

driver100

stickguy said:

Really need to push my wife toward the 55 community (new build) twin townhouses I found. Really nice design, great location, and it includes all outside maintenance. That is enough to sell me.

That appeals to me. I don't think MrsD100 would go for it, she likes a mixture of people, I guess she thinks it makes you older being with old people.
I like the idea, have lots in common, can do things with neighbor friends....that is one thing I like about our Florida community.

stickguy

Well, we are not big fans of people in general, so….

kyfdx

stickguy said:

Well, we are not big fans of people in general, so….

I've found it's the other way around, for me..

driver100

ab348 said:

Speaking of snow country, nasty weather today in PA led to this bedlam:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1508483965711224838

That was unbelievable. The white car at the 25 second mark did a good job of dodging the dark car that was on the side of the road. The guy standing by the black car just missed getting hit by his car when it was struck by the big transport truck. You could still here crashes going on while the guy is talking. They did teach us in Driver Teacher Training School to get way off the highway if you can....a lot of people stand by their cars....a lot sit on the guardrail next to their car.......there seems to be a tendency for drivers to get behind a car that's stopped....they think it is moving. And, obviously, unless that was a sudden snow squall, drivers were going too faster considering how far ahead they could see.

henryn

The temperature here is 82 degrees, a pleasant day. I've had the A/C on as it hasn't been cooling off much at night, and I do like it cool at night. I just back from running a few errands, and the temperature inside is higher than outside. It seems like the A/C is running, but not circulating air. I would guess that the fan, the squirrel cage blower up in the attic, has died. I placed a call to "the guy", waiting for a call back. If it was going to die, I'm glad it did so when the outside temperature is 82 rather than 98.

I just thought I would throw that in as a counterpoint to the talk about blizzards.... (ducking and running for cover)

explorerx4

@henryn,
At this time of year we don't have to run the AC to cool the house at night.

Here is a picture of the left side of the same accident.

fintail

I like the narrator, hope he had good insurance. Low 60s F here and partly sunny.

Speaking of all the lawn gear, this weekend I am going to buy a suite of Ryobi 18V/40V implements - mower, weedeater, hedge trimmer, maybe a leaf blower or pressure washer too. I already have a couple 18V batteries from my Ryobi orbital buffer, so I will just get one or two 40V batteries with tools and buy the others tool only. I don't have a huge yard (~7500 sq ft, much of it rock), so it should be more than sufficient.

ab348 said:

Speaking of snow country, nasty weather today in PA led to this bedlam:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1508483965711224838

imidazol97

If the news story I saw after these videos showed up here, 5 people were killed in
this mayhem. May God rest their souls. That one semi that crashed into the
rear of the other semi early in the first video surely was a fatality...

imidazol97

My 2021 taxes are mailed (no thansk to TurboTx) and check submitted.
It goes to Cincinnati for processing instead of Fresno or Tx.

My Ohio tax was filed on Ohio's online free site--since TT wanted to
charge me $25 extra for the privilege even though I purchased the
Federal and State version, but it doesn't include efiling the State.

TT likely err'd on the penalty for underpayment since they never asked
me if I had tax withheld for 2021 equal to what I owed in 2020.
I had to whiteout the penalty estimate and change my total due.
If the IRS finds I owe a penalty, they bill me at no charge.

BTW @driver100
"Taxes" is a 5-letter word.

explorerx4

I saw a longer clip of that video by the guy with the Charger.
He said he was stopping recording to see if he could help out anyone.

snakeweasel

oldfarmer50 said:

explorerx4 said:

Hey Imidazol97,
You might want to make sure your Malibu is well protected.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9Wuf4or1aE

What next, will they be stealing the teeth out of your head while you sleep?

With this group more like stealing your teeth from the glass on the night stand while you sleep.

snakeweasel

henryn said:

oldfarmer50 said:

jipster said:

My daughter test drove the 2022 Subaru Outback Premium the other day. Says she loves it. Likes the ride, handling and enough interior space for growing family... and dogs. So she's looking to order the car in the next day or two, as Subaru has special finance rates in March. Looking at 2.9% for 60 months.

Her 2007 Kia Optima will be detailed (by me) and be put up for sale private party or given to my son's girlfriend. The check engine light's been on for 5 or 6 years. Had it checked out. Gremlins or something. No big deal. Exterior is a bit rough. Clear coat is flaking off hood. Thought if I could get a hold of another hood, from the junk yard for a couple hundred, would be a good investment. Would make for another good whooptie in oldfarmers fleet. :-)

We’re always looking for rust free Florida cars in the rust belt. The car will be worth more if you fix the clear coat.

https://youtu.be/Hj9VqSnT-bs

In NY a CEL would make it flunk inspection.

It will also flunk inspection here in Texas with any CEL. And something I just learned this year, they will fail your inspection if you have just cleared all codes. You have to drive it long enough / far enough for the normal codes to re-establish. No, not me, a friend of mine. Honest, I was just "asking for a friend", trust me!

On that clear coat fix, that looks like a lot of work. Basically, you are repainting the car. I remember back in 1966 helping a friend paint a 1953 Plymouth. We did it with paint brushes, outside under a shade tree. It actually came out half decent.

I had a sensor go bad which resulted in a CEL, replaced it but failed the emissions test simply because I hadn't driven it far enough to re-establish the codes.

snakeweasel

Me and She Who Must Be Obeyed watched "Blade Runner" last night. For you who don't remember it's a 1982 movie that takes place in the distant future of 3 years ago. Man were they off.

henryn

The new Blade Runner 2049 is on Netflix now, and is supposed to be pretty good. I will probably watch that tonight.

snakeweasel

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/leopard-walks-in-shuts-down-a-mercedes-benz-plant/ar-AAVBjdq?ocid=msedgntp

oldfarmer50

henryn said:

oldfarmer50 said:

jipster said:

My daughter test drove the 2022 Subaru Outback Premium the other day. Says she loves it. Likes the ride, handling and enough interior space for growing family... and dogs. So she's looking to order the car in the next day or two, as Subaru has special finance rates in March. Looking at 2.9% for 60 months.

Her 2007 Kia Optima will be detailed (by me) and be put up for sale private party or given to my son's girlfriend. The check engine light's been on for 5 or 6 years. Had it checked out. Gremlins or something. No big deal. Exterior is a bit rough. Clear coat is flaking off hood. Thought if I could get a hold of another hood, from the junk yard for a couple hundred, would be a good investment. Would make for another good whooptie in oldfarmers fleet. :-)

We’re always looking for rust free Florida cars in the rust belt. The car will be worth more if you fix the clear coat.

https://youtu.be/Hj9VqSnT-bs

In NY a CEL would make it flunk inspection.

It will also flunk inspection here in Texas with any CEL. And something I just learned this year, they will fail your inspection if you have just cleared all codes. You have to drive it long enough / far enough for the normal codes to re-establish. No, not me, a friend of mine. Honest, I was just "asking for a friend", trust me!

On that clear coat fix, that looks like a lot of work. Basically, you are repainting the car. I remember back in 1966 helping a friend paint a 1953 Plymouth. We did it with paint brushes, outside under a shade tree. It actually came out half decent.

I’ve watched a number of clear coat videos and it all depends on the condition of the base coat. If that’s intact it’s just a matter of scuffing the edges and laying down a couple of coats of clear followed by wet sanding. Certainly something to consider if you’re going to replace the hood.

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

Oh yeah, if I end up back in snow country will likely get a battery powered snow blower too. That likely needs a big one.

I’d rethink that.

oldfarmer50

ab348 said:

Speaking of snow country, nasty weather today in PA led to this bedlam:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1508483965711224838

Did that guy cause the pile up by parking on the road?

oldfarmer50

snakeweasel said:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/leopard-walks-in-shuts-down-a-mercedes-benz-plant/ar-AAVBjdq?ocid=msedgntp

It was just a Jaguar checking out the competition.

oldfarmer50

For you people who think my job is boring this was one of the cars returned to the airport today.



The story we got was that the renter was at a party that got out of hand.

We also had a car that was rented at another location, never returned, was reported stolen and was then dumped days later at the airport. The culprit tried to flee but was detained to at least pay for the additional use.

My favorite was the Audi Q3 that came back covered in mud with the bumper and fender smashed. The renter inquired if it was too late to purchase collision insurance.

jipster

@oldfarmer50 said:
For you people who think my job is boring this was one of the cars returned to the airport today.

The story we got was that the renter was at a party that got out of hand.

We also had a car that was rented at another location, never returned, was reported stolen and was then dumped days later at the airport. The culprit tried to flee but was detained to at least pay for the additional use.

My favorite was the Audi Q3 that came back covered in mud with the bumper and fender smashed. The renter inquired if it was too late to purchase collision insurance.

Out of hand? Is that a bullet hole in the door? May want to check the trunk for a dead body.

roadburner

oldfarmer50 said:

For you people who think my job is boring this was one of the cars returned to the airport today.



The story we got was that the renter was at a party that got out of hand.

We also had a car that was rented at another location, never returned, was reported stolen and was then dumped days later at the airport. The culprit tried to flee but was detained to at least pay for the additional use.

My favorite was the Audi Q3 that came back covered in mud with the bumper and fender smashed. The renter inquired if it was too late to purchase collision insurance.

At BMW we had a 3 Series loaner returned with a bullet hole in the passenger door. My so was a valet and he called me over to show it to me. Crazy.

bwia

Hello everyone. I am back after a five month haitus. Haven't read much except for page #2776.

Meanwhile my daughter has purchased a Tesla Model Y which will be delivered in June or July or maybe later this year. I

stickguy

if you need a dishwasher, or any questions about Wordle, let us know.

oldfarmer50

jipster said:

@oldfarmer50 said:

For you people who think my job is boring this was one of the cars returned to the airport today.

The story we got was that the renter was at a party that got out of hand.

We also had a car that was rented at another location, never returned, was reported stolen and was then dumped days later at the airport. The culprit tried to flee but was detained to at least pay for the additional use.

My favorite was the Audi Q3 that came back covered in mud with the bumper and fender smashed. The renter inquired if it was too late to purchase collision insurance.

Out of hand? Is that a bullet hole in the door? May want to check the trunk for a dead body.

Yeah, that’s a bullet hole. I had to drive that to the repair facility and had to sit carefully since the window was also blown out and spread over the seats. No bodies that I know of.

You must not go to the right parties.