The runways will be largely  unmowed for this weekend. they are usable by the larger planes, but small .400 and .60 size planes might have trouble.

Dan and I spent most of today putting a new belt on the mower, but the machine kept throwing the belt off. After 8 or 10 tries the belt finally broke.  >:(  We have 1 belt coming on Friday (hope hope hope) but the techie can't get there till Monday. Because of the frustration of today, we decided to wait and have him show us where we are wrong, despite following the schematic to the letter.....yet another belt is on order as backup.

Kevin Beaver is to be commended for mowing a large chunk of the run ways with his 20" mower. He also did the pits, the west startup area, and the dining area between the fence and the road....upstanding guy!!!  [smiley=tekst-toppie.gif]

We'll let you know as soon as the mower  is running..

Monday, July 11

We met the technician at the field about 9:30, and he installed the new belt, and it works great. This machine will only work with OEM belts made by MTD. Other belts, like the "NAPA" one we tried last week, is not nearly stiff enough. We have 2 sources of these OEM belts, and 1 is on order to hang in the shed - we shouldn't require it for several years.

THINGS TO NOTE:

*  The technician removed the 2 shrouds to install the belt, and recommended very strongly to leave them off. Cut grass gathers up under the shrouds and will overheat the belt.

*  With the shrouds off, the pulleys are exposed, but are safe with reasonable care - exercise that care!!

*  If the grass is a bit long, or a bit damp, mow from the outside of the runways to the center. This will leave damp cuttings on the runway, but they will blow away as they dry and the wind comes up. If the cuttings are a problem, there is a rake that can be towed behind the green machine - use it.

*  When you are done mowing, clean the top of the deck - last week when we first took the shrouds off, there was a whack of cuttings around the pulleys. Also clean under the deck around the blades. Both these basic housekeeping items will help prolong the life of the mower and belts.

This is an example of how much grass gets caught up in the mower deck - this accumulation will eventually clog and overheat the belt....

please clean the deck after mowing

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