Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

Evidently my son left his pogo stick in my neighbor's driveway Sunday.   My neighbor found it yesterday with his Ariens 824 while snowblowing.     It got jammed in the auger and he had to cut it apart with a hacksaw to get it out.  Fortunately for me his machine does not appear to be damaged.   I would caution everyone to carefully check your driveway for errant pogo sticks whenever  the snow starts falling.     -Bob

I know exactly what you meen! As you know, I have a lawncare service and enjoy the work I do. But sometimes I service yards that have kids living there. So naturally, they leave everything laying around the place. Every week, I would have to pick up their crap so that I can mow. Unfortunetly there was a rebar rod in the grass that was impossible to see! When I mowed over it, it got caught up and made the mower engine a sudden stop. BANG!!! I thought right there that the engine was gone! The rod was all caught up in the blade! I had to remove the blade in order to get the rod out. When I put the blade back on, I started the machine, and out of a miracle. Started first pull, no vibration, and shear key was not sheared! I was like WTF??? At least the shear key should have been sheared to protect the engine against something like that? I was thinking, I am so lucky!

So, the point I am trying to make here is that sometimes we can't avoid mistakes like this, but if we try a little harder, mabie we could provent it from happening again. What I did in my situation is that I talked to my cliant and told her what happened and from now on you need to make sure your lawn is free of debree that I can't see! She did just that and I never had a problem sence! Great story...

Smitty wrote: How about if you clear the sidewalk each and every snow storm?  I think the neighbor has some responsibility in having it "snow thrower" ready. 

Hit a phone book today clearing my neighbors driveway.  Fortunately it was with my Snow Commander so no damage done.  If it was the Simplicity I would have felt differently.  In this case if we don't go 50-50 they will be in the shoveling business the next snow storm.

TomP,

You may want to do yourself a favor and mention this to your neighbor so she can prep the driveway before the snow comes. If you expect a 50/50 split for repair costs mention this upfront so maybe there will be greater interest in preventing this from happening in the first place.
Good luck.

Chris