The Money Mustache Community
General Discussion => Share Your Badassity => Topic started by: George_PA on June 22, 2013, 04:57:16 PM
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I noticed from reading the Lawn Mowing thread that tpozywio started that many people mentioned not knowing how properly adjust the screws to align the blades on their reel mowers.
Others disliked the reel mowers because they had ones that could not cut their grass very well (probably in part because they were using ones with misaligned blades). Admittedly, a reel mower will never cut as much grass in a single pass as a motorized gas-powered one, however if the blades are aligned properly on the reel mower, it is a close alternative.
Personally, I had a hard time with this as well last year and searched the web for a good guide. Sources always talk about how important and sensitive the procedure is but never show you how to do it very well.
Sadly websites and how to videos either (1) glossed over important details of the process never fully explaining it or (2) there was good information, but it was always buried in dry black-and-white technical document that was hard to understand and decipher.
So I compiled this guide from my own notes and photos that represents my best understanding on how to do this procedure on a reel mower. It is based on a Scotts Classic 20 inch model (Scotts 2000-20 model).
I am not expert on this, I just spend a couple days observing how the mower worked and experimented with it until I got it cutting much better.
Hopefully, this link below will work for sharing (it may be a slow download, i.e 1 or 2 minutes):
https://rapidshare.com/files/1277333569/Reel%20mower%20blade%20alignment%20guide.pdf
I first tried using Google docs to share it but for some reason Google Docs just butchered the document and the colors were really messed up.
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Holy shit that's thorough. Thanks so much!
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Thanks, i was just cutting with mine today, and noticed that one side didn't seem to be cutting, and i was wondering what I should do about it. on the other hand it may be a few months before i need to use it again now that we've entered the summer.
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Thanks Russ and Dr. Vibrissae, the information may be useful to you even if you have a different model reel mower because the same principals apply across each reel mower; its just that there might be some slight variations, i.e. you my need a different size wrench to adjust the screws
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This is the most ridiculous thing that I have seen in awhile. In a Mustachian Badass meaning. It makes me want to go out and buy a push mower( and fire the yard service).
Really cool!!!
P.S. I think you found your side gig. The world could use some great technical writers to walk consumers through putting together and repairing all the mechanical equipment, furniture and stuff. If you hook into the right people importing stuff from China you could clean up some coin and save consumers the frustration of interpreting their gibberish.
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thats ok tomsang, that job sounds like it would be really boring even if it would pay well
What sounds more fun and interest though is to closely follow and learn from MMM's blog so that we can live an efficient lifestyle and retire early instead
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You're welcome Fran, if its been a few years, then your probably overdue for a tune up; hopefully it will cut the grass better and easier for you afterward
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I forgot to reply a while back that I used your guide and now my mower works great! Thank you!
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The link no longer works. Could you re-upload the PDF, please?
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C.K. I think this new link should work. I noticed that if you simply view it in Google using an internet browser the colors are altered some, probably due to some type of compression algorithm. However, if click on the link, then print it out as a PDF to save it on your actually computer, the colors will look normal again.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzDc2L0iOBTaWTRNVzdleThLeWc/edit?usp=sharing
Enjoy! Spring will be here soon.
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Thanks.
Yes, I'm trying to get a jump on spring.
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Any chance there is an updated file for this guide?
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Would also appreciate!
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George_PA is gone, but I still have his PDF kicking around from the first time.
Optimized to shrink file size enough so it can be uploaded and hosted here on the forums. Hope he doesn't mind.
Enjoy!
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Awesome thanks!