I decided I would to a good deed and mow my mother-in-law's property. So I got my Bose headphones,…read moregassed up the mower, and got to work. All was going great and I was jamming out on my tunes. While mowing, I did not see a stump under some high grass and ran right into it. Initially I thought the mower was fine, and kept to it. The mower ended up making some angry noises, the blades stop spinning. Crap.
I pulled my mower into my garage to see what I had done. Upon further inspection, the belt was off of the pulleys and all tangled up. After untangling the belt, and diving deeper into it, I noticed the spindle pulley was out of balance. Thinking it was an easy pulley replacement, I took off the pulley to find more bad news. The pulley had been wallowed out and the sheath of the ball bearings on the top of the spindle was gone. So, an easy spindle replacement will fix everything.
Four easy bolts on the top, remove the old blade, and this will be a breeze. Right?
First bolt, snap. Darn it (I yelled a much worse word, but I'll keep it PG rated here). Ok, let's try another bolt. Snap, again. Another curse word yelled.
After watching some YouTube videos on bolt extractions, I purchased some tools and was overly confident I was going to extract the bolts. Long story short, I ended up smoking some drill bit and extractors, making my problem exponentially worse. Time to wave the white flag and consult a professional. Praying this good deed was not going to break the bank. With the help of ChatGPT, I googled my problems, and it suggested Ken's Equipment repair and spoke highly of it.
I gave them a ring, and Ken himself picked up the phone. I explained to him that I broke some bolts, and could not get my spindle off. So, in short, telling him I was a moron. He told me that he indeed could help, but I was looking at 5-6 weeks. Well crap. I asked him for some tips, and the ones he gave me I had already tried. He told me if he could see my mower, maybe he could give me some pointers. So, I loaded the mower up and took a little trip.
I pulled into the shop and was greeted promptly by a gentleman who was helping another customer. I told him my problem, so he grabbed an air hose and was ready to help me out quickly. While searching for his air gun, Ken exited the shop and told the gentleman he would help me.
Ken remembered my voice from the phone call, so he went right to my mower and checked it out. He got his air gun, busted the remaining three nuts off, and the old spindle fell right out. Turns out the bolts I was trying to extract had no threaded grip on the mower deck at all. I felt like an idiot. Luckily Ken did not laugh at me. I would have!
He asked for my new spindle, so I gave it to him. He removed my old mower blade from the broken spindle with ease, and put it on the new spindle. He bolted my new spindle and blade on with the new bolts, and had me fixed very quickly. It was almost the equivalent of a NASCAR pit stop. He told me to tighten the bolts a little tighter when I got home, and how to install the new pulley.
Honoring Ken's time, and overly appreciative, I asked Ken how much I owed. He said the repair was $5. So, I ran to house, grabbed a $20, and returned to gladly pay him the full $20.
I cannot tell you how pleased I am with Ken, and the whole experience. He is now my small engine repair guy, and I will never go anywhere else now.
I really enjoy learning about small engine repairs, so it is men like Ken that make me wish retirement at my current career would hurry up so I can just tinker with lawn mowers all day.
Highly recommend Ken's Equipment Repair. I will be back. I hope Ken reads this review.
Enjoy.