
Submitted by: Joal Morris via Submit a Kludge!
Talk about reinventing the (steering) wheel). -Frankie Fix-It
Favorite Comment: Sarkasm says: “Laadiiiesss and Geeeentlemen. Welcome to the 23rd annual lawnmower jousting tournament. We are proud to announce the return of the legendary Black Craftman, who has fully recovered from his injuries.”
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That’s quite the setup.
seems like this technology will create a left turn when turning steering wheel to the right to facilitate the dyslexic driver
It looks like it has
*puts glasses on*
morning wood
YEEEEEAAAAAAAH!
Won’t get fooled again!
Hopeless 80′s person: “Should we go get a new tie rod for the steering linkage”
MacGuyver: “All I need are these two 2x4s, that sheet of plywood, that hinge and this roll of duct tape that I always have with me!”
Actually, several things crapped out at pretty much the same time. Two sets of bearings blew, a weld that holds the steering column broke loose and the steering column gears stripped. That wheel just free-spins. I did a quick fix so I could at least finish mowing my two acres while waiting for parts. But then I thought: who says you need a wheel to steer? I think of this as a joy stick. This works fine.
A servo, to keep the thing going in a straight line? But a good front end alignment would serve the same purpose.
This is what happens when you don’t bother to clean and grease the spur and sector steering gears for 20 years of hard use…
White Lithium Grease – $3 a tube. Lumber-based kludge: Priceless.
my guess would be this kludge is to bybass the link that runs from the sector to the front end/drag link. there are pivoting ball ends on this link that develop play and pull out of the link. there were no grease fittings on this link on my Murray. i’m not handy with wood, so i ponied up the $25 for a new link.
power steering? yeah, in my biceps and triceps. and when i wanna break, i just step down real hard on the tires. this must be that old spice guy’s lawnmower…
Modern lawnmower jousting became a lot more popular with the public and advertisers, the day this was invented to let the contestants drink the sponsor’s beer rather than hold the lance as they went down the field
This tractor is in training for Nascar, the “arms” keep it from making right turns.
It’s the Craftsman Catapult!
Typical Crapsmen mower. Mine wore out the steering gear between the steering wheel and the front linkage in less than 3 months.
I have a 43 year old Sears (Sears, NOT Craftsman) mower that’s still doing regular yard service with all its original parts. They just don’t know how to make them like that anymore. Now we make them like this.
This one took about 8 years to wear out.
Awesome! Looks like somebody knows how the rudder system on old sailing vessels work.
oooH!
Impressive gorilla steering lock!
I don’t think this is to steer. What’ the pipe coming up from the steering wheel end for? It looks like an aiming device. “Keep it aligned to the north star, son, you’ll get home!”
my guess is that it’s only resting on the the steering wheel – the pipe is the handle by which you pull or push the lever to get the right result. And there’s no point in cutting the pipe short (a) that’s a lot of work and (b) you’re cutting up a perfectly good pipe for a kludge that won’t last more than a week or two.
This whole thing reminds me of the steel bar they used to put on front of jeeps in Europe in WWII, to counter the threat of wires strung across the road. That was some kludge-based warfare.
You’re mostly right. Push=right, pull=left. It’s just resting on the wheel. It was originally intended as a temporary fix while waiting for parts. I wound up cutting the pipe after I decided not to order new parts because this works just fine. Wrong about lasting two weeks. This is a 10 year old mower, but I’ve been mowing 2 acres with this arrangement for two years now.
Laadiiiesss and Geeeentlemen.
Welcome to the 23rd annual lawnmower jousting tournament.
We are proud to announce the return of the legendary Black Craftman, who has fully recovered from his injuries.
I actually think it’s a very dark green.
Luddite repair?