MIT Engineers

[Tree]

An architect would design from the ground up

True but I heard a very small percentage of them carry around a tape measure and kinda know how to use it.

[hedge]

eCat's last post was a classic on many levels...

[sardis]

It’s a lot to process.

[eCat]

I can get around pretty good today

[Tree]

[eCat]

for fathers day I put ATV tires on my mower cause, you know, why not?

[innocentbystander]

Colleges and universities are closing at a rate of one a week



We don't get into the details as to how many are OPENING (perhaps none?) but 50 private, foofy, liberal arts colleges shutting down a year, that has got to be high, like World War II level high (when Notre Dame was in rick of closure.)

[hedge]

Does that include Trump University?

[innocentbystander]

Does that include Trump University?

Years ago?

[sardis]

Demographics have less college age kids, now. If you are a private college with a small endowment you will be lucky to survive.

[sardis]

for fathers day I put ATV tires on my mower cause, you know, why not?

Since retirement, I've volunteered to mow the church property once a month. This past Friday I was trying to get up a hill with the John Deere and the tire would just spin. Had to push mow that part. If I had those tires, well...

[eCat]

yea, that was why I did it. I have a side hill on my yard. Those "lawn saver" tires would just spin and I got stuck, had to raise the deck and drive thru the green belt separating me and my neighbor and come out thru his yard.

I might tear the yard up when its wet but I won't slide sideways down a hill anymore (which is scary on a zero turn)

[DooKSucks]

I might tear the yard up when its wet but I won't slide sideways down a hill anymore (which is scary on a zero turn)

Scary? It's downright fucking dangerous. Even if someone thinks he/she has disengaged the blades, something could catch to keep that lever in gear and when it falls on top of you as you and the machine tumble down the hill....

[Jungle Rat]

My friends grandpa died trying to cut on a hill. Damn thing rolled right over him. He lived by himself somewhere in the hills of KY so of course they found him days later.

[innocentbystander]

Demographics have less college age kids, now. If you are a private college with a small endowment you will be lucky to survive.

I remember all the hell that broke loose when Sweet Briar went through this years ago. Everyone jumped through all these hoops to keep it running and I kept thinking, why? Their $50 million endowment essentially turned into a giant Real Estate Investment Trust to pay the laid off professors their pensions.

In Massachusetts, we had all these all-girls "finishing schools" that have been closing, left and right. Their land and buildings are being purchased by other much larger universities and they are allowing the girls to finish up at the schools that buy them. But the whole time they are shuttering these schools, there was no real outrage for that to happen because the public had a hard time identifying exactly what it is these schools do that truly matters. A degree in fashion marketing from LaSalle? You pay $58,000 a year to send your daughter there so that she can work a make up counter for Este Lauder?

These schools need to go. Surprised I am that it is has taken this long to finally purge them. No one gave a fuck when all the vocational, technical high schools, started closing forever.

[hedge]

Since retirement, I've volunteered to mow the church property once a month. This past Friday I was trying to get up a hill with the John Deere and the tire would just spin. Had to push mow that part. If I had those tires, well...

[eCat]

hunnert dollar mower is doing fine after the tire upgrade, but decided that I'd keep an eye out for a parts mower - take the hydros, motor, tires, etc off a parts mower and just keep it going for awhile.

Found one for $250 where the left hydro wasn't working but I decided the motor would be worth it. So I drive 40 minutes to meet the guy, get there and a few things stick out immediately. First, it has a 17HP motor which is a little smaller than I wanted and he is selling it from a storage unit . the battery is dead so we had no way to start it.

Another issue was the hydros on it were a little better than the entry level ones you get now. They had a drain plug and each one had a reservoir tank underneath the seat. The motor looked well enough so I offered him $200, he bit on it , we loaded it up and took it home.

Got home, charged the battery, the motor cranked and ran smooth right off the bat, and the battery held a charge so I'm feeling pretty good about it. What motivated me to buy it was I watched a video on how to fix a hydro without buying any parts.

So I took the left hydro off, took it apart and sanded the pumps and the center piece with 400, then 600, 1000, then 1500 grit sandpaper. Put it back together, filled it with 20W-50, bled it out a bit and it seemed to be improved (as in I had reverse , it didn't have that before). I have to say the sanding route works if you have the patience. For how long, who knows?

got it all put back together, rode it around the yard for a bit, at first the left was noticeably weaker than the right but after a few laps around the yard it evened up quite a bit. I can still tell the right is stronger but not that it really challenges you to mow. I'm kind stunned it didn't cost anything to fix this , well other than $12 worth of sandpaper and $9 of 20W-50 oil. How often do those youtube videos actually pan out?

I'm still gonna stick with the hunnert dollar mower with the atv tires, but I'm happy I was able to bring this was back to life. I'll probably try to sell it for a bit of a profit.

[Jungle Rat]

You know you are a redneck when....

[Dave23]

Did anyone else get spammed some private messages on here, or is it just me?

[Jungle Rat]

You