u/BobcatALR

The question is in the title. I inherited a model 20041 mower, and just put new wheels and pinion gears on it. The beast has always worked well, but was a bit abused, I guess, based on the pinion gear wear and some wheel damage. Now it’s like new and drives forward and pulls backward effortlessly.

I bought the 20334 new in 2011, and it has received two transmissions and new wheels over the years. It often locks up when trying to pull it backwards - Toto’s PITA solution it to ensure you let go of the personal pace lever and roll it forward to ensure the transmission has disengaged. My property has about a 20° incline on most of it, so this “solution” is no bueno.

The drive mechanism was cheapened like crazy between the 20041 and the 20334. The older unit has a keyway at each end of the driveshaft and uses spring-loaded keys as pawls that engage the pinion gears forward, but slip in reverse. The newer unit seems to depend on planetary alignment and black magic to ensure the transmission has tilted enough to disengage the drive belt when pulling backward. I’m neither astronomer nor wizard, and am really a bit fed up with it.

So my question, before I turn them both upside down and see for myself: has anyone tried retrofitting the 106-3956 transmission onto a newer mower? Eventually, I’ll probably put the 20334 motor on the 20041 deck (I like the new motor better: no priming, starts right away), but the mowers are currently at two different properties 75 miles apart and still needed at each property, so that’s not in the immediate future.

TLDR: has anyone tried retrofitting the 106-3956 transmission on a mower shipped with the 121-9178?

I am going slowly insane. Ok: maybe not slowly.

TLDR/ is there any magic to finding a valve a Weathermatic Smartline 1600 reports as open with an Armada Pro700?

The long version…

I’m searching for two valves that a Weathermatic Smartline 1600 reports as open. Physically open on the valve is confirmed as two zones run with every other zone I’ve tracked down on this system, but I’m assuming “open” to the Weathermatic means “open circuit”. I disconnect the zone wire and hook the Armada to it and merrily set off on the path it indicates. And tracking either of these two zones - every single effin’ time - it takes me to the same zone that works (Zone 4). There are two other zones valves along the way, but I just jump over them before I start tracking…

The system is a joy to behold, and a bigger joy to work on - originally installed in the 80s but clearly “updated” along the way, with a happy kludge of k-rain, rain-bird, and toro heads. Not sure on the valves - I’ve dug a few of them out and cleaned them, but didn’t pay much attention to whose they were. The valves are distributed throughout the field. All but two were under about 6” of sod and soil, rendering “chatter” useless; and there appear to be “zombie” valve boxes that aren’t in the current system as they don’t light up the Armada at all. The wires from the controller run through the field as a single bundle, so the wire for each zone is there, but, based on how they’ve wire the valves, should not carry any signal beyond that zones valve box, but will in every box it passes through on the way. Fed by lake water via a dedicated pump whose fittings are pretty leaky. The property is REALLY sloped, and the leaky fitting allow the field to drain back through the pump head when the system is off. At some point, they built a garage and stubbed off the water feed to one zone. Can’t say what they did with the wires, if any, as I haven’t gotten quite that far yet.

So, with all of that above, what am I doing wrong with the Armada? Based on where I see active zones, I should have hit zone one or zone 2 before coming to zone 4 (I could be wrong).

I’ve got an “opportunity” to do some buried cable repair work, and don’t have anything in my personal kit sensitive enough to track what I expect to be direct burial cable at NEC-compliant depth (or deeper since it was laid 40 years ago…). It’ll likely be a one-time opportunity, so I’ve been looking at low-end without falling into the Chinese junk category. I’ve narrowed my search to the Klein ET450 and the Ideal Suretrace. Both have had good reviews on the sites I’ve looked at, and the Ideal is almost $100 less than the Klein, so I’m kinda leaning... Anyone have any experience with them for this purpose? Anything compelling one way or t’other?

Thanks for your advice!

First, beware the squirrels. Over $3k damage and counting to my SunTracker over the winter🫤

In any case, I had to haul the beast to Cabela’s for repair this morning, and, since I had to trailer it into a biiiig parking lot, I thought I would take the opportunity to set the Trail Star trailer it’s on up in the F150 Pro Trailer Backup Assist on my truck.

Well….

Has anyone successfully done this? There is a brake fluid cap right in the middle of the “sweet spot” on the tongue for the sticker (between 7” and 21” from the center of the hitch ball). That dagnabbit cap is right in the way on either side of the range, interfering with the sticker. Can the sticker be closer to the ball than 7” and still work?

Help!

First, beware the squirrels. Over $3k damage and counting to my SunTracker over the winter🫤

This is only tangentially related to pontoons, I guess….

In any case, I had to haul the beast to Cabela’s for repair this morning, and, since I had to trailer it into a biiiig parking lot, I thought I would take the opportunity to set the Trail Star trailer it’s on up in the F150 Pro Trailer Backup Assist on my truck.

Well….

Has anyone successfully done this? In my case, there is a brake fluid cap right in the middle of the “sweet spot” on the tongue for the sticker, which needs to be between 7” and 21” from the center of the hitch ball. That dagnabbit cap is right in the way on either side of the range, interfering with the sticker. Can the sticker be closer to the ball than 7” and still work?

Help!