My friend that had the VW Beetle needed his brake pads replaced and an oil change.  The oil change was simple and standard, although getting the oil filter out of a Mazda6 is a pain in the rear.  We changed his front two, because those are the ones he said needed to be replaced.  I checked the back brakes and realized that on one side he had worn through the pad into the backing.  We had to replace the rotor on one side.  Not too big a deal, just a little more $$$.  It was fun, and didn't take but a few hours this weekend.  Always fun to teach someone else how to do their own maintenance.

  Another job for a non-running mower.  Took the carb off, used a spare carb and it fired up like a new one.  Bought the new carb yesterday, replaced a fuel hose and she was ready to go.  Walbro carb's.....I have more trouble with these than any other carb's I see.  I don't know if it's a design issue or not, but when they go, they go hard.  I'm still trying to figure out the best way to repair these.....I'll let you know when I figure it out.  I'd really like to get a mechanical cleaner, one that pumps the solvent continuously through a bin that you lay the material in.....but everything costs money, and I don't have a lot of it.

  Rebuilt a carburetor to fix a guys lawn mower.  Mower wouldn't run.  Re-rebuilt the carb, super-cleaned it, soaked it, recleaned it, replaced software.  Mower wouldn't run.  Jerry rigged up a different carb to it and it ran like a champ.  Replaced the carb and it ran like a champ.  Only thing I can figure is that there is some small orifice that's clogged that I can't get to and blow out.  I plan on troubleshooting it some more, we'll see.  Thankfully I am finished with his mower, and he is happy that it's working great.

Just thought I'd post some before and after pictures of the chipper/shredder.  It's a pretty big difference.

Waiting on some parts for the carburetor.  While I'm waiting I decided to take it all apart again and treat all the rusted spots and repaint.  This is a pretty expensive machine and deserves to be taken care of.  It got left outside for quite a while and had quite a bit of rust throughout the machine.  I completely dismantled it, scrubbed it all down, primed and painted all the rust I could find.  The blades were pretty rusty and dull, so I took them out and sharpened the shredder blades, now I'm working on the Chipper Blade.
On a side note, I sold the Murray 20" with the 3.5 Hp Tecumseh for $60 plus 20 for delivery.  I'm glad that I got it sold, I hate for a good machine to just be sitting.

I went out to check the Murray lawn mower, and it was flooded.....the carb was still not working correctly.  I know that the seals are good, the needle and seal are good, the only thing left is the float.  I took the float off and didn't notice anything wrong with it.  Then very, very slowly liquid began to seep out of a pinhole crack in the shell.  I drilled a hole in the shell where the crack was, drained it completely of all the liquid inside, then patched the hole with J.B. Weld.  Works like a champ now, no leaks and runs better than ever.  A damaged float is such a rare problem that it's really easy to overlook.  You don't expect it because the float does nothing other than float in gasoline and work the needle.  Anyway, have it posted to sell on Craigslist, so hopefully I find a buyer soon.

Someone brought in an old Mantis Rototiller that has been sitting for a while and wouldn't start.  He dropped of the machine last night around 5pm and I had it running by 6:30pm.  I charged him $20 for the carburetor rebuild.  Then I asked him if he wanted some of the general maintenance done for another $10 and he agreed.  I lubed up the tine assembly(that was pretty much empty) and made him an air filter(since it was missing and was expensive to order).  He picked it up today and was extremely satisfied with the results and quick turn-around of his machine.