Cox ride-on mower throws belts.

 G'day.

Looks like a nice friendly newsgroup you have here.

I was wondering if any of you good people would know a fix for a Cox
ride-on mower that throws belts?  My next door neighbour wants to sell
his 6 year old Cox mower for $1,000.  But he also doesn't want to sell
it because it has thrown belt on a regular basis since it was new.  He
reckons that his ears would never stop burning! :-)  He says it's a twin
rotor with a belt that you just about need a road map to replace.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

-Max

 g'day max,

best advice i can give is "don't buy it".

honestly that much money for any cox mower is a bit much, there are
better makes out there.

he also should have gotten cox to fix the problem while it was under
warranty.



snipped
With peace and brightest of blessings,

len & bev

--
"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://www.lensgarden.com.au/

 len garden wrote:

G'day Len.

Yes well, that's probably pretty good advice, and I was wondering why he
didn't get Cox on to it straight away myself.

I thought Cox was one of the better brands, what would you say were the
most durable for a large block? We have about 5 and a half acres of
fairly flat land but it's a bit lumpy with rocks here and there.

This block was deep ripped about 20 years ago, which brought a lot of
rocks to the surface.  The fella who owned it grew pumpkins on it one
year, but the council stopped him after that.  It's pretty good black
soil on clay and basalt, and nearly everything we plant does really
well. Except stuff that doesn't like wet feet.  The last wet season
killed a few things, as the soil holds water below about a foot down.

We have mowed most of the block, first with a whipper-snipper then with
a push mower, and moved most of the rocks that we could lift or roll, to
the base of the trees.  I think I would be welding some sort of bull bar
onto the front of any ride on we bought. :-)

Thanks for your reply Len.
-Max

 snipped
g'day max,


exactly! where in this planet do you rside, general area will do ie.,.
nth/west nsw etc.,. if you are talking cox then it sounds like you are
in aus'?


no like all the tap-n-goes it is one of the cheaper makes, not know
for long lasting durability with their slipping drives and many long
belts. the most reliable rider mowers are the models with gear box or
speed cahnge mechanisms eg.,. rover rancher, snapper, deutscher, these
models all ahve differentila rear axles to help turinig cpacity. and
with the speed selection means the motore doesn't get over revved to
go faster over the lawn.

and no slippy drives that the home handy man can' repair, years as a
mower mechanic is a real eye opener.

for that many acres you would almost be better off with a mini tractor
up to 20 hp but not under about 18hp, you can get those mulching
cutter heads that do a good cut, plus the tractor can do so much more
than what a rider mower (rememeber they are a mower you ride on) can
do.

but at the very least look at the commercial quality riders, and
reckon you would be wanting to cut at least a 4' cut even 5'.


now the rocks pose a problem unless yo can clear them you need to cut
taller to miss them and the only cutter that will be reliable is a
normal slasher type head if you went to a tractor? but rider mowers
won't do well in rough conditions, again they are only a mower.

for planting in those conditions use raised beds, see our page for
ideas, and for trees that requier good drainage plant them in a raised
manner that is don't dig too deep as you want the root ball or most of
it above ground level and build up a round it creating a well.

planting indemic natives will do better.


again maybe rethink you application? riders don't tow heavy loads and
they can push a blade but only loose sand say nothing else, tractors
are designed for that as well a tractor can tow a trailer with a
decent load in it.


With peace and brightest of blessings,

len & bev

--
"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://www.lensgarden.com.au/

 len garden wrote:

Yes Len, we live in Ravenshoe, Far North Queensland on the Atherton
Tablelands at about 1K meters of altitude.  We usually get a good wet
season each year, but the cyclones (Larry for instance) are only about
half strength by the time they get here.  Larry came straight up the
gorge from Innisfail just missing us.  We lost a few really big iron
barks mainly, but this may be a good reason not to plant anything that
can't get it's roots down deep, re your suggestion about planting trees
above ground.

As to a small tractor with a slasher and a collection of other handy
implements, there is nothing I would like more! :-)  Unfortunately, I am
building the house at the moment, so all our spare cash (is there such a
thing!? :-) ) is going into that.  The house is 160 odd meters from the
road and consequently the same from the power pole, water mains, and
phone.

Last week I helped our sparkie lay the power lines. One and a half hours
work cost just over $5K and that's without even touching the house.
Another 3 to 5K$ for a half-way decent tractor is out of the question at
this point in time.  Another factor that may come into play is the rate
we are planting trees and other things, manoeuvrability may become an
issue at some point with a tractor and slasher combo.  At the moment
though, we still have a lot of wide open space, which I have been mowing
by hand now that the wet season is over for the year.  At least the
grass won't grow much in the next 6 to 8 months.

So the main reason I was interested in the Cox is that John would let us
pay it off, which would help not break the budget.  But as you say, they
are not a great unit to begin with, and with our rough ground may not
last very long at all.  Which only leaves walk-behind slashers.  But
even a half way decent one of those costs quite a lot.

I went and looked at an old snapper the other day.  The bloke wanted
$500 for it.  I know they built the first ride-on, but I didn't think
this would be it! :-)  It did have a newly rebuilt B&S motor, but it the
mower it's self needed work.  Looked like sh1t, but built like the
proverbial brick dunny.  My misses didn't think much of it though.  This
bloke rebuilds ride-ons, and I think he just keeps it to get people out
there. ;-)  He himself swore by Greenfields.  I myself quite like rovers
for reliability.  But I was a bit surprised at the internal construction
of the bottom end.  What with the swinging balance housing and the plain
metal bearings.  Not very impressive, but surprisingly long lasting.

I really don't know much about these mini-tractors you speak of though.
  Could you enlighten me a little on them?  Like what is the difference
between them and ride-ones?

Btw, your website looks good. Lots of great tips on the mowers and
trimmers page.

Remain in light.
-Max

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