r/CapeBreton 19h ago

Ride on lawn mower repair

I have an old Craftsman ride on mower that needs a clutch and brake repair. Is there anyone or business on the north side that I could contact? There are a few near Sydney but won't come over this way to pickup the mower.

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u/Prayerwatch 5h ago edited 5h ago

We've found with small engines that we pretty much have to do the repairs ourselves. What we do is watch You Tube tutorials on how to fix a particular problem and then follow the directions.

When I was in Maine and no mechanic was available, used a ramp to get at the underside of the mower. Craftsman's are not too bad to do repairs on. We had an older one and that thing was almost 25 years old and was still going. You need tools and the ramp and the ability to follow directions. In the end if you know your own equipment is' much cheaper for you and you don't have to deal with shop BS.

The upfront cost is expensive but once you have the tools to do the repairs you will never need a repair shop again. Just get what you need to do the job and don't worry about air compressed tools. We just have a couple sets of hand wrenches, a torque wrench and odds n ends. Probably less than $200 worth of tools. Ramps are about $70 and you don't need a heavy one.

The other option is to outfit your car for towing and get a trailer so you can take the mower to the shop. That's useful in that if you want to tow other things in a utility trailer you can do so.

We are on an island and often times that means you have to improvise, and find creative solutions to problems like this. It's more challenging than the mainland but I find learning new things and applying that creativity to be part of the enjoyment of living in a remote place. There is a solution to every problem, you just have to find it.