Do you have an old tractor?

Expect it to become a decorative lawn ornament one day. Mine did. One minute running fine, the next a howling banshee defying any attempt at forward motion. Predictably, it remained stationary despite a stream of invectives and words of encouragement. How thoughtless.

Next came thoughts of “free on Craigslist, all yours, just come, pick it up, and take it away.” This tractor had tested my resolve in the past with choking plumes of white smoke due to a faulty carburetor and four flat tires.

Next came a trip to Home Depot where I bought a Ryobi 40v electric lawn self-propelled mower. Wonderful piece of equipment, a grass vacuum cleaner, much quieter than the tractor but slower and more work. So, after getting the lawn cut, I turned back to my Waterboy wheeled wonder and called my friend, Jeff.

Jeff is one of those fearless people who dismantles machinery with abandon, finds the problem, works through all the inevitable gumption traps, and transforms a, albeit very large, paperweight back into a functioning device. My job was to buy the parts, lend a second pair of hands, and occasionally solve a problem.

I have mentioned gumption traps before. The phrase comes from Robert Pirsig’s book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. He was removing the cylinder head on his motorcycle. Three of the bolts unscrewed quickly with anticipation of a fast, easy repair but the fourth bolt sheared. Gumption trap. An unexpected, unwelcome, untimely event that sucks the energy, enthusiasm, and ego right out of you as you stare at the problem with no obvious solution or, at best, the realization of hours or days of time and energy slipping away. My lawn tractor repair had plenty of gumption traps with rusted bolts, stuck parts, and difficult working angles. Jeff handled them with aplomb.

Part of why I do repairs is to learn to accept gumption traps without emotion. “There it is, not unexpected, what is a workaround?” Plan A didn’t work, so on to plan B … or C. I think unemotional problem solving without an expectation that life should be easy is one of the best skills we can teach our grandchildren. Now, if I could only learn that lesson.

I digress. Here are some photos if you ever want to drop your lawn tractor transmission. Runs great now thanks to Jeff. Now, will Jeff be able to fix my turbo encabulator when it breaks!? Bonus points for those of you who get the reference.