Yesterday was a full day of riding the toy and moving snow.  I got it all done and was making a few passes along the roadway back to the wood shed, just in case we need to drive back there.  One pass was remaining to get done when I heard the snow plow hit the ground with a thud!

What was that?  I climbed off the toy and could see the blade resting solidly against the ground and the handle was in the up position.  What the heck?  I climbed back on the machine and by pushing back real hard against the lift lever I was able to get the blade somewhat off the ground.  Enough so to allow me to drive slowly around and into the garage for a lookysee.

In the garage I could not see anything that could stop the blade from being raised enough to clear the ground.  I figured the cable must have stretched and so I removed the blade from the toy.  I detached an adjustment arm and gave it a couple of tightening cranks and then put it back together.

Back on the toy the blade would raise about an inch higher than it did before.  I shrugged my shoulders and headed for the barn with the toy and blade.  As I attempted to turn so I could back into the wood shed, the blade hit the grass and I was stopped immediately.  Dang it!

I did a 59 point turn and got turned around to head back to the garage.  Then I noticed a feeling in the steering that something wasn’t right with one of my tires.  I dismounted and took a look under the fender…..The right shock had busted off at the bottom mount and was resting against the inside of the tire!

For those of you following my posts for the past several months, this same thing happened to the left front shock back in May!  What’s with these Yamaha shocks?

Back inside the house I called the closest Yamaha toy dealer and they informed me that shocks never break and so they don’t carry them in stock.  But they could order a pair at $115 each!  Nevermind!  I’ll look on ebay.  Ebay was where I bought the one for the left side.  Surely that same seller still has the one for the right side…especially since “Shocks never break”!

Well, he didn’t have it, so someone else must have broken a shock.  I did finally find a Pair of shocks for $59, used, but the picture makes them look pretty good and since shocks never break, I should not have a problem with them when I put them on next week.

So, if any of you are on my “give me time, I’ll get to your snow as soon as I can” list, sorry!  I’m out of business for at least a week.  Hope it doesn’t snow.

Bears Butt

Jan. 12, 2013