keep those manuals

last monday while spraying the brussel sprouts, and kept smelling an odd odor finished up and returned to the barn grabbed the key to turn off the g/t and burnt my fingers popped the hood found out the pto bracket came loose and was shorting on the ignition switch it burned up the switch and the connector..

started call around to see if anyone had the switch. nope but they could order it once i came in and payed for it, being sick most of the week was in no shape to drive.
had to go in yesterday so decided to check with a shop in burlington,yup they had the switch in stock 22.00 drove across the street to my electrical parts house picked up some wire, butt connectors, spade connectors and some shrink tubing 8.00 so have 30.00 into the repair where everyone else wanted 30 just for the switch....

went out this morning and proceeded to rewire it, dw came out told me she off to get gas for the mowers, asked how do i know what wire goes where?... explained to her "this is why i keep every instruction,owners,parts manual for everything we have purchased since we moved out here"....
turned the switch and the g/t started right up... showed her the wiring schematics in the parts manual and the switch that had the same corresponding "letters" stamped on it... right then it started to rain dw said looks like we are not mowing today...

while there fixed the problem with the pto lever as well....

Yeah, saving manuals and such can be extremely helpful, but I'm seeing another end of this problem. I recently bought a kit to rewire my trailer. Lights, wire, the works. It said instructions were included. The package had clearly never been opened, you had to destroy the package to get the parts out, but no instructions were included. I called the manufacturer who e-mailed the instructions. Nothing was posted online which is where I thought they'd be easy to find. Those instructions were really pathetic, no details of any kind. It had a very basic wiring schematic but no connections details at all. It wasn't the first trailer I've wired so I really didn't need the instructions to start with but I like to look at them just in case I've forgotten something over the decades. Most if the time that I have problems it has to do with grounding and there was zero grounding help. Anyway, the lights worked fine once I got them hooked up.

I also recently ordered online a new frost-free water hydrant. Again no instructions were included but it gave an online location to get the instructions. The instructions were pretty simple and generic but not all that bad. It is a simple installation, especially when I'm replacing an old one. The hardest part was digging the hole for the two feet burial. I'm glad I don't live where a 4 foot burial is required. So dig the hole deeper than two feet so I don't get dirt and trash in the line when I take the old one off, dig out one side big enough so I have room to work the wrench handles, and dig the hole on the other side big enough so I could squat down with room for my butt and get some leverage on the wrench handles. Guess which side of that hole had to be dug out bigger. Don't think about it too long.

My point is that while I totally agree to save manuals and paperwork so you know model numbers, parts numbers, and have diagrams and such, I find it becoming way too common for manuals and such to not be provided. You have to go online top find them. And what is provided is often not really worth having. If I hadn't wired trailers before I could have easily done it in a way that a wire could snag or rub against something and wear through.

My goodness, that was fast work. And here I thought stuff that needed fixing had to sit around and "mature" for a bit....I think I've been mislead.
While you're in handyman fix-it mode would you put a new belt on my tractor?
There's a story there but I'm not telling it. It would make me look like a real idjit, and as long as I still have a teensy scrap of credibility I won't jeopardize it.

My brother-in-law recently bought a new lawn tractor/mower. After three hours of operation it quit. He's pretty handy so he looked at it himself but could not figure out the problem so he had to take it in the place he bought it. That's what got me to rewire that trailer, I'd been letting it mature a while. It's all we had to haul it in. Figured if I was taking a trailer on the road it should be legal.

He realized it could be something really simple that would make him look foolish when they figured it out but he's prefer to look foolish and have a working lawn mower. They said a belt had stretched and that was why it was not working. That really doesn't make sense the way it acted but they said it was a warranty thing so there was not charge and it works now. I have an idea the real problem would have made the people he bought it from look foolish so they claimed it was a material fault. That way they are off the hook.

@Ridgerunner have found the very same problem more manufacturers are not including instructions, figure it's a way for them to save printing those manuals but still charging you the same...

installed a 16 camera security system down at work it came with how to turn the system on and that was it, had to go to their web site find the system and then download and print everything i needed to know....still had to call tech support a couple times...

since it was raining took a wonderful rare weekend nap

Nothing better then a weekend nap !!!!

Yeah, after one of you guys is done working on Thistle's tractor, why dontcha stop by in MT and double check MY trailer wiring? We have re-run all new 110 and 12 volt wiring in the newly reframed 1955 Aljoa, bought a "power center" where it all comes together. Now we're trying to find an electrician who understands trailer wiring (grounds, especially, are different than houses, but I barely understand that bit) but can't seem to locate anyone. Sigh. We wanted someone to come here since the aluminum wall panels are off now and you can SEE the wiring we did, seems silly to put them back on so we can drive it to a trailer place to double check and finish the final wiring of the power center...

Just put a new wiring harness on this used trailer we bought and found the same thing...the instructions were nil, but since we'd done it a couple of times before we managed, but it turned into half a day project for some reason or other.

We put flexible conduit on the wires to keep them safe from the wildlife and from rubbing against the frame or zip ties.

Now we've got to put the carburetor back on the wood splitter after replacing all the gaskets and needle valve. Hoping this will resolve our starting issue as wood season is upon us. We've got most of the wood in but still would like to get more..think it's going to be a hard winter.

Mom and I sort of like these little challenges to a certain degree...we always learn something and we feel like we've accomplished something when we do these repairs and the machine actually works afterwards!

I used pieces of a leaky hose to run the wiring in where I needed to. Why buy conduit when I was going to throw the hose away anyway? I know, I'm cheap.

just checked my lottery tickets sorry @thistlebloom , @NwMtGardener looks like i will have to cancel my plans on driving out to fix your problems. don't think my 3.00 winnings will get me very far.