And... It went in the pond...

[Toolslinger]

Well, I loaned an OLD Walker mower to a friend... He managed to get it on some wet grass, on a bank, and in to the drink it went. Tires are racing slicks at this point, and I had warned him about any kind of moisture on the grass...

I think the air filter stayed above water, so I'm thinking it didn't suck in water, but I'm pretty sure every other breather was under... That machine has 4 gearboxes, 2 hydrostatic transmissions, and 2 final drives... Going to be a lot of fun seeing if it'll dry out, and survive with fluid changes.

It wouldn't be worth a new engine even if I could get one. It's got an oddball Kohler Magnum 16 that they pretty much only put in Walkers. So it's unobtanium...

Fortunately, I'm not mad, and I'm glad he didn't get hurt, other than his pride... I was going to unload this mower in the fall anyway, so if it has to get scrapped due to this, I'll be just fine with it.

[Toolslinger]

Sorry... Forgot Case content...

May have to take a 646 over to put it on my trailer if it's dead... Hell, probably be nice to have it over there anyway just to pick the damn thing up on blocks to be able to do fluids...

[Harry]

Sorry to hear about the mishap with your machine. Everytime I lend out something it comes back with a problem. So from now on I usually say to someone who wants to borrow something, can you afford to replace it if you break it?

Keep the Peace
Harry

[JSinMO]

If it didn’t suck in water then it should be fine. Get the fluids changed as quickly as possible. I grew up on a farm between the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. Back in 1993 we had one of the worst flood on record. We had tractors, heavy equipment, lawnmowers, heck everything under 10 to 15 feet of water for a couple of months. As soon as the rivers went down we immediately changed fluids and greased everything. We used that equipment for years after that ever ran fine. I had a riding lawnmower that was used for more that 10 years after that. When it finally gave up I opened the engine to take a look and it still had dirt from the flood in it!

[Toolslinger]

He was going to buy it. I didn't want to sell it to him because I don't believe it would be a good choice for him as he isn't a serious wrench bender. It isn't a problem machine, but it does take a load of PM, and it's kinda finicky at it's advanced age (hydrostats have a little wear after all those miles). I can't really fault Walker, they still support most of it. Kohler dropped the Magnum line, and that's really the weak link at this point.

As it stands, he may still be buying it, but I'd prefer to avoid that particular option, since I considered it a disposable when I dropped it off. He feels worse about it than I do for sure. At any rate, he'll be footing the bill on all the fluids, and it's just a good excuse to have a beer or two, and show him exactly what a PITA it is to change fluids on and grease. He definitely likes the Walker design, but I can tell you he will not like the price tag on a new one, and finding a low hour, unabused unit is tough...

[Eugen]

oh bummer! quite an adventure! How deep is the pond where it went in?

[MattA]

I think were going to need a video or at least some pics of the recovery operation

[Toolslinger]

Well, he got it almost out very quickly, and then a neighbor pulled it all the way out with a Kubota by 9pm on Sunday... Sorry, no videos, or even a photo. I was in the process of pulling recovery gear together when he let me know it was out. Normally I have an absurd amount of rigging gear, but I'm in the process of moving, and most of it has already gone out to PA...

Wound up not going over yesterday as we had some pretty heavy rain come through about the time I was going to be there. So I've got all the tools ready to go today, and I'll pick up the fluids this morning. Weather is supposed to be perfect for shade tree mechanics...

[Toolslinger]

Well, just to bring this to a close mostly...
Didn't go Monday as the weather turned stormy, and that wasn't going to help. So I went yesterday.
I got a little more info. Machine started to slide, and went in back first. Tail wheel hit bottom, and the machine flipped on to it's muffler side. The GHS tub was enough of a cushion that the guy was able to get back to it, and roll it upright, before it just sank.

Lots of green corrosion on all the electrical connections. At least it's a simple electrical system... That all cleaned off nicely with DeoxIt.
Water in the top. That was disappointing, but expected once I found out it went in backwards. Wasn't full to the top, so that was encouraging. Pumped that out, added WD, and repeated a couple times.
Dumped the oil/water mess in the sump, and refilled that.
I checked the reservoirs for the hydros, and I could see just a drop or two of water, so while I would want to dump them, I'm more concerned with the engine. Didn't check the finals, but they're vented, so it's likely they took on a little, and will want to get dumped as well if the engine survives.
Other gearboxes are all sealed up with no vents, and never drip oil, so I figured I was good there. Pulled covers, and all is well.

I went to put gas in, and found the tank outlet had been sheared off during the wreck, or recovery. Fortunately, there's a really nice Husqvarna dealer about a mile away, and they had one. Replaced the fuel lines, and filter (one of the lines was soft from age, so did them all). In with the fuel...
Naturally the air filters were soaked, so those are going to get replaced...

The starter was cranky... Spins over fine, but the bendix gear is sticky. That may, or may not free up with some use...
At any rate, it cranked, and pumped the water out of the muffler. After 15-20 seconds of cranking, it kicked over. Sounds good.

Greased what I could after a couple minutes of running and shut down. Focused on the pillow blocks, U-Joints, and deck. My gun was out in PA, and his gun has a rigid nozzle, and some of those fittings are not getting hit with that style... Mostly just pivot points that didn't get greased.

I ran it around for 15 minutes, and did a little cutting. Overall, it seems to have survived.
I expect the starter may have to be done if it doesn't recover. I wouldn't be shocked if I have to do the other electrical aspects as well at some point. The mechanical side seems like it will be fine after a little use, and another flush of oil.

If it was a commercial situation, I'd for sure just write it off, even though it's going again. The guy that's using it, really likes the machine, and it may be worth some effort to him. The shop near him seems quite competent, and well stocked. He's out in an area that still has legit ag going on in NJ, so they're still fixing machines there instead of just trashing them. He's going to have them throw new tires on it, to help avoid a repeat, and we walked around his place, discussing where he should avoid using this machine. He has a nice 48" Exmark walk behind that he can work with in the more questionable areas until he's more comfortable on the Walker (or never in some cases). After that, I don't know. If he wanted to keep it long term, he'd have to look in to a rebuild on the engine. It really could have used one before this incident, but was fine for the 1/3 acre it had been maintaining. Now he's got multiple acres, and he's not a serious wrench bender, so it would be better to have it running 100%. I think I can get him up to speed with the fluids, and greasing (on this Walker, there are 3 different oils in 9 different locations, and pushing 20 zerk fittings), so it could run quite a bit longer if desired. It will all be determined how it plays out over the next couple months of mowing. If it starts loosing bearings, then it's done in my book. 30 years, and a bath may be more than it can handle. If it keeps going, then throwing a rebuild at it gets him a decent Walker for not too much money. Looking at MSRP on an equivalent new Walker is motivation for anyone to consider fixing this one.

[Eugen]

Things happen, but it looks like the overall result is not bad at all. A good thing all of it was definitely within your skills and I would say patience

Are you looking forward to being all moved and getting more tractor action?