BigAngus752

Long story. Probably better suited to winter, but it's a summer story so...fair warning. I was mowing with my new Toro ZTR today. My 4th time using it. I had only been mowing for about ten minutes and was going up a small slope when it died. No sputtering. Just a hard "nope" stoppage. It has no gas gauge and it looked dry so I filled it up. Still no start. Wouldn't even click. I could hear the park safety engaging so it had some power, but wouldn't turn over at all. I was ramping up with some colorful language as I tried to disengage the hydros and push it to the garage and couldn't get it to budge. Now I'm cussing like Yosemite Sam, but not with a Looney Tunes G-rating. I get my push mower and start in front of our house. I'm cussing, thinking about demanding a refund, and mentally troubleshooting at the same time. I think of a few things to check but I finish pushing the front yard first. I go back to the Toro with my meter and check the battery, juice at the solenoid, fuses, seat safety switch. grounds, etc. No love. Now I just want it out of the middle of my yard. I figure out that I have to have the ignition on to disengage the parking brake before I can push it even with the hydros disengaged. I plan on putting it in front of my garage to have the shop pick it up but, as you may know, you can only push a ZTR by hand in one direction. Then you have to go to the front and turn each wheel and push it again. Then straighten each wheel and push some more. I'm not having a fun day. I get it into the drive and in front of the garage. I think, "Hey, I could have jiggled something pushing it around so I'll try it again". I sit down and try to start it with no response. I'm mentally going over all the safeties on the commercial Ztrak I mow with at work. Suddenly it dawns on me....I was MOWING when it quit. I looked down and the blade switch was still engaged. I pop it off and the mower starts right up. Heavy sigh...I'm an idiot. I think to myself, "I hope the neighbors didn't see that", but I realize that they saw me working on it so they probably think I fixed something and I'm a genius. That's great! I look like a hero! Now I'm motoring back toward my yard to continue mowing WHEN THE RIGHT STEERING ARM COMES LOOSE. Totally loose. I was going full speed straight ahead. Now I'm spinning in a full circle to the right at FULL SPEED. First thing I think is, "The neighbors can see this". Next thing is, "Why doesn't this steering arm work?". Last thing is, "I need to figure this out right now because I'm four more spins from projectile vomiting". I throttle down and find the sweet spot to jam the left arm into park and I stop. Once I could walk without looking drunk I grabbed some tools and tightened BOTH steering arms and finished mowing. If someone ever tries to tell you that our Lord and Savior doesn't have a sense of humor, just point at me.

My father-in-law is 91 years old. He keeps asking my wife if she will go on a cruise with him. It's been a dream of his and no one has been willing to go. He is in fantastic health, totally aware and with it, and even still drives himself from two hours away to visit us. But still, this is a HARD "NO" for us just because of what @Darth-Baiter has reported. I don't care if it's COVID, pneumonia, staph, or the common cold. Can't put a 91yr old man in a petri dish of stupid humans and expect a good result. Hopefully @Darth-Baiteryou can just take a positive view and see this as an "extended vacation" and catch up on some Seinfeld reruns.

Steering damper! That's the first thing everyone does. Nothing wrong with that either. Sounds like they have improved their damper. EDIT: Steering dampers also do wonders for bump steer. Another "feedback" issue with solid front axles and lifted or high center of gravity vehicles.

The major thing is...it's always caused by a number of different things. That's the major diagnostic issue. Your truck has had the potential for it from the day it rolled off the factory line. It's a combination of things wearing down or wearing out that cause it to start happening. I'm curious what Fords fix is for it because they wouldn't do a recall if they hadn't pinned down one specific thing that tends to cause it. That's why I, personally, would be running to get the recall done. You don't experience it right now. They can't screw it up. When someone comes to me with a Jeep that has death wobble I check to see what's worn and then I start doing BBB; bushings, ball joints and bearings. But the thing is, maybe they wouldn't have "death wobble", but then one front caliper starts binding just a liiiiiittttle bit. Then suddenly they have death wobble. That's TOUGH to figure out. You go through the front end and replace all the bushings and install an aftermarket steering damper only to find out if you had just replaced one front caliper you could have used those bushings for another 30,000 miles. I'm going to have to look up what the Ford fix is. Very interested. Unfortunately we are without internet but we finally got our power back on! Yay! I really don't think you need to get stressed either way. If you don't want the recall done you can definitely have the problem fixed if it starts getting bad later. No need to throw the truck away.

That's not correct. This problem will always exist in the design of this type of front axle/suspension and you cannot have certain characteristics in a vehicle using any other type of front axle/suspension, so if you want your heavy towing truck or your "flexy" off-road truck or Jeep you will always have a solid front axle using a drag-link/track bar design. I have fixed bump steer and death wobble on the Jeeps of family, friends, and friends of friends to the tune of more than I can count. No one is going to "break the seal" on anything. Ford has found that either slightly changing the geometry or using bushing made out of a different material or maybe installing a steering damper will fix or delay this. You don't have it. When your bushings wear more you will. I know you are a reasonable guy because you've been on here a long time so I can't figure your intent here. Everyone has suggested the repair and you have argued with everyone. Why ask? It's your truck. If you are worried about the dealer fix just don't do it. You'll have a lot of wobble one day and you can fix it then. You may have to pay for it if you're past 150,000 miles, but it's not an expensive fix. It's actually easy to diagnose exactly where the issue is if you know how to do it. Takes two people and 60 seconds for me to find the problem when I'm lucky. Other times it's doing what you said only to find it was something else.

That is the PERFECT analogy. Drum are the "feet" of the fish world. And catfish are the unshaven, no showers, hasn't washed her hair in a year hippie girl of the fish world. Bleh.

The ridiculousness continues. Friday after work it took only a couple hours to catch a bunch with the top 5 weighing 15lbs 15oz. I don't know why. This lake is usually at it's toughest in the summer but the water is at 81 degrees and I'm still pulling lots of fish. Going to enjoy it until it's over. That's not a filter on your phone camera? That's one beautiful fish!

NICE truck! And use your cart if it's easier, but don't sweat this. It's your lake too and you're getting on the water. I never have an issue when a kayaker needs to park at the ramp. Some lakes just don't give you a choice. You're a boater. You just have more energy than us.

UPDATE: I went back Fri evening and caught them on both an Ol' Monster and a Zoom finesse worm with the biggest (4lb 3oz) being on the finesse worm with an unpegged 1/16 tungsten weight. Three just over 3lb-ers on the Ol' Monster. What's that mean? On the fishes know...

I like big number days. I like days with only a few fish but I catch a 5lb +. My favorite days are always the days that I go out and struggle and see everyone else on the water struggling and THEN I figure them out. By that I mean, I go from area to area trying technique after technique with six or seven rods on deck and only one to two (or none) fish to show for it. But THEN I find the pattern and the bait and I finish the day with one or two rods on deck and multiple fish from a single spot or a pattern I can repeat several times. Those are the best days for me. Even my wife recognizes that makes me happier than catching 50 bass or my PB.

I would agree that finesse is excellent on a "tough bite" day, especially due to pressure, but I actually use it less than I used to. Yesterday was a perfect example. High skies, tiny breeze, summer pattern and no one (that I saw) was catching anything including me. I went the opposite way and put on a heavier tungsten weight and a Berkley MaxScent Kingtail. I wore that worm out and when I opened my box I grabbed a Zoom Ol' Monster because I wanted to see if it was the MaxScent that was getting them or the size. I then wore out TWO Ol' Monsters before I went home. Had a guy at the ramp ask me what the heck I was doing. I try to keep an open mind only because these crazy fish seem to swing to extremes. When I go back Friday I know I'll try a giant worm because I have a bad habit of fishing history, but it could very well end up being a Ned rig day.

I was just thinking as I was driving home from the lake this morning how much this year has turned around. Spring was as tough as any spring I've ever fished, but about four weeks ago the lights when on. I've been going 2 to 4 times a week because I'm hammering them for 3 to 4 weeks now. Good numbers and excellent size. Fishing has been great here in the middle of the state. It's going to make August and September hurt even more than usual.

I spoke on the phone with someone at Duckett Fishing awhile back. I was describing what I wanted in a rod for vibrating jigs and larger spinner baits. I told the guy I wanted a "moderate" MH rod with a good parabolic bend for long casts, hard hooksets with braid, and the flexibility to keep the fish pinned but it needed a strong backbone for hauling the fish out of slop and strong hooksets with thick hooks. The guy told me that what I said was almost word for word what Jacob Wheeler told them he wanted for the same lures. I bought a Duckett DFJW73MH-C and it is exactly what I asked for. I now own four Duckett rods. Keep your braid and you don't need a leader with this rod.

I only got about 2/3rds of it back. It was a clean cut where she bit it off. Looked like I did it with scissors. I was impressed. It's a Spiny Softshell and they eat fish and insects so they must have a pretty good chomper.

Guess who LOVES Zoom Trick Worms in Watermelon Candy and really doesn't want the hook removed after he eats one. I named him Bitey McBiterson. He does not consider us to be friends.

Great for late summer bass in the warmest water of the year. I use a Berkley Kingtail MaxScent in 7ft or deeper water at the base of rip rap banks, dock footings, bridge pilings, etc. Just enough weight to get it down and feel the bottom.

I'm normally a completely anti-gimick person, but this is intriguing. I haven't found anything suggesting how long the battery lasts yet. I am surprised at the price. I know Livingston is usually bargain but I expected higher cost for these. I would typically wait and let someone be the guinea pig but I may have to try out their frog. Frogs are very noisy creatures, even when just moving around. The frog lure could be something. "My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives." They are on the shelf now. https://www.livingstonlures.com/pages/shop-series

Gorgeous! Looks like 100mph on the trailer...

Pick one. I don't have time to take care of both. I found this aggravating (but only because I'm jealous of your maturity and good sense).

Amen to this! My wife has watched me remodel two of our homes. Once while I was doing trim work she asked me if four finish nails was enough on a long piece of base. I pointed out to her that it was non-load bearing and never touched by anyone. Literally just for lookin' at. But when I took the old stuff off it had 180 brads.

One of my top confidence baits. Shad color when it's cloudy/dirty and chrome when it's sunny. Works best on windy banks and when you bang it off of stuff. Always on deck unless it's dead calm/high skies and I'm only throwing bottom contact.

Well, you've had a lot of responses and no one has mentioned this so maybe I'm way off, but part of your issue is in your first sentence. 15lb braid for finesse? I use 4lb - 6lb. Also curious about your rod specs. A rod that doesn't match your technique won't cause line twist, but it will cause your line to not flow through the line guides properly and cause "wind knots".

Okuma TCS-C-701MHa This is my lipless crank rod. Great bend for long casts and perfect backbone for a sweeping hookset on trebles. I own two of them. Lipless is one of my highest confidence lures. Also excellent for walking a Zara Spook. I use Yo-Zuri Hybrid on these rods.

Don't know why, but it's the year of the 5+ pounders. I haven't caught large numbers of bass this year but I'm way, way ahead on the 4 and 5 pound bass. I'd tell you my secret, but it's secret even from me. Quite a blessing so far this year.

Still using Trilene XL bought at Walmart with zero problems. 4lb and 6lb on spinning set ups. It's the Sufix Siege I threw in the garbage. I've never in my life seen a mono with so much memory. Tried KVD line and lure, tried drifting it out repeatedly behind the boat. Unspooled/respooled. Waste of money. It stayed a curly phone line full of wind knots no matter what I did. Funny how each of us has completely opposite experiences with the same product. Seems like EVERY manufacturer has quality control issues...or nothing is idiot proof. 50/50 chance of either when it comes to me.