Category Archives: DIY – Do It Yourself

How to change the transmission oil in your Simplicity Broadmor 16HP lawn tractor

If you ever notice that you are trying to push the foot pedal to back up your tractor and it is very slow, then you may have one or two things going on – your transmission could be low on oil or it could be really old and due for a change. How do I know this? Well, I just lived it.

We have a 1998 Simplicity Broadmor tractor with a 42″ deck. It’s been backing up slower and slower for quite some time. When I bought the tractor new, I asked the dealer what I needed to do with the transmission – he said just make sure it has fluid but that’s it because it is sealed. He told me this in 1998 … and it’s now 2023. Yeah, I know now.

What is 10W-30 CD/SG?

Well, I was getting my tractor ready for the season and checked the plastic case and saw a dark shadow at the full mark. I took off the lid and couldn’t see any oil at all – anywhere inside. The cap said “TRANSMISSION OIL FILL 10W-30 CD/SG”? I had no idea what that meant so I called my master auto mechanic friend John up and he told me to put in a good real oil, not synthetic 10W-30.

The CD/SG was the API (American Petroleum Institute) service category. The “S” meant it was for automotive gasoline engines and the “G” code is the for engine vintage. SG was introduced in 1989 but is not considered suitable for engines introduced after 1993. Regarding “CD”, the “C” is for automotive diesel engines. “D” means it should not be used in diesels made after 1994. In short, a modern car engine 10W-30 oil would work just fine. The simplicity owner’s manual also states this. It takes about 3.5 quarts.

The Reservoir

As to the dark mark on the plastic reservoir – I guess it is stained now due to age. You sure can’t see the fluid in the container unless you remove the cap. It had probably been low on transmission oil for a long time. I topped it off and it worked like new.

I was so happy about the speed in reverse that I called John. He paused and asked if I ever change my transmission oil. I told him that I hadn’t based on what the dealer told me way back when and he just chuckled “boy, you better drain that transmission or you’re going to have a problem”.

So, I listened to John. I looked up in the manual where the drain plug was at, removed it and out came pitch black oil. Have you ever felt guilty about what you did to a machine? I sure did. Wow.

According to the manual, Simplicity recommended that the oil be changed after the first 50 hours of run time and then every 250 hours after that. Folks, I kid you not, I was at 527.6 hours in the meter. Wow. I felt really bad about putting the tranny though that. I was also amazed that it was still working.

I’m going to show you some photos of what I did. One thing I want to point out to you is to make sure the area around the filler cap is clean. You do not want to get any dirt into the transmission oil tank. I cleaned mine with brake cleaner and then blew it off with compressed air just to be sure. I also used my compressed air to blow the work area clean to reduce the odds of dirt getting in the transmission oil tank. Just remember- getting dirt in a tranny can wreck it.

The fill cap was filthy with dust and is a tight fit against the fuel tank. I cleaned it off with brake cleaner, a rag and then blew the area off with compressed air.
That centered hex head is the drain plug. It came free pretty easily. Clean and blow this off too – you don’t want dirt sticking to your drain plug when you go to re-install it.
None of my car/truck drain pans would fit under the tractor’s transmission but I noticed a 5 quart oil container would so I took an empty one, cut out a section of the wall and used it. Note, a full transmission will have somewhere around 3.5 quarts of oil in it.
I removed the drain plug and out came black oil. I felt bad the minute I saw how black it was. I let it drain for 15-30 minutes then I put a clean shop towel in the mouth of the tank and blew shop air in to get out all of the oil I possibly could.
The transmission drain plug is an interesting looking creature. Note the length and two O-rings. I carefully cleaned it, made sure the O-rings looked okay and wrapped it in a clean towel for later installation. Don’t forget to put the drain plug back in before you start refilling the tranny with fresh oil.
The oil was black as night. Well, lesson learned – change the oil.
I went to my local Autozone and it seemed like all of the brand name engine oils they had were semi- or full-synthetics. John recommended I go with a good conventional oil so I went to Tractor Supply (TSC) and their house brand of oil was conventional, API certified and very affordable. Now, the one odd thing is trying to get oil into the filler mouth- it is a weird angle so I had to buy something and what I got I do not have anything good to say about. The funnel you see above is two pieces – unless you keep the white corrugated tube pulled down, oil goes everywhere. I trimmed about 6″ off the original tube so I could hold the funnel while keeping the tube pulled down with one hand and pour oil from the jug with the other. What a headache. I will buy a better gooseneck funnel next time – I had a metal one that I haven’t used in years and couldn’t find.
Thanks to that awful funnel plus the oxidized tank not longer showing the fluid level I couldn’t see what I was doing and overfilled the reservoir so I used my MityVac vacuum bleeder to remove fluid. Next time I will move the tractor some and let the oil go into the tranny before I bring it down to the final level.I started the tractor and the tranny made some noise for a few seconds – maybe 15-30 and then it was fine once oil got everywhere. In hindsight, I probably could have avoided that if I had followed the transmission purging procedure on page 34 of the manual and will do that next time. By the way, it dawned on me that it probably pulled more oil out of the tank as it filled the tranny and it did so I added just a bit more to bring the oil to the cold full mark.
Done – runs great!

Summary

My big lesson learned was that transmission oil does need to be changed. Luckily I found this out before damaged happened. The symptom that set this all in motion was a very slow/weak reverse gear.

]Also, with this vintage of tractor, that transmission fluid reservoir is not longer semi-transparent. What looks like the fluid level is not so you need to manually check and be sure to blow all of the debris away from the cap before you open it. I thought there was fluid but when I opened it, there was no oil in sight.

Last lesson – use good conventional 10W-30 engine oil for the fluid – it works just fine.

So, after I did this I mowed our 1.5 acre yard and it worked great – no scary sounds, reverse was solid and I would swear it went forward faster. It was totally worth the the half-hour to hour that it took. I spent more time trying to figure out what to do than actually doing it and I hope this post helps you skip some of that.


If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.


Avoid Chinese Carbs on Your Kohler Command 16 Engine – Use a Kohler 12-853-93-S carb Instead

Back in 2020 my Simplicity Broadmor tractor with a Kohler Command 16 engine was running really bad and I suspected the carb was having issues so I bought two Chinese carbs off Amazon figuring one would work. They were different brands and about $19/each so I figured “why not?” Well, kind of wish I hadn’t so let me tell you what happened.

I replaced the carb but it really didn’t make a difference. I tried all kinds of stuff with no improvement and decided to use a small engine repair shop that shall go nameless. Turns out the ignition system had a known problems. The flawed Kohler Digital Spark Advanced Ignition (DSAI) was replaced with a Magneto Digital Ignition (MDI) model. Had I known about those issues and that the MDI part number was Kohler 12-707-01-S, I would have done it myself. But I didn’t, they did and they replaced the ignition.

So, let me recap – I had installed a Chinese carb and got it kind of working and the shop installed the MDI upgrade, got it running and called it even. On one hand it was running but it was rough, hard starting and often would backfire when either starting or stopping plus the power felt lower – it bogged down more when I got into tall grass. It got to the point that I had to do something but I wasn’t thrilled with the repair shop either.

Ok, so what did I do? I start reading up on the Command 16 engine in earnest – what I should have done the first time. The most likely culprit was the Chinese carb. The more I read about folks using Chinese carbs was that their quality was hit and miss. Guys who got them to work knew about how to tear down and rebuild a carb to fix what was overlooked by the factory. The guys who didn’t have that level of knowledge – like me – tended to run into problems. Hmmm…. yeah, I was definitely betting on the carb at that point.

I still had the original carb but it had been sitting empty for over three years and I wasn’t sure how the seals would be so I started digging on what OEM Kohler carb I should buy. Turns out that my original 12-053-83 carb was superseded (replaced with a new model) by the 12-853-93-S carb so I did some digging and found it on Amazon for $201.89. Yeah, it was a fair amount of money but buying a new tractor is a fortune these days so I took the gamble.

This was the original 12-053-83 carb the tractor’s Kohler Command 16 came with.

Replacing a carb on a Command 16 is very straight forward – remove the emissions hose, the two nuts that hold the air cleaner assembly in place, remove the fuel hose, the red electrical wire for the fuel solenoid and then you pull the carb off far enough so you can then move it around and remove the throttle and choke stiff wires. It took maybe 30 minutes – I was taking a photos too so that always slows things down.

Those two nuts hold the air cleaner assembly against the carb and the carb to the block. Once you remove them and disconnect the emissions hose, the air cleaner assembly slides right off and you will want to clean it and set it to the side.
Remove the fuel line on the right and disconnect the red fuel solonoid wire. The linkages can’t be removed until the carb is off the studs. You do not want to bend those linkage wires.
With the carb off the studs you now have enough freedom to move the carb and the linkages around until they come out of their respective holes. Take photos or a mental note of which linkage goes where and how they fit. Notice the little nylon bushing in the rear throttle linkage. That did not come with my new carb for some reason so I rescued it from the old carb and put it on the new one.
That little nylon bushing is what I am talking about – it’s upside down in this photo.
It will pushes into the throttle body linkage hole.
From left – New Kohler carb, middle is the Chinese carb and the right is the original Kohler carb.
Clean the area off carefully and put the new gasket that came in the kit on the studs. I am the process or replacing the old fuel solenoid wiring which is why you see two plug assemblies. Red to red and and the black ground wire goes under a screw on the block. I replaced them just to make sure the wiring was good and not wearing out from flexing over and over, oxidized, etc. A new one came with the carb kit so I did it.
So there is a step I couldn’t show because my hands were in use 🙂 Before you slide the new carb on the studs, attach the linkage wires/rods again. Once the carb is back on the studs, you will not be able to move things around enough to insert them. Attach the fuel line and the red fuel solenoid wire. If you turn on the ignition, you should definitely hear a “click” as the fuel solenoid opens. If not, check that the wires are seated, you have a good ground. There should be 12volts coming out of the red wire when you move the key to “on”. I had no problems.
Put the gasket on the carb, slide on the air cleaner, re-attach the emissions hose and tighten down the nuts. I brought them down a tad past snug but didn’t bother using a torque wrench. The studs are relatively small and in aluminum so don’t go crazy with tightening down the nuts.

I sprayed a bit of brake cleaner down the carb to give it some fuel and started it. I think I had to do it twice before there was enough gas in the carb for it to work but it ran great!! Wow – right out of the box. The one adjustment I made after I put on a new air cleaner was to the idle adjustment screw – shown in the top left of the photo. I lowered the throttle lever to where I wanted it to idle and then I screwed in the adjustment clockwise until I heard the RPM pick up. That acceleration told me the screw was engaging the throttle and opening it up more. When I then moved the lever down, the RPM would not go below that point. I then fine tuned it to the RPM that sounded good – yeah, I did it by ear.

Summary

The new Kohler carb ran like a champ. I wish I had just spent the money on it to begin with – yeah, it is expensive but worth it. I mowed our 1.5 acres the next day and what a difference it made! It hardly slowed down going through thick grass and I haven’t heard it run that good in years.

My recommendation to you is that unless you know small engine carbs and want to pull a cheap Chinese model apart and check it before you install it, spend the money on a Kohler as it is built right. By the way, I am not the only person who reports the Kohler carbs literally work right out of the box!

I hope this helps you out!


If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.


Add A Pool Ionizer to Save Money on Chlorine, Clarifier and Your Time!

We live in Southwest Michigan, have an older 40,000 gallon in-ground pool surrounded by trees and all kinds of vegetation. It seemed like trying to keep the pool clean was a never ending job. In July 2022 a friend recommeded that I buy a pool ionizer to clarify our pool and cut down on algae. The results are promising so let me explain.

Background

On Amazon there are a ton of companies selling solar power pool ionizers. They basically look like a mushroom with solar cells on a flat top and then a 10-12″ cylinder that goes down in the water. In that cylinder is a mesh basket filter, a steel spring and a copper-silver anode.

The solar cells generate direct current (DC) voltage with the negative going to the copper cylinder-silver anode. The postive voltage goes to the metal spring that is the cathode and it encircles the anode with a slight gap in between. The slight current causes positively charged copper-silver “cat-ions” to come off the anode and then they float in the water until they bond with negatively charged microorganisms, such as bacteria and algae, and cause them to break down and due. Your filter then removes them.

Is this dangerous? No, the voltage and current are really low. The use of silver and copper to clean/purify surfaces has been known for hundreds of years. So, it’s definitely proven.

What did I buy?

Well, I read reviews on Amazon plus the friend recommended the model I bought. I went sith the EAAZPOOL Solar Ionizer for a 45,000 gallon pool. They make one for smaller pools but I needed this larger one.

The unit arrived nicely packed. I have not needed to use their customer support so far.

Assembly is super easy – turn the solar cell covered main unit upside down, screw in the anode on the bottom, put the spring in place, put the basket on and then use the plastic thumb screw to hold everything in place. It also comes with a big rubber band that you put around the outside of the main body to further seal the seam where the top and bottom halves of the case come together. You then place it in the water and it runs when the sunlights hits it.

Put the rubber band arund the “equator” or outside midde of the unit to further seal it. Note, you need to set the unit in the pool. I tossed it in once and the rubber band popped off. No harm done – I just fished it out and put the band on – no more tossing it in either.

If you disassemble the unit in a few days and check you will notice the surface of the copper-silver rod will be getting discolored and over time it will even become pitted.

About once a week you take the unit part and wire brush the anode and the wire cathode, plus rinse out the basket.

To take the unit apart, turn the plastic butterful screw counter-clockwise until it pulls out.
The basket and the spring cathode lift right off the unit. You can see the green corrosion. That’s after about 1-2 weeks.
The corrosion brushes right off – not hard to do at all. I just clean it right on the unit and the spring also. I then rinse it all off.
This is what the bottom looks like – the copper-silver anode screws onto the screw stud you see. The cathode wire sits on the silver metal contacts you see. The basket sits in the al perimeter.

Results

For us, the most striking difference was the clarity of the water improved. While algae formation decreased some, I had hoped for more. This season I am putting a new anode and cathode in the existing unit and adding a second unit. Our pool only gets direct sun from about 11am until about 3pm because trees block the light so I don’t think enough ionization is happening. I’ll use the test strips they supply to make sure I don’t add too much.

The following are both the unit and the refill kit if you need it – my anode and cathode lasted from July to October just FYI.

Summary

Yes, they do work. Everybody I know with one likes it. My results with the definitely clearer water are promising and I think the second one in my case, with both a big pool and limited direct sun light, will cut back the algae they way I want.

I hope this helps you out. I’ll post an update this summer once I see how using two units works.


If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.


Use A Pool Leveller To Keep Your In-Ground Pool Full This Year: Fill-O-Matic Brand Worked Great For Me

We have an in-ground pool that was built in the 1970s. Every year when I open it, I wonder what all will be wrong. Starting some years ago we developed a small leak – most likely in a line somewhere. Between that and evaporation, it used to be a challenge to keep the water level correct. This was a big deal because if the water dropped below the skimmer then the pump would run dry and nothing got filtered. Notice how I put that in past tense? It’s not a problem any longer.

In October 2021, I bought a Fill-O-Matic automatic pool leveller. The brand sounds like a gimmick but it really works – I bought mine based on a referral actually but ran out of time before the season ended. However, right at the start of the 2022 pool season in Michigan I installed it and it couldn’t be more simple – you basically adjust the height to where you want the water, connect a host, turn on the water and away it goes.

It’s basically a float valve that moves up and down. When water is added, it moves up and eventually closes the valve. When it goes down, it reaches a point where it opens the valve and it does it in degrees – if the float goes down a bit, the valve only lets a little bit of water in.

The red plastic is the float. When it goes down, the valve gradually opens and water comes in as you can see. When the float goes up, the valve gradually closes.
This is the back of the unit – when you loosen the black finger nuts shown, you can then slide the float up and down and thus control your water level.

What I found was that the unit ran almost constantly but the amount of water it was adding in was small. It’s a very simple well made quality mechanical device and that’s good – that also means it will be reliable.

Summary

I ran it all of 2022 without a problem, rinsed it off before storing it and absolutely plan on using it this year again. By the way, it’s made in the USA and I actually corresponded with the inventor over some question I had – I recall he answered quickly and it addressed whatever it was that I asked. When I searched on Amazon for the product, I notice there are cheap import knock-offs. Be sure to the original Fill-O-Matic.


If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.


Latex-ite UltraShield Driveway Sealer Has Limits – It Seals But Does Not Repair

My wife and I wanted to seal our 160 foot long x 12 foot wide driveway in 2022. My first thought was to use a service but they were sold out for the season by the time we asked so we decided to try and do it ourselves.

What I found out is that the old days of buying some liquid tar / oil based product are gone. You have to buy all these different products that are based on latex of some other chemical. You need one thing to seal holes, another for big cracks and the sealant. Okay, we have a big driveway and it is beat to hell, falling apart and really ought to be replace but we couldn’t afford it. So, what did we do? We took a gamble and the results are so-so but I learned a lot and want to share them because I bet they will help you regardless of brand or product you are using.

Getting Started

I did the math and bought a bunch of pails of Latex-ite UltraShield. What I did was I took the length of the asphalt portion of my driveway x the average width in feet. I then divided this by their average coverage ratio: 160×12/200=9.6 pails. I think I actually bought 10 pails at my local Home Depot but ecause my driveway was in such tough shape, I wound up actually using 14.25 pails for two coats.

There were areas where the old asphalt had crumbled and disappeared. I bought bags of Quickrete asphalt patch to fill in these places. I first broke out the old material into rough rectangles and dug down another inch.
This is the result – I used a tamper to beat it down as best I could and then sprinkled the top with sand so it wasn’t so sticky.
Our driveway was in tough shape – we knew that but were hoping to extend the life a few years. After we filled in the big holes – one of which you can see part way down.
My friend John had a good suggestion – heat up old pieces of asphalt with a ground torch and beat them into holes. So I did that in some places where missing asphalt caused a gap.
I read the Late-Ite Ultra Shield directions, watched several videos and new surface prep would be key. I burned off grasses and moss with the ground torch, sholved the grass back off the edge, blew it clear with a blower and then washed it – literally. That is my pressure washer – I went down the whole driveway and first applied Purple Power to clean and degrease it and then another pass with just water in the pressure washer to get rid of the cleaner. It was so clean you could eat off it … time would tell me I got it that clean in most places but not all.
The day before I flipped them so the solids would break free of the bottom and go towards the lid.
The recommend applying the sealer by going left and right with a squeegee – overlapping the last pass and pressing it into the asphalt.
When I got done it looked amazing. You can see all the still wet sealant in the cracks.
I then applied a second coat. The first coat used up each pail real fast due to the cracks. The second coat went much faster and each pail went further. By the time I was done, I had used 14-1/4 pails of sealant and the coverage comes out to about 134 sq ft/gallon if I am doing the math right.

The Results Six Months Later After Winter

I had a really bad experience once with a wood deck repair chemical that claimed to fix anything that looked awesome in the summer but then the wind literally blew it off in sheets during the winter. The deck sealer had glowing reviews that first summer and then got absolutely smalled with one and two star reviews at Lowest after the first Winter. My point is that I have been sitting on a ton of photos and stuff since last fall to see how it would actually hold up before I wrote this post.

The first thing I want to be clear about in fairness to Latex-ite is that they tell you over and over it is a sealant and will not fill big cracks. Well, even though I searched a ton, I ignored that. I shouldn’t have.

Latex-ite is basically a glorified black paint that dries and hardens on clean solid asphalt to seal it. Well, it looks brownish as you are applying it but it turns a nice rich black as it dries and cures.

One thing I learned is that where it can’t get a good grip, it peels up so a oily, dusty or dirty surface will not work. I tried to do my mother-in-law’s little short driveway in a rush and didn’t get it pristinely clean in all places so I can tell you it doesn’t stick plus I had a few on our driveway as well.

You also need to squeegee it in place to force it into cracks, crevices and pores but if applied too thick, such as in the tons of larger cracks on my driveway, it will crack, break down and otherwise slowly disappear.

In short, it is just a sealer and gives you a good looking new black coloring on your asphalt. It really is not a filler, glue or anything else in terms of fixing things.

The following photos show the difference between mid-September 2022 and March 2023:

Most cracks over 1/4″ do not have any visible selant in them. The black sealant is on most of the larger pieces – the brown tracks are where we drive and yes, the area is very wet every spring.
This view is bakc towards our house. The family who had the home built in the 70s had a concrete driveway poured closer to the house and asphalt from a certain point to the road. It was probably a cost savings move and the asphalt is neither very thick nor sitting on a very well prepared bed.
You can see how the sealant is breaking down into flakess and separating.
This is by one edge – it tells you that I didn’t get the drive way as clean as I thought in all places. Again, the sealer can’t bond to dirt so it will curl or float there and rapidly break down as you drive over it.

Summary

What I want to take from the blog post are some key lessons learned:

These new drive way finishes – all of them that no longer have oil/petroleum products in them – have limits so carefully read their instructions, application notes and reviews by others. If they say they can’t do something then respect that. My biggest regret in hindsight was trying to use the sealer to fill the cracks – it can’t and the maker said so.

Surface prep is key followed by applying two good coats with a squeegee. The Quickrete patch held up fairly well. The sealer helped keep it from falling apart during freeze-thaw cycles, something I have experienced multiple times in the past.

John’s idea of heating up asphalt pieces and beating them in place worked just fine – no surprises there.

What are my thoughts on Latex-ite UltraShield? Well, to be completely fair to them, the product performed as they said it would. If my driveway wasn’t in such tough shape, I bet it would have held up better. In places where it could get a firm grip on the asphalt it still looks good.

Am I going to use it again if I try to reseal the whole drive again? Maybe not. I would really like to find something that is more flexible given my driveway’s shifting nature but first I need to apply crack filler before doing anything else.

Does it look better than before I started all this? Yes, I think it does. Not as good as I would like but it is better. At best, I am playing a delaying game. We will need to replace that driveway at some point but if I can get another 5-10 years out of it then great.

Let me stress this one more time – regardless of brand or product, unless your driveway sealer or finish says it can fill cracks and gaps the sizes your driveway has, you will need to take care of them first.

I hope this gives you some food for thought.


If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.


Replaced Old Solar Home Security Lights – The New LazyPro 2500 Lumen Solar LED Lights Are Great!

In 2019 I installed some Lemontec solar lights around the perimeter of our house to get rid of dark areas and they have held up fairly well until now. One unit had quit working and other was coming apart so I decided to order some new ones and try a different brand.

A few months back I had to apply silicone glue to seal the bulging solar panel of this Lemontec light. Guess what? It still works great and I moved it to another area.
dCompared to the solar light above, this looked better but was dead. Rather than tinker with it, I put it in the trash.

As usual, I did some searching on Amazon and looked for ones with good reviews and found a brand called “LazyPro” – yeah, I almost didn’t try them because of the name but I am glad I did! They are sold in pairs and I replaced the Lemontec that had failed and the one next to it – because they are high traffic areas right by our driveway and also very dark at night.


You ever read something so off the wall that you just have to try it? That was my exact reaction when I read their slogan “We are engineers of laziness. We create gadgets that make life easier. With this Solar Lights you have more time for … whatever you like to do. Because we are too lazy to pay for electricity.” Alrighty … uhm … okay, let’s try them!
Out of the box they looked well made. This was right before I installed them.
I removed the old solar lights and mounted these new ones in their place. I set the switch on the back for dusk-to-dawn and to only turn on if motion was sensed. You do have other options such as turning on at dusk with a low light output and increasing the light output if there is motion.
The lights are just over seven feet off the ground and 12 feet apart.

What an improvement! The LazyPro units throw out a very wide volume of light because the LEDs are mounted not just on the front but also on the sides and bottom.

Also, the sensor does a really good job of picking up movement – the Amazon listing claims 40 feet and it easily does that if not even further.

This is the area with just our porch light running. It’s dark.
I walked in front to to activate both lights and you can see the huge volume of light the two units are producing.

Summary

Yeah, the LazyPro brand name might make you wonder but these are remarkably good lights. I plan to replace the other four Lemontecs that are still working but don’t produce anywhere near the same amount of light.


If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.


Restored A BHG 4-Burner Stainless Outdoor Gas Grill / BBQ

This past June, my wife and I spotted a big stainless four burner BHG gas grill with a side burner at a neighbor’s house set up for trash pickup.  It looked to be in a pretty good shape so I stopped and took a look.  The drip pan had rusted away and dropped rust everywhere in the grill plus there was minor rusting elsewhere but it was in very good shape otherwise.  My wife asked if I could rehab it because we had a bunch of family coming for a visit a month later.  I said “yes” so it went in the back of the Highlander leaving a trail of rust everywhere.

It looked like the grill was used and then left to sit and rust but it was actually in quite good shape.  Besides the drip pan, the only other items in tough shape were the heat plates also sometimes called diffusers that sit over the burners. They had rusted significantly and were an eyesore.

What Gas Grill Was It?

“BHG” stands for “Better Homes and Gardens” and the model number was BH13-101-099-01.  I don’t really have much more info than that – it’s a big generic stainless grill that was imported from China by Blue Rhino Global Sourcing.  You may not recognize the name but when you see their logo – they sell propane tanks, grills and what have you through a ton of stores under their own brand name as well as Mr. Bar-B-Q, Chef Master, Endless Summer, Grill Mark, Mr. Pizza, and Uniflame. BHG is no longer listed by them so one must surmise other brand names were used in the past as well.

According to a sticker, it was made in January of 2013. From there, I bet they were sold through retail stores but I really can’t find any more details after searching but I will say it appeared to be a decently made gas grill.

If you hunt around on a grill, you can almost always find an information sticker that at the very least has the model and maker listed.

Armed with the model number, I could go digging for parts.  There is a whole cottage industry of parts suppliers out there when you search but the challenge was finding what I wanted in stock and that the price they wanted plus shipping wasn’t astronomical. In some cases, the part price was low but shipping was sky high.

Note, I also found that most parts places are selling parts that will fit the grill but most advise you to confirm dimensions before you buy. The grill is over 9 years old and these places are selling generic parts – so be sure to check dimensions and even that the seller is legit.

The Drip Pan

Okay, the drip pan was trash.  You see, at the end of the day, they are made from steel and salty liquids are dripping on them.  If you don’t keep them clean or put foil on top of them, they will eventually rust out. 

The drip pan had rusted to pieces so the inside of the grill looked far worse than what it was. I think the neighbor took the cover off after maybe a season or two of no use, saw the rust everywhere and pulled it to the curb for trash pickup … or for me to pick up depending on how you look at it.

You need to double check the measurement of your pan – mine was a loose fit in the grill so you have wiggle room in terms of dimensions.  Mine was about 15-1/4″ deep x 28-5/8″ wide.  The replacement pans will all be in the ballpark but you want to make sure that pan reaches from left to right so it is properly supported.

After a lot of digging looking for an affordable exact match to the original pan, I decided to order a 30″ adjustable pan off of Amazon.  The problem I was running into was a combination of the total cost including shipping and also lead times and availability.  So, I went with an adjustable model and you know what?  It’s just fine. 

The AJinTebby pan is 15.5″ deep and can adjust from 27 to 30″ wide. Yes, it is pricey at $46.99 but there is a 5% discount coupon you can apply and if you have Amazon Prime, shipping is free (technically it’s factored into the price but you get the idea – it’s a good deal). Click here to open the Amazon page in a new tab.

An adjustable pan lets you adjust the width to fit your grill. It’s the width that adjusts but not the front to back depth so you still need to make sure of that plus the how much adjustment the model has. The is an AJinTeby 30″ pan that can adjust 27-30″ and has a depth iof 15.5″. It fits the BHG.
The drip pan comes with a nice small drip cup that slides in or out of place under the main pan. Drippings ooze into there and are collected so then you can dump and clean it as needed.
I painted the drip pan and it’s drip cup with Rusto-oleum BBQ & Stove 1200F paint to slow rusting. It has three coats of paint
To further lock and seal things, I put 3M High Temperature Flue Tape on the top of the joints. FYI – the oval hole is where fluids drip through to the aptly named “drip cup” under it that can be emptied as needed.

The Heat Plates

I had to decide what to do with the heat plates.  They had rusted to the point of being pretty thin – the heating and lots of salty fluids had really taken their toll on them. 

You can see the brand new AjinTebby drip pan under the original heat plates and they looked awful. The grill saw quite a bit of use, that I have no doubt of, and then it sat and rusted even more.

My first thought was to try and save money so painted them with Rustoleum’s Ultra High Temp BBQ paint first to try and save money but I could’t get past all the bumpy look from years of rusting.  There are so many affordable replacement options, I decided to go that route.

I painted the heat plates plus I put three coats of Ultra High Temp Rustoleum on the drip pan to slow up the rust. I could have stopped here but the really worn plates were bugging me so I decided to replace them.

The BHG uses 15″ long x 3-13/16″ wide heat plates and they are very readily available in a variety of metals and finishes.  I bought a set of five stainless steel replacement heat plates made by Shinestar off of Amazon – click here to open the listing in a new tab.

Here’s a look at the new Shinestar plates prior to installation.
The 15″ Shinestar heat plates are nicely made and are going to last for a long time. I definitely liked them more than the painted ones.

The Gas Regulator Turned Out To Be Bad

During initial testing, the grill ran just fine but then it started getting flaky and finally would barely produce flame. This is usually due to a regular failing and/or rust or a spider web getting stuck somewhere. I pulled the lines and blew everything out with compressed air. Sometimes that fixes the problem but not in this case.

Now, I made a bit of a costly mistake here because I was in a rush. We had an Ace Hardware nearby and I bought a Weber regulator that fit but was a tad short for $44-46 if I recall rgiht. Because it was short, I took a piece of 2×12 lumber and cut a hole in it with a jig saw to hold the tank. A week later, I was in Home Depot and found out they had a ton of gas grill repair parts in stock (I didn’t know they did) including the exact hose and regulator I needed for half the price of the Weber.

The old regulator went straight in to the tank and the Weber unit is at a right angle.
Quick comment – when you are working on gas fittings, there will almost always be a way to support the existing tube/hookup and ou need to do that. See the small nut formed into the black tube? You need to hold that with one wrench while either tightening or loosening the hose fitting. If you don’t support the tube you run the risk of it bending or breaking free. Just remember. always do what you need to do to support what your line is connecting to. Don’t just torque on the hose’s fitting alone.
Because the Weber hose was too short, I took a piece of scrap 2×12 lumber I had, traced the outline of the tank’s botton on it and cut the circle out. Note I drilled four holes so I could start the jig saw blade that did the actual cutting.
There it is – nice and stable. Again, if I had known that Home Depot had a bunch of repair parts, I would have taken the busted regulator in there and found a match.

I could have saved even more if I had the time to order a hose and regulator from Amazon. They have them for $15-18 depending on the length of hose you need. Click here for to open a new browser tab with the Amazon listings – be sure to get the hose length you need and round up vs. down if need be.

Other Minor Touch Ups

  • I ran a 180 grit sanding mop in the same direction as the stainless “grain” finish and removed surface rust.
  • Sprayed the inside of the grill so it looked better
  • One hinge had a missing Cotter key that I replaced
  • Put a wire brush wheel in my drill and cleaned up the grill grates so they had a nice clean brushed look

The Result

It turned out quite nice and gave us another grill to use during a family reunion we had during July.

The cabinet cleaned up really well.
So did the inside. There is a smoker box down on the heat plates to add a bit of smoke flavor.
Here’s the restored BHG next to my pride and joy Chargriller Competition Grill that my kids got me for Father’s Day a few years back and I converted for wood (click here if you want to read more about that).

Conclusion

One man’s trash is another’s treasure I suppose. The grill turned out nice. The only things it really needed were a new drip pan and the regulator replaced.

I hope this post helps you out.


Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.


How To Rebuild A Residential Diving Board

Have you ever been stuck between a rock and a hard place because you need to get something done but a vendor fumbles the ball … badly?  That happened to me recently.  We have a home made in the 70s and the pool is the same.  While we have replaced the liner a number of times over the years, it was the original slowly falling apart diving board.  We actually bought our home in 98 and the previous owner had put a 2x8x6 between the board and the spring to keep it alive.

Let’s fast forward to about a month ago.  We were getting ready for a family reunion to be held at our place so I got the pool ready for the summer and decided I better check the diving board.  Oh man, it was shot.  The fiberglass underneath had torn around the board it encased and there was just no way it was safe.

One thing I have learned about pools over the years is that you can usually find parts.  So, I new it was an 8′ residential diving board and the hole pattern for mounting it was 4.5″ on centers in the back and the front single hole was 36″.   I did some digging and  the hole pattern and distances from the back and sides corresponded with the SR Smith 8′ Frontier II board.

A number of vendors carried it online and the problem was that I needed it with only about a two week lead time before people started arriving for the party.  InTheSwim said they had it and it would arrive in time.  I used my wife’s card on the website and it wouldn’t go through so the website gave me an 800# to call.  I did, the lady told me it was a fraud screen, I approved a text message sent to my wife’s phone and the InTheSwim operator told me it was all set and I should get an email shortly.  She never said she resubmitted it … About an hour later, still no email so I called and I am pretty sure the same lady answered and said the order was fine …. in fact it was not.

After a week of no updates, I called and after confusion on their part, they found the order in limbo, fixed it and told me it would probably still make it in time.  Okay… I kept tabs on it and finally called and said I needed the board.  They told me it would not even ship until after the party.  I asked that they expedite it, that I would even pay for it and they said they had no way to do that.  I then told them in no uncertain terms to cancel the order.  If that reads like a rant, it should.  I hate it when a vendor fumbles the ball and literally does nothing to make it right.

I was left with two options – disappoint a bunch of relatives or figure out how to fix the board.  I decided to do the latter and I suspect this is the part of the post you really care about.

What went wrong with the board?

Many, if not most, residential diving boards have a fiberglass top, sides and bottom but the core is wood.  Through the in the fiberglass rotting wood was plainly visible.  I put the board on sawhorses, put the old supporting board underneath it and flipped the diving board over to access the bottom.   Again, the diving board was resting on the old supporting board – I new that if I didn’t support it, the odds were high that it might snap.  Once supported, I used a diamond masonry cutting wheel in my 4.5″ Ryobi cordless grinder to slice off the torn fiberglass to see what was going on.  I had a hunch that If I could salvage the top of the board, I could fix the bottom and I was right.

Important Safety Comment: Wear eye protection and a quality face mask (N95 or better) when you are cutting or sanding on fiberglass. You don’t want stuff getting in your eyes or lungs. I also wear gloves to protect my hands.
I used a masonry cut off wheel – in this case a diamond coated one – because the glass fibers can dull saw blades, etc.  Just about anything can cut open fiberglass – it just depends on whether you care about what is happening to the blade. 

Once I cut open the bottom that held the wood, I could see it needed to be replaced.  What was there were three pieces of wood and there was a cap on each end with nails that held it together.  Over the years as holes and cracks opened up, water got in and slowly rotted the wood.  I really wasn’t surprised when I went to lift the board off the spring – it weighed a ton due to the waterlogged wood.

The wood wouldn’t lift right out so I would prop it up and cut it with a small hand held Ryobi circular saw into thirds.  I used a small pry bar and lifted the sections out.  I didn’t cut all of the fiberglass out yet thinking that I might use some of it to make things stronger.  In hindsight, I’d now tell you to remove all of the hold fiberglass wrapping on the bottom -there was no need to save it.

Wood and Fiberglass

In a perfect world, I would have the exact same size of wood and better yet, treated wood, to replace the rotten wood.  I didn’t have time for wet treated wood to dry so I went to Home Depot and bought two 2x12x8 pieces of dry pine lumber.  One to go in the board and one to still support it even though it probably wasn’t needed.

I also stopped by the adhesives section of Home Depot and picked up two 1-gallon jugs of Bondo fiberglass resin and three packages of fiberglass cloth – if I had it to do over, I would have bought a couple more for complete overkill in terms of strength.  I knew I had a spare cloth at home so I had four fiberglass cloths total. I also bought a spare package of hardener just in case.

Here’s one of the jugs of resin.  Because I work with plastics, I had a large selection of mixing cups and stir sticks.  I used 32 oz cups and a half tube of hardener at a time.  I would mix them and then pour the contents into a second 32oz cup.  This is known as a double pour and reduces the odds of you pouring unmixed contents and making a mess.

Note:  The Bondo fiberglass system uses a polyester resin vs. true epoxy.  Polyester is cheaper than epoxy but not as strong. I’m pretty sure it will hold up and we’ll see over time.  I’m writing this post a week after our reunion and the board looks just fine – no cracks.

Cleaning Up The Board and Preparing It

With the wood out, I then removed all of the debris to get a better look at what was going on.  I removed almost all of the old fiberglass that was holding the old board – I now know I could have removed all of it.

Here I am scuffing up everything really good with 80 grit sand paper in my orbital IR 6″ sander.  If you want the fiberglass to bind really well, the surface must be abraded.  Just remember, if the surface is smooth and shiny, your adhesion is going to be bad.  A very abraded clean surface is ideal.
Here’s a better view of the center front hole and the big crack that went completely through the fiberglass top.  Note, after sanding, cleaning and degreasing, I closed all holes with black Gorilla tape before I started apply resin. Once again, I would remove all the old fiberglass that surrounded the board. Those vertical pieces you see would be gone.
Here’s a close up of the back two holes – they are worn open and stress cracking around them.
One more view of the big crack at the center.  I sanded the heck out of everything with 80 grit, sprayed down the inside with brake cleaner thoroughly to degrease it and then stuck big pieces of gorilla tape over each hole.  The diving board surface was ready.

Preparing The Wood

The wood was completely dry – let me stress that.  If you seal in wet wood, it will rot so make sure your wood is dry.

One thing I noticed with the rotted wood that I pulled out was that they had rounded over all of the corners/edges of the wood to not stress the fiberglass.  That made a lot of sense to me.  I put a 3/8″ carbide tipped round over bit in my trim router and rounded over the new board too and then sanded it with 80 grit sandpaper to prepare the surface for maximum adhesion.

The 2x12x8 boards were longer than the original so I trimmed them down.  I then used a round over bit on both and sanded them.  My plan was to embed one in the fiberglass but still have a support/buddy board underneath.  Note, I did not drill any holes.  My plan was to center the new pine board insert and drill the holes later.

I did test fit everything before I went to the next step.  You don’t want to mix up resin and get part way in only to find our boards are the wrong length.

Gluing The Board In Place

Okay, to close the bottom back up, I did it in steps.  For the first one, I mixed up 32oz of resin, liberally brushed it in the bottom of the board really thick.  I then clamped the ends and put weights in the middle to keep everything pushed together.  You need to have this planned out because once the resin sets, it’s game over.  I had the clamps and everything ready to go.

This falls under the “make do with what you have” category.  The blue clamps are really strong and are on both ends.  In the middle we have two brake calipers from a 96 Landcruiser and two full 5-gallon cans of gas.  The more pressure pushing the parts together and the adhesive into as many spaces as possible is what you want.

The next step was to put down the first layer of fiberglass cloth. I laid the cloth on top of the board and trimmed it to fit inside and just up the sides. I then mixed up a 32 oz container [don’t forget to do a double pour and use the right amount of hardener] and rapidly brushed it on very thick to the front area I was working on, applied the cloth and then another coat of Bondo on top. If you’ve not done fiberglass before, start with one section and learn. You want to get the cloth in place and wetted down with the liquid before it all sets. Also, have a bunch of nitrile gloves near by or you will get this stuff all over your hands no matter how hard you try. I wear gloves and have at it. I use my hands to rub the liquid into the cloth.

I did the front, the back and then the middle. If you need to stop, just sand the surface, blow it off and continue.
This is about the first half of the board. I let it cure and then sanded it before I applied more.

So I did the front, the back, then the middle. I used the full length of the cloths and overlapped at the middle. At this point, it was rock hard and I really wished I had just cut out all of the old fiberglass walls that surrounded the old wood. I thought it might make it stronger but then realized this wasn’t the case. I sanded again and cut my fourth and last cloth down the middle. I applied one length on the left and one on the right to strengthen those areas that still had the remnant walls that I should have removed.

Here it is with all of the layers applied. My next move was to sand and then paint it.

Drilled The Holes

Before painting, I flipped the board over, removed the Gorilla tape. The brownish color of the Bondo clearly showed me the old hole positions and drilled two 1/2″ holes in the rear and one in the front using the clearly visible filled in holes. I carefully pushed the support board under, clamped it in place and drilled it as well.

Painting The Board

To paint the board whatever color you want, use boat paint – what they call the top coat or deck paint. Years and years ago, I painted our board because it looked really tough and found out you had to add non slip grit to the paint or people would slide off. Yeah, there’s a story there about a teenager falling off so make sure you get the non-slip additive for whatever paint you buy.

I used Rust-Oleum’s Topside White for the board and a Ocean Blue paint made by Pettit for the trim. The only reason I went with the Pettit paint was that the local boat store carried it and Lowes didn’t have the blue colored Topside paint.

So, when you are applying this, do it in a well ventilated area, make sure it isn’t going to rain if you are outside (I was in my driveway) and follow the guidance carefully. One thin coat a day. If you try and do a thick coat or too many coats, the paint will not cure to a hard finish and stay in an odd tacky/smudgy state. I had this happen to me years ago because I’m not patient but I sure hard to learn patience with some of the specialty paints.

I did two coats of regular white Topside paint on the bottom to protect the fiberglass from UV rays (they really mess up plastics, epoxies and what not unless they are designed for them) and I applied two coats of the white with the grit mixed in on the top.

That’s two coats of white TopSide Paint on the bottom. I did NOT use the non-slip there.
I painted the top with the non-slip additive and didn’t worry about the old blue colored side paint.
It was hot out and even so, I let the top cure for a day before I applied blue painter’s tape to protect the top while I painted the side trim blue.

Painting The Pedestal and Support Board

While waiting for coats of paint to cure on the board, we removed the pedestal and spring unit, wire brushed it, sprayed it down with brake cleaner and sprayed on three coats of white Rustoleum spray paint.

We cleaned it and applied three coats of gloss white Rustoleum spray paint.
We painted the support board too. All I had was white spray Rustoleum at that point so that’s what I used.

Wrapping Up

We reinstalled the pedestal and spring unit first. I bought new stainless nuts and washers so it looked better.

We installed the pedestal and spring assembly first before the diving board. Have a solid surface to put the support board and diving board really helped. They are too heavy to move all at once … at least for me. My son helped – those are his feet 🙂
The board is held in place by stainless hardware” 6″ carriage bolts, 2″ fender washers, rubber gasket washers under the fenders on the top. On the bottom are regular washers , lock washers and nuts. Your hardware will depend on your board’s configuration and how thick it is. We salvaged the carriage bolts and I wire brushed the tops so they looked better but I bought everything else at Ace Hardware.
Another view.

In Closing

InTheSwim really damaged their reputation with me. On the other hand, this was done in a matter of days, cost us about $300 vs $800 (for the wood boards, hardware & paint) and all the kids at the reunion had a blast. So, problem solved — it worked out to our advantage actually. I’m curious to see how it holds up over time and I have high hopes given how it turned out and performed at the reunion.

One last parting shot.

If you have a diving board, I’d bet you could do the same and save time and money as well. I hope this gives you some food for thought.

7/23/2024 Update: where a number of kids used the diving board and it held up just fine.

6/15/24 Update: Just finishing opening the pool for the summer. The board is holding up just fine.

5/23/23 Update: Board is holding up great and we’re getting ready for another summer. I just inspected it yesterday – no cracks or any signs of issues.


Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.