Gardening
In reply to the discussion: I need some lawn mower advice. [View all]Kolesar
(31,182 posts)The wheel can spin forward if the rider isn't pedaling. Normally, I can pull the Solaris backwards, but sometimes that freewheel does not disengage and I am dragging the wheels, not rolling. Since the ring gear in the wheel is plastic, it gets stripped. I stripped three gears in five years.
I pull it backwards a lot to get out of corners. I like the power because the yard is lumpy with rodent holes and I can power through them.
This Solaris is not light. I think the other brands with a narrower cut also have a plastic frame, which would make them wonderfully lighter.
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If I was smart, I would kill vast swaths of the grass and turn the lawn into planting beds with perennials below the shrubs or maybe just a mass of mulch until things get rolling. I don't even know how to apply landscape fabric for that matter. I should start a thread on that.