T1800 1 #1 Posted November 20 In 2004 I had 1/4 acre of scrub land to clear. A quick pub conversation yielded 2 scrap 8hp Westwood Gazelles; both quite early machines, one with the underslung exhaust. One working machine was the result, and within a few months it had done the job. I was about to retire, and had a couple of part time start up business's drawn up on paper, but knowing which one to go for was not an easy decision. In the event a third option was sitting in my shed. Post card advertisements in newsagents etc., and a pleasant surprise, or surprises. Within about 6 weeks I had a small grass cutting (not mowing) round, providing an adequate pension top-up, without any outlay. It grew into a 3 day a week business, and kept on going until 2018 when an arthritic knee finally made me stop. Fairly early on I built myself a see-saw trailer, which cut my loading / unloading time from 15 odd minutes to about 3. I started buying "uneconomical to repair" mowers, from a local mower repair business, and ended up with 3 machines, for different ground conditions, plus 1 that was lodged with the customer during the season. Coincidentally, they were all Westwoods, although other makes have yielded back axles. Yes back axles, you could sometimes build up a good one, out of two; not now, it's more like 3 or 4, to get one working again. Today, I have a mid 90's T1800, plus potentially 3 complete machines, out of my grave yard of bits. My 1/4 acre is now 1/2 acre, when a neighbour didn't take up the option of "his" strip of land behind him. I still enjoy mowing, as much as the engineering side. Regards Mike 1 nigel reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
T1800 1 #3 Posted Thursday at 10:46 AM Thank you Nigel, like yourself I'm in Kent. However, I'm learning my way through this web site, and don't know how address and identities are protected yet. I've never used social media, in itself, but I'm on two forums that are hosted by face book; and find them quite difficult to use. This site is very much more self intuitive, and along the lines of a third "proper" forum that I use a lot, and am fairly active on. Regards Mike Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nigel 1,876 #4 Posted Friday at 09:20 AM Where in kent are you Mike? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
T1800 1 #5 Posted Friday at 11:17 AM I have replied, in what I think is a private message. Mike Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
