Traveled up to Pomona to see this Husqvarna LTH 1742, it wasn’t working so I took a chance on it, the chap I was buying it from was decent and honest and I felt fairly safe, he was not sure why it had stopped and thought it was the battery.

I brought it home and tried a few things to get it going:

I took of the old battery and placed it on charge, one or two of the cell were low on water so I topped up all the cells, the battery charger claimed that the battery was full, so I left it on Auto Charge and after a will it dropped to below 50% and started drawing about 4 amps, I have left it on charge all day, hopefully it will recover.

I connected a spare battery to see if it would turn, it was free, but reluctant to turn past the fist compress, and I needed to assist it by hand turning the flywheel as I turned the starter, she spun nicely very once I got past the fist compression but did not take. – Good

I took the spark plug out and checked for spark, there was plenty of spark, and of the engine turned very nicely once there was no compression to hold it back. – Good

I checked the fuel pump by taking of the off one the fuel hoses, and there was plenty of fuel. – Good

I had previously the oil before purchasing which was very clean, so I continued by checking the air filter and it was reasonably clean, although I plan to purchase and fit a new filter at some stage – Good

So having check the battery, the spark, and the fuel pump and air filter, it has to be the carburettor so I felt about the carburettor looking for clues. – Wondering what it could be.

I gave it another turn. It fired !! and ran slowly as first with a bit of smoke and then took very nicely and ran smoothly and perfectly. – Excellent

I fitted a new Delkor Battery, – purchased from the Local Husqvarna Dealer – $110

I replaced the Deck Engage Cable, (Deck Clutch Cable) – purchase from the local Husqvarna Dealer – $65

I feel that the Husqvarna is well made and easy to work on.
Spares parts are reasonably well priced, and easy to get hold of.

Future:

There is a bit of rust I need to clean up
The bull bar need to be secured, some of the bolt need to be replaced .

The mower cuts very well.

I built this “Trailer Box Roof Cover Cap” because I needed to transport 6 people and their music equipment from the Sunshine Coast to Sydney and back again. It was a bit of a mission, but I got it all done in time.

First things first, I serviced the trailer, which included fitting angle iron to the front panel to fill some rust holes, fitted two new trailer bearings and a new jockey wheel, and converted the light plug to a round shape instead of rectangle /square which it already had fitted.

Next I rust proofed the trailer, which work surprisingly well. A good friend (Dennis)advised me to paint over the rust remover as soon as possible. So I painted the base with all in one primer and metal paint protector form ALDI which I had in the shed.

Then I build a box to fit over the trailer, which would keep the music equipment dry. I bought and cut the Marine Ply at Bunnings which worked out very nicely.

Catherine helped me assemble and screw up the trailer box, which fits very snuggly on the trailer.

This is the finish product in Sydney, which we proved was water proof because we drove down in the pouring rain and floods.

I still need to paint the Trailer Box Roof Cover Cap at some stage, and because it’s a very snug fit, I will need to widen the trailer wall very slightly. I plan to do this quite simple with a car jack. They simply need to be pushed about 2mm further apart.

Lessons Learned

• I’d make the Trailer Box a little taller. Probably another 300mm taller
• I’d make the lip fit outside instead of inside the trailer
• I’d include a hatch door / access door for easy access to the contents without needing to remove the trailer box.