Back about 10 or so years ago I mowed a few lawns for some pocket money. Well, my daughter needed some money one time. I thought I was in Florida, with all the waving palms I saw flying around in my living room. I said, Fine, I'll give you $25, but you have to help me mow a lawn (which I got $25 for mowing anyways). She was not real happy, I'll tell you. Had to work for the $25! It's terrible to be born into such a cruel family....
Anyway, there was a cast iron stand pipe in the customers yard. Of course I told her, "Don't hit that thing!" Of course, she hit it! Ka-Wham! Killed the mower. Well, I started it again and it ran kind of funny, with a bit of a vibration, but it ran. I mowed with that mower for about 6 more weeks. The $25 I gave my daughter had long been spent on necessities, lip gloss, hair fu-fu, shoes, etc... Anyways, after those 6 weeks went by I started the mower to cut my own grass at home. She went bang! The rod broke and punctured a hole in the manifold. I tore her apart and I kid you not, the connecting rod was twisted at least 45-60 degrees from straight. It had finally broken, but you could see the twist in there.
Not really any moral to this story, but I was hoping to be able to tell it and this seemed like an good opportunity. Makes me wonder how many of those broken connecting rods have a big "Klunk" in their past, but just kept on a ticking for a period of time and then, out of the blue, broke. ("Gee, I don't know, I was just mowing the grass and Bingo!, she broke.") Had I not watched my daughter try to mow over a 6 inch cast iron pipe I would have scratched my head and wondered what on earth happened to make the rod break by cutting a nice smooth yard.
Wish I still had that rod. I threw it out a few years ago when we moved, but it was quite the conversation piece. When my daughter got married I should have wrapped it up and given it to her instead of a nice $100 gift..... (Don't think her OR her mother would have seen the humor)
