Gnu-

Sympathies. I hope it doesn't translate to idiocy every time one of these lawn mower disasters happens. I managed to kill an older lawn mower by going over a part of a dead tree stump that hasn't been removed, but was covered by very very long grass. That bent the shaft too far to repair.

More recently, again bamboozled by very very long grass (finding a time to mow large lawn in a rainy season is a challenge) I thought I'd killed the NEW lawn mower by running over a bit of metal cable that had come out of the trash collection on my tree lawn. Mower stopped DEAD, and I pulled the cable out from under it with tears of frustration. I didn't have the heart to look farther, and just tucked it away for the winter with the last band of grass left long.

This spring, my dear mechanically inclined friend found that what had stopped the mower was a chunk of wood the cable had been attached to. Once he pulled the wood out, the mower worked just fine. I hope that what Bobert and Richard suggested about your mower being possibly repairable turns out to be true for you. I know the agony of feeling an idiot in this situation as well as the joy at not having to get ANOTHER lawn mower. I'm also fortunate in, had I needed another mower, this same mechanical guy has the habit of buying up sad looking ones at garage sales and fixing them up and selling them. Should need arise, perhaps a good used one would do the job for you.

Wish I had the energy to turn the whole thing into a big bed of pachysandra.

Good luck to you and your lawn equipment

Joanne