Taking Care of Your Lawn Mower

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Some basic maintenance each year extend the lifespan of your lawn mower and would therefore certainly be no luxury!

You buy your lawn mower with the intention of having it take care of your lawn. Some basic maintenance each year extend the lifespan of your lawn mower and would therefore certainly be no luxury! You want to make sure that you take care of that mower as well. If you do, it will give you great service for years and years. If you neglect that machine, it will give you back what you put in. Poor maintenance on a lawn mower will give you poor results.After picking out the right mower for your specific property, you can easily set up a schedule of maintenance for it. I find that having a simple calendar, paper or a google type app, makes it easier to keep up with regular service. That way you don’t get behind

Clean Air Filters

It is very important to keep the air filters clean on a mower. You can simply use an air compressor to blow these filters out. If the filter has a foam outer filter, you can wash it with soap and water then air dry it. Dirty air can cause big problems down the line. This is an easy service to perform so don’t get lazy. I know you’d rather take a nap on your hammock, but what is five minutes of your time?

Drain Old Oil

Changing the oil on your mower is a big deal. Gummy old oil is no good for a machine that is keeping your lawn looking awesome. It is a mess to change oil, I know. But bite the bullet and do it on a set schedule. Your owners manual will have the hour intervals for oil changes listed. If your machine has a filter, be sure to change it at least every other time.

Changing Oil on a Walk Behind Mower

If you have a walk behind mower, I hope this video made by Troy-Bilt is instructive enough to give you a helping hand. Your own mower may vary a little bit, but the basics are equal.

How to Change Oil on a Riding Mower

For proud riding mower-owners who want to refresh the oil on their machine, here´s a great educational video made by Toro especially for you!

Keep Those Blades Sharp!

If you want the grass cut properly, then your blades need sharpening every eight to ten hours. That might seem like more than necessary, but it keeps the blades from ripping the grass. Clean, razor cuts make for healthier grass. Imagine your barber cutting hair with dull shears. The result would be some gruesome haircuts!

Blade sharpening is easy once you get the hang of it. Here´s a great instruction video:

Add a Fuel Stabilizer

When you are not using your lawn mower, say winter time, be sure and drain the gas or add a fuel stabilizer. Today’s gas / ethanol mixtures are not good for sitting in the machine unused. If you drain the tank, be sure and run the engine until it runs out of fuel altogether. You don’t want any fuel sitting at all.

Those are some basic lawn mower maintenance tips. Clean fuel, clean filters, and clean oil go a long way. Don’t forget to change that spark plug(s) every season either. Stay tuned for more lawn mower tips and tricks.

Happy Mowing!