Nothing is worse than when you finally get around to mowing that grass, and your mower chooses not to start. Or, maybe it did start, but you get moving and realize that the blades are beating up your grass instead of cutting it. Well, here are some handy maintenance tips to keep in mind to prevent your mowing from failing on you when you need it the most.
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Sharpen The Blades
Fortunately, a commercial mower from Cub Cadet, this is not something that you need to do often. At most you will more than likely only need to do this a couple of times a year to keep them in tip top shape. If you let your son mow and he accidentally went over a rock or other un-mowable object, don’t worry; you can usually use a hammer to beat the blade back into shape, and you’ll be back to your yard in no time.
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Change Out Your Fuel
Some of us are eagerly awaiting the end of winter so that we can get back to our lawn maintenance first thing next spring. However, any unused fuel you had sitting in your tank before you put the mower back in the shed will need to be emptied and replaced with new gas. Much like you wouldn’t want to leave your car sitting in the driveway with the same tank of gas for four months, it’s definitely not a good idea to do the same with your mower.
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Oil Levels
A good rule of thumb to have is to check that dipstick every time you go to put gas in your mower. It’s a little thing, but developing that habit before your mower’s engine burns out on you is always a plus in my book.
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Remove The Battery
Not all of us run with a battery-powered mower, but for those of us that do, it’s generally a good idea to take it out and charge it when it’s not in use. If you leave it on without charging it for an extended period of time, you can almost guarantee that it’s not going to operate to its full capacity.
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Replacing The Spark Plug
Also, much like a car, your mower needs spark plugs that are in good working condition. It’s a pretty cheap part to get in exchange for the functionality of your mower, and should only need to be addressed once a year or so.
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Clean Out Your Blades
Have you ever been using your cousin’s mower and had to lift the front end up every 20 seconds to get the grass out? This was mostly due to the fact that the grass was almost as tall as I am (not actually. It was just way too tall for the height that the blades were set at and I didn’t know any better), but also due to lack of cleaning out debris and cut grass from the blades after use. It seemed like no matter what I did, I continued to pull out hand over fist of grass from those blades. Don’t make the same mistakes my cousins did; clean out the blades after every use.
That being said, this article is just a reminder of some of the things that have perhaps drifted to the back of your mind when it comes to your push or riding mower. If you are already experiencing problems with your mower, you can refer to this list to troubleshoot it and hopefully find a simple solution.