Increase the Life of Your Lawn Mower

Lawn mowers are getting cheaper and cheaper by the year. Quality and lifespan have declined in step with the price. Even with moderate use a basic ride-on or low-end push mower will rarely operate for more than five years before you will be forced to consign it to the recycler. They are simply not made to last. Remember the previous generation of lawn mowers when the machine lasted years or decades before giving up the ghost – sometimes long after its owner’s soul had ascended to gardeners’ heaven. The cheaper modern lawn mowers are not really meant to be repaired when they fail. This has made the repairman almost an endangered species and made his services more expensive.

Oil the Elixir of Lawn Mower Life

If it bothers you to be continually buying a new mower and contributing to the mounds of waste at your disposal depot there are several steps you can take that will add years of service to your machine.

First, always use fuel that meets the specifications of the manufacturer. If you have a two-cycle (two-stroke) engine when you mix the gas and oil according to the recommended recipe add a couple of extra dollops (a couple of tablespoons) of oil per gallon of gas. This works like vitamins do for for the human engine – it increases life span.

Never start a lawn mower without first checking the oil level. Treat this step as you would stretching before undertaking serious exercise like mowing your lawn. If the motor is not properly lubricated it has to work harder and may even seize up. It doesn’t take long for the oil check stage to become a habit. Oil expands as the engine runs so when it’s cold the level should read just below full.

A little lubrication goes a long way. Be sure that the external moving parts on your mower are easy to manipulate. Anything that is stiff that shouldn’t be needs to be oiled or it will soon break. Modern lawn mowers have many plastic parts. These parts are more fragile than metal ones. And as the plastic ages it becomes more and more brittle.

Clean the Deck

The deck of a lawn mower – the cover on top of the blades – is made from steel that rusts. You can’t see the rust because it’s forming on the underside of the deck. The top is always nicely painted. The cheapest mowers have decks made from thinner steel than the more expensive ones so they can be eaten up by rust faster. The underside of mower decks has a particularly rough life. Stones and sticks kicked up by the blades knick the surface and wet grass that stubbornly sticks to the deck provides a perfect environment for rust. When you have finished mowing and shut off the engine it’s a good idea to clean the underside of the deck. A quick scraping with a screw driver pr putty knife will increase the life of the deck.

Finally it is worth the effort to ensure that your mower is stowed in a dry place and out of the sun between uses. Sun weakens plastic parts and rain just encourages rust.

These small, quick and simple steps will add years to your lawn mower’s life and will go a long way to swell your pride in your lawn maintenance.