How do you clean your lawnmower?

[sberry]

I am not nuts about washing the underside but it gets rugged use, blade changes and sharpening nearly every use.

 

[justanengineer]

If its a pushmower, or POS MTD/box store brand Im not sure I would bother either.

If its a quality machine, I would do as I always had to when working on the golf course as a kid - jack it up and hose it off after every use. A bumper jack works very nicely for this btw.

Currently I have a gardener paid for by the landlord, so no opportunities for fun.

 

[JunkBonds]

Honda's have plastic decks, thus no rust or at least my HRX217, my previous Craftsman's deck rusted.

TheGrooveking

I have two Honda's with steel decks.

The old one I bought new in 1986. I change the oil yearly and then clean the deck. 3 years ago I had to repair the deck. I cleaned it all up and fiberglassed the bottom. It still has the original spark plug that I have never had to remove.

The other one is a Honda my father gave me and it dates to about 1990. I had to put in a new coil last year.

 

[Displaced Hokie]

I always buy the cheapest mower available. Never service it and run it till the wheels fall off. Toss it and buy a new one.

The cheapest push mower costs @ $129.00....but I bet you clean and lube your $80.00 Snap-On ratchet!

I'm just amazed at how many here could give a rat's a$$ about their lawn mower (push - or especially- rider) yet will search the world over for the best ratchet lube.

 

[mmb617]

Glad I'm not the only one who thinks this thread is funny. Clean my lawnmower, yeah right. If I had some high end machine that I spent a fortune for maybe I'd be more inclined to be **** about it.

Fact is my rider is a cheapie that's 13 years old and still works good and my pusher is also a cheapie that's probably closer to 20 years old and it works fine too.

Neither of them gets any love outside of oil changes and parts fixed/welded/replaced if they break. I just don't see wasting time on them.

 

[nate379]

When it rains nearly every day the whole summer it's either cut the grass wet or don't cut it, and when it grows inches a day, well it's gotta get cut. I cut mine yesterday, 4 days since I last did it, and it was 10" tall in some spots.

I clean the deck out in the fall when I pull it off to put on the snowblower. Deck is 12 years old and still in excellent shape.

I have better things to do in life than clean a mower deck.

 

[gabeancounter]

Just cleaned mine tonight. This idea of using a jack has made service easy

 

[daveinind]

I have two 1991 Lawn Boys. Don't need to change oil. Have two extra blades so I can swap them out once a year and shapen them in the off season. Use engine cleaner spray every two or three years to clean them. Bought both for under $25.00 at different garage sales, cleaned the exhaust ports that were all gummed up with carbon. Bought new wheels at HF, and had to buy one ignition module and one primer button about two years ago. Both start with one or two pulls. (and no bags or discharges on either, mulchers). Enjoy the hell out of my cheap old lawn mowers.

 

[ibedayank]

pull a lever...deck raises up...wash

course do have a 3 point deck

 

[2manytoyz]

I washed my first riding mower a couple of times. The next time I tried to use it after washing it, the linkage had rust, and wouldn't operated smoothly. After that, I never washed it again. It was 11 years old when I donated it to my church. It was an ugly mower, but cut grass reliably for many years, despite not being shiny.

Don't wash the new mower either.

It gets dusted with the leaf blower, and/or the airhose.

Corrosion is a common issue in FL. Water just aggravates the situation. Besides, my grass doesn't care if the mower ain't clean!

 

[Marmaduke]

I have a LawnBoy Easy Mulch walk behind. I just tip on its side and use a scrapper. I find it makes a big difference when I do. I change the oil and clean the spark plug also fog it after the last cut of the season. Never any problems starting it. Sharpen the blade twice a year. I get to use the tools in my tool box so I dont need to buy a new mower.

 

[Zeke]

Well, after reading this, I guess I'd borrow an old trick about having a sprinkler head to drive over on the way into the garage so as to not put away the family wagon with salt water killing it all night.

Drive the mower over the sprinkler while running.

Next job, please.

 

[Thirsty]

You could always buy a Walker.....

 

[Blackbomber]

I have a LawnBoy Easy Mulch walk behind. I just tip on its side and use a scrapper. I find it makes a big difference when I do. I change the oil and clean the spark plug also fog it after the last cut of the season. Never any problems starting it. Sharpen the blade twice a year. I get to use the tools in my tool box so I dont need to buy a new mower.

I have the same mower, and agree that the cut and mulch quality difference is night and day when clean.

 

[PeterT]

Be sure you buy the one made in China.....

Same here. Life is too short to waste any of it cleaning a lawn mower. Maybe if I had no interests left in life, I'd consider cleaning my mower.
I figure that if it rusts out in 15 years, I probably needed a new mower anyway because other parts were wearing out too.
Lawn mower maintenance is much like toilet paper maintenance. Just buy new.

 

[JetLinkin]

Damn you're supposed to clean the lawnmower. That explains a lot.

 

[rwhite692]

A better question is why would you clean your lawnmower. Mine's a Honda, ten years old never had any maintaince, not even an oil change. It runs like a champ. Life is too short to spend a lot of time on things that won't really matter anyway. But, everybody's different. U.C>

I used to think the same thing and never cleaned mine (also a Honda, HR216 w/gray plastic deck) from when I bought it 2000 until recently, had it on its side to remove and sharpen the blade....then after removing about 20 pounds of solid green gack, I was amazed how much lighter the thing was and how much better it picked up cut grass and filled the bag.

 

[TWX]

As long as as don't mow wet/ damp grass it doesn't stick well and makes future cleanings much easier.

The two days I don't water the grass (timer at 2:00am) are Wednesday and Saturday. Dad takes care of a lot of the yardwork since he's retired, bored, and Mom wants him out of the house, and he comes Wednesdays. If I have to do it if he couldn't come down it most likely would be Saturday.

I had to clean it once (it's push, electric) with the pressure washer when I forgot to turn the timer off for a Sunday morning mow, but otherwise it stays clean enough.

 

[SMKS]

I hope I'm not the only person who has waxed the paint on his lawnmower.

I have a Craftsman mower almost exactly like this. One night I was bored and I used compressed air to blow off all the dust and clippings. Then I waxed the red paint so it was bright and shiny.

 

[jake26]

I like to buy the best item I can afford and take care of it so it will last.

My first (and last) riding Lawnmower is a John Deere 300X and I wax it once a year and blow it off everytime I finish cutting. At the end of the season, I will lift the deck with car jacks and scrape and clean the underneath. At that time I will also change the oil, change the blades and grease the fittings.

It is ten years old and still looks new.

 

[camarotoolman]

Buy a goat!

 

[Kevin54]

Damn, I can't believe the people that don't clean their mowers. For what I pay for mine, I want it to last. I just recently bought a used JD345 and before using it I buffed it and waxed it. If th ewife mows, when shes done, she pulls up behind the garage and gets the airhose with the long snout and blows it off everywhere. Underneath, under the hood, and under the deck. I usually wash it every other mowing. The last time the grass was a little tall and juicy. I parked it without cleaning it and I bet I scraped 20 lbs. of old grass out from underneath. I bought a MoJack and it was a great investment. Run the mower up to it and crank it up. Really saves time from having to pull the deck out. Before winter the deck will come off, be powerwashed, lubed, and blades sharpened, and be ready to go for next Spring.

 

[zmotorsports]

I have a 21" Snapper self-propelled walk behind with a Briggs & Stratton OHV 5.5 hp engine that was purchased new in 1991 when I bought our home and put the yard in. I usually change the oil in the fall before putting it away and add a little StaBil to the fuel tank. At that time I scrape the underside of the deck, sharpen/balance the blade and pressure wash the entire lawnmower. After 20+ years now it still looks like new.

I also scrape the underside of the deck and pressure wash it once in mid-summer to keep it looking good.

The only things I have had to do as far as repairs is change an engagement cable this past summer, tension spring, replace the rubber drive wheel for the transmission assembly and I have changed the intake valve guide seal twice on it now, once about ten years ago and once this past summer. It would puff a slight amount of blue smoke upon startup, changed the valve guide seal and good for another ten years.

I have a client that has a John Deere 48" riding mower that I do pretty much the same thing to in the fall. The only difference is that I remove the mower deck so I can scrape and pressure wash the underside as well as inspect all of the bearings/belts easier.

Mike.

 

[Sterff]

Damn, I can't believe the people that don't clean their mowers. For what I pay for mine, I want it to last. I just recently bought a used JD345 and before using it I buffed it and waxed it. If th ewife mows, when shes done, she pulls up behind the garage and gets the airhose with the long snout and blows it off everywhere. Underneath, under the hood, and under the deck. I usually wash it every other mowing. The last time the grass was a little tall and juicy. I parked it without cleaning it and I bet I scraped 20 lbs. of old grass out from underneath. I bought a MoJack and it was a great investment. Run the mower up to it and crank it up. Really saves time from having to pull the deck out. Before winter the deck will come off, be powerwashed, lubed, and blades sharpened, and be ready to go for next Spring.

I agree with you. I blow our JD 425s off after every mowing or leaf collection. I take the deck off once a month or so and clean it out and grease it. At the end of the year I powerwash the deck and apply a new coat of paint to the underside of the deck. Each machine gets fully serviced then too. If you take care of your equipment it will last. Our 425 at our home has 1020 hours and at our cabin now has 1250 hours. I doubt they would have lasted that long if they were neglected.

 

[DoyleDee]

Buy a goat!

The best damn lawnmowers you can get!!!!! I have 5 and I don't have to now my backyard anymore. I wish I could get my 3 dogs to get along with them and not try to kill and eat them so I wouldn't have to mow the front yard. My front and back yard are both fenced, with a divided to section them off.