lawn mower tune up

[matty d]

Anyone tune up their own lawn mower? I have a Honda about 10 years old. Still works great, but its time.

It cost $80 at the local lawn mower shop. they sharpen the blade too.

I never tried it...x'cuse me I admire you gear heads who do this sort of thing on your own....

should I get the manual out and try to do it myself or shell out the $$?

 

[NCCheesehead]

Tune up would be a plug, oil change and air filter change?. It should be about 15 minutes of very easy work. Blade sharping is a little more work but still very easy. Do it yourself.

 

[cashishift]

I recently got an older Toro for free, and I just dropped it off this past saturday at a shop. They'll get all the stuff working for me. Normally I'd do all my own maintenance.

It was going to require quite a bit of work, and i didn't want to keep fiddling with it all summer, or have to end up taking it in.

 

[metal1313]

basic tune up is new filters and oil, sharpen and balance the blade. there really isnt much work, and i think most tune-up kits only cost around 15-20 dollars. \

me i have to rebuild the trans/axle in my toro selfpropelled since it looks like something is worn out/broken and the wheels move too far out from the body

 

[John in OH]

It you are talking a TUNE UP only, the NCCheesehead is correct .... it basically consist of only the three items he lists. Add the blade sharpening and you are done.

Buy a new plug ... check the gap, and install. Piece of cake.

Oil change ... buy one or two quarts of oil. Depending on the engine brand, sometimes draining the old motor oil out of a mower can be a real mess so be prepared! Add the appropriate quantity of new oil and you're set. Again, overall a pretty easy task.

Take a look at your air filter element. Sometimes they are a multi-fold paper design ... if so, buy a new one and stick it in. Sometimes they are a foam element that can be reused. Wash out the foam element with soap and water, rinse well, squeeze out the water and saturate the foam element with new engine oil. Squeeze out the excess oil and install the element. Again, just messier than difficult.

Sharpen blade. You will need either a bench grinder or a 4-1/2 hand-held side grinder. REMOVE THE SPARK PLUG WIRE FROM THE PLUG BEFORE YOU BEGIN !!! Tilt the mower back (actually, this blade work is best done after you have drained the old motor oil, but before you have install the new oil). WEAR GOOD LEATHER GLOVES !!! Hold the blade with one hand and remove the blade retaining bolt on the bottom end of the engine shaft under the mower deck. Sometimes this bolt can be tight. Make sure you keep track of any washers that may be with the bolt and blade. WEAR SAFETY GLASSES !!! Gently grind the cutting edges on the blade being careful to not "burn" the blade; ie., keep your grinding rate slow so as not to overheat the blade with the grinder. Try to remove essentially the same amount of metal from each end of the blade to keep the blade balanced. Reinstall the blade and any washers being very careful with the SHARP blade. Snug down the retaining bolt and you're done. Again, not difficult, but you do need a grinder, safety glasses and gloves.

Good luck!

 

[John in OH]

Oh, yeah .... don't forget to reattach the spark plug wire!!

 

[tdkkart]

Alot of places sell "maintenance" or "tune-up" kits for various makes and models, consists of the oil, spark plug(s), air filter etc.

In case you don't have a grinder, most mower shops will sharpen and balance the blade for a few $$$ if you carry it in. Take a look at the blade, it may not even need sharpening, or may just need touched up with a file. The balde needs to be reasonably sharp, but razor sharp is a waste, won't stay that way formore than a couple mowings.

 

[Gary S]

I consider lawn mowers to be disposable. If mine doesn't start in the Spring, it gets a new spark plug, maybe once every 10 years or so. I change the oil once a year, clean the air filter once every few years, and sharpen the blade when I can no longer see which side is supposed to be the sharp side.
Then I run them to death and replace the entire mower once every 20 years or so.
Life is too short to spend it fiddling with a lawn mower.

 

[clutch93]

So i've been looking to "tune up" my mower, but i've been worried about trying to sharpen the blade on my own. Is it super critical to have it perfectly balanced? i'd like to not loose a leg while mowing because i was too cheap to take the blade in to have sharpened professionally.

 

[eldirector]

Just "tuned-up" both of mine (riding and push) for the year. I normally do it all before I put them away in the fall, but didn't get to it last year.

- Oil and filter (the push is just oil - no filter)
- New air filter on the riding (it was nasty). Just blew out the filter on the push.
- New plugs in both. They've been just cleaned and gapped for about 5 years, so time to change.
- Pulled the blades and sharpened on the bench grinder.
- Aired up the tires on the rider. Funny, they actually held pressure over the winter pretty well. Guess my plugs from last year worked!
- Checked the deck on the rider (belts and level/height). Looked fine.
- Checked the height on the push. It likes to "drop" on its own and cut lower than the rider. Looks fine for now.
- I still need to hose down the carb on the push mower. It has gotten real finicky to start the last couple of years.
- Checked the oil on the 4-stroke trimmer and leaf blower, too.

Then gassed them both up and proceeded to mow the yard. 20 minutes in, and BANG! Hit a brick from the neighbors junk pile. Not sure how it got 20' into my yard. Get to go sharpen the blades again, I guess!

 

[eldirector]

So i've been looking to "tune up" my mower, but i've been worried about trying to sharpen the blade on my own. Is it super critical to have it perfectly balanced? i'd like to not loose a leg while mowing because i was too cheap to take the blade in to have sharpened professionally.

I just use my grinder, and "balance" it on a nail/screwdriver. Only one or twice have I ever had to remove more material to get it balanced.

 

[z28snksknr]

I just replaced the plug, air filter, and oil in my walk behind. It's only 3 yrs old but it had some rust on the underside deck, so I cleaned all the grass off it, sanded it a bit to remove dirt & loose rust, then shot it with some rattle can "rusty metal primer", and a top coat of flat black I had sitting around.

I also used this stuff called "small engine tune up in a can" (I think Sea Foam makes it- picked it up at lowe's). Directions said to spray it in the spark plug hole, pull the cord a few times, and let sit for 15 min or so before starting it (after reinstalling the plug of course). Once running, it claims to remove varnish / dirt / "bad stuff" from the rings. I was skeptical, but that mower starts quicker than it ever has beforeand runs smoother too.

 

[billspit]

Anybody know if the Honda engines on riding mowers need to have the valves adjusted?

 

[John in OH]

So i've been looking to "tune up" my mower, but i've been worried about trying to sharpen the blade on my own. Is it super critical to have it perfectly balanced? i'd like to not loose a leg while mowing because i was too cheap to take the blade in to have sharpened professionally.

It is important, but not critical. If the blade is fairly new, and you don't go "crazy" with the grinding, and make a reasonable effort to remove equal amounts of metal from each end of the blade, balance is not a problem. In over 40 years of sharpening my own blades I don't think that I've ever actually had to balance a blade.

However, if you are concerned about balance, you can buy a very inexpensive blade balance device to use to check your work. These are sort of conical devices that you sit the blade on and if there is unbalance the cone tips to the heavy end. I'm sure the nail balance trick described above will also prevent you from getting the blade too far out of balance.

Concern over balance should not prevent you from sharpening your own blades.

 

[clutch93]

Sounds good, thanks for the help, i'm sure i have some nails sitting around somewhere.

 

[z28snksknr]

Ask This Old House just did a piece on sharpening mower blades as well as general mower tuneups. Maybe check their website or youtube for that segment - they talk about balancing and the various methods of sharpening it.

It won't be anything you haven't read here, but seeing how easy it is for yourself may give you some additional confidence.

 

[scott37300]

Lawnmower maintenance is pretty basic and nothing you should be afraid of.

Like others mentioned plug, filter, oil, and blade.

Tools needed

Plug socket and ratchet,
Plug gapper(most come pre gapped but I always double check),
socket for oil plug,
usually a screwdriver for filter cover,
grinder for sharpening blade,
balancer for blade(only about 5 bucks)
vice(optional but make sharpening a blade a lot easier).

So just basic tools and you're good to go. Even if you don't have the tools and have to buy them, you will still be ahead buying them if the shop is charging you 80 bucks to do a tune up. Only takes about 30 minutes if you go slow. The next thing is carburator cleaning which isn't hard to do either. seems like every couple years I have to rebuild the carb, even with putting stabil in the gas for winter storage.

I say go ahead and try saving 70 bucks by doing it yourself and ask if you have any questions. Also the local library probably has some good books on small engines, mine does at least.

 

[petee_c]

I just sharpened the 3 blades on my rider with a flat file, with the blades mounted in a vice. I suppose u could go over them once or twice with a wetstone.

I`ve been running the same plugs on my mower. It`s got 135 hours on it according to the hour meter.

I did have to clean out a mouse nest above one of the cylinders, and replaced a `weepy`gas line this year, as well as an oil and filter change. If I remember correctly, the oil had about 50 hrs on it.


Oh yah, also had to charge a really flat battery. So far it`s holding charge. I think I bought the battery 3yrs ago. I was too lazy (yep I`m that lazy) to bring it in the garage and cycle it through my tender.
Peter

 

[bart1]

I just bought 2 new blades for my mower, the service kit, and a new plastic cap for the oil drain. $70.

 

[jasonbraswell]

My 2-cycle lawnboy is 12 yrs old and just added the 3rd spark plug. New blade every 2-3 years too..

 

[Falcon67]

The new (to me) Snapper rider? Yep, it's going to get treated well. The 22" push from Sears? I think it got a new plug...2 years ago?

 

[Greatbear]

One item to add to the "tune up" list is cleaning grass and chaff from the engine cooling fins. Remove the engine cooling shroud and either brush away or use compressed air to blow dirt and chaff from between all the fins. Your engine will thank you. Also, just about all OHV engines will need eventual valve lash adjustment, but in my experience, most people can safely ignore this for a few years. Doing this requires only basic tools, a set of feeler gauges, and a replacement gasket most times.

 

[28HopUp]

Maybe I missed it, but if you didn't drain (run out) the gas before storing your mower, then you should drain the gas now and put in fresh gas before starting it up.

 

[cashishift]

We need a sub forum for stuff like this, I myself love 2 cycle and 4 cycle small engines..

 

[SARG]

And for the guys that have the lawn or garden tractor with the two or three blade deck.

Over time the sealed bearings in the spindles start to go dry and the decks become very noisy ...... in the past I've spent the money to buy new spindles ....... that was before I realized it is very easy to just replace the two bearings in each spindle for a fraction of the price. The bearings (6204-2RS ) seem to be standard on a multitude of applications and are cheap. I just ordered a dozen for under $2. each .... versus the spindles which are $50 to $70 each. I did one deck yesterday in under an hour and I can once again hear the motor run and the deck now "hums" again.

The plan now is to do all the other (4) tractors because you do not realize how loud they get until you fix one.

 

[c_mccann]

valve adjust..

 

[istephen]

Sure. I lap the reel, adjust the blade if required (maybe every other year?) oil the bearings with a squirt can, spray on some WD-40 to reduce rusting, and hang it back on the wall. Tune-up complete. Takes about 15 minutes a year I'd guess.

My mower is the one that says, "Property of **************" on it.
Starts on the first push, every time.

 

[Toolhorder]

Oh man the beginning of the month I did my powertrim B&S edger

1. Replaced seals in carb and cleaned it out.
2. Replaced blade
3. Replaced drive belt
4. Lubed throttle cable (used motorcycle cable lube)
5. Spark Plug
6. Air filter cleaned/oiled
7. Oil changed

The machine was originally my uncle's who is now sadly passed on. He was one of my best swap meet buddies. I liked the little edger before he passed and he gave it to me. I've had it now probably 5-6 years. I know it's probably a dumb story but I spend an hour working on that machine and about $50 in parts just because I missed him. Kinda funny but I'm pretty attached to it. It ran great and edged the lawn quite well. I'm thinking about pulling it out later for another go since it's been almost a month.

I bought this old Snapper too over the winter for $17 bucks at the flea. Needed a carb. rebuild for sure but it ran. I did the following to this one,

1. Spark plug change
2. Blade sharpen (on a grinder and nail balanced!)
3. Rebuild carb/cleaned
4. Painted fuel tank
5. Air filter replaced
6. Bought missing bag holder attachment

Worked pretty good but I think I over oiled the air filter cause she smokes pretty good. Never did that before so... OR I let oil get into the intake system when I sharpened the blade. Whatever. I kinda like a smokey mower. Pisses off the liberal electric mower people in the neighborhood.

Couple months ago I took my wife's brand new car to this estate sale looking for tools. I saw a 80's looking Snapper that had a power transmission, electric start, all the bells and whistles. They wanted $20 and it was the end of the day so she told me $10. Mower even had the original key. I wanted that one SOOOO bad but no way in hell was in going into my wife's new ride and hanging out the back all the way home. Sadly I had to pass.

 

[Toolhorder]

Sure. I lap the reel, adjust the blade if required (maybe every other year?) oil the bearings with a squirt can, spray on some WD-40 to reduce rusting, and hang it back on the wall. Tune-up complete. Takes about 15 minutes a year I'd guess.

My mower is the one that says, "Property of **************" on it.
Starts on the first push, every time.

You have popeye arms yet?