Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I always read the owners manual! You never know where they put things on today’s lawnmowers. Every mowing season I change the oil, spark plug, air filter, and blade. Since we just moved to a new location I may go back to sharpening the blade. Our previous area had poor drainage leaving everything muddy and damp. May even have to replace the mower because of the deck rusting. Cost of a new deck just isn’t worth the trouble of swapping engine onto a new deck body. Shame because the engine works fine but the body is beginning to rust away. Had so much mud we could have gone crawfishing in our yard and had enough for a small meal.
I know people who in the fall when mowing is over to just put lawnmower away until spring. They don’t drain the old gas or put any gasoline conditioning in the tank , they don’t take out the spark plug and place a few drops of oil into the cylinder, and they don’t clean underneath witch causes corrosion. That’s on reason every spring small engine repair shops are busy in the spring. People just don’t care and don’t think ahead. Same with gasoline lawn trimmer and blower or edgers and power washers.
Have we devolved mechanically to this point of fearing removing a bit of cosmetic material from an engine?
The cover on my GM 3.8 actually has a little noise abatement insulation, the lifters on those engines can be be a little noisy. It looks good with or without the cover...
As for the general idea of your post the ability to "fix things" at least where you need tools is becoming a thing of the past. Even when you have a skill, I was just talking to this younger guy over the weekend that was able to get a real good job as a machinist, because he had a lot of experience doing it manually.
That’s on reason every spring small engine repair shops are busy in the spring.
My buddy has small engine repair shop and you would not believe the amount of water that comes out of some of those tanks. About 90% of the repairs he does are carburetor/fuel related. For lawnmowers or anything that will use a lot of fuel we have a station near where I live that sells non ethanol gas, it's probably about 75 cents more per gallon. Everything that is 2 cycle I only use canned premixed gas, it's around $7 per quart but I don't use much of it.
Every mowing season I change the oil, spark plug, air filter, and blade. Since we just moved to a new location I may go back to sharpening the blade.
You change the blade? Blades on a lawnmower can be sharpened multiple times. Take it off and put it in vice, sharpen with angle grinder. Make sure you are giving equal amount of "swipes" on both sides. Check for balance before putting it back on mower.
You change the blade? Blades on a lawnmower can be sharpened multiple times. Take it off and put it in vice, sharpen with angle grinder. Make sure you are giving equal amount of "swipes" on both sides. Check for balance before putting it back on mower.
And. Make sure its not on upside down. Pay attention when removing it. Maybe a little pull on the rope or touch the starter to see rotation. You'd be surprised the people complaining their mower is not cutting good, only to find out they installed the blade on wrong.
My buddy has small engine repair shop and you would not believe the amount of water that comes out of some of those tanks. About 90% of the repairs he does are carburetor/fuel related. For lawnmowers or anything that will use a lot of fuel we have a station near where I live that sells non ethanol gas, it's probably about 75 cents more per gallon. Everything that is 2 cycle I only use canned premixed gas, it's around $7 per quart but I don't use much of it.
I mix my own 2 cycle fuel it’s easy and then i put sta-bil in all my gasoline running hawk equipment and i put 3 drops of three in one oil in the plug opening. Yes ethanol will become stale if not used on a regular basis, I’ve worked on many 2 and 4 cycle small engines. When i was growing up all lawnmowers were made of steel no plastic at all. And no self propelled and used regular gasoline also.
Electric lawn mowers are an even better idea than electric cars.
Corded Electric lawnmower is good except the cord keeps getting in the way and battery operated lawnmower is only good for a smaller lot and when the batteries go bad are more expensive than the cost of the whole lawnmower, they are like computer printers the ink is more than you paid for the whole printer. And sometimes trying to find replacement batteries might be hard. They have allot of work ahead of them to make a great battery lawnmower that can go through tall heavy grass/weeds and last longer for larger yards. I have a sno-joe corded Electric lawnmower now since I’m living in a retirement manufacture home park now with a very small yard. But I had a house with a 1/4 acre that i had to mow so i went through many gas mowers.
Some people look at the cost of time and cost difference to see if it truly makes that much of a difference doing maintenance themselves as opposed to taking the vehicle to get those things done professionally. I used to do all of my maintenance on my vehicles back when I had a better place to do vehicle maintenance and I didn't have any other responsibilities. But, life changes and it's better for me to drop a vehicle off and be able to use my time for other things. Having said that, if I had to change my own oil, I can most certainly do that.
As far as lawn mowers, I will totally admit that I am guilty of not draining the old gas or doing any "winter maintenance". That's more out of sheer laziness than not knowing what I need to do. Luckily, I'm moving to a place where I'll just need a manual, old-fashioned, mower to maintain the grass. I'll be the one outside at 6AM getting the grass done, without waking the neighborhood up, before the heat of the day moves in.
Some people look at the cost of time and cost difference to see if it truly makes that much of a difference doing maintenance themselves as opposed to taking the vehicle to get those things done professionally. I used to do all of my maintenance on my vehicles back when I had a better place to do vehicle maintenance and I didn't have any other responsibilities. But, life changes and it's better for me to drop a vehicle off and be able to use my time for other things. Having said that, if I had to change my own oil, I can most certainly do that.
As far as lawn mowers, I will totally admit that I am guilty of not draining the old gas or doing any "winter maintenance". That's more out of sheer laziness than not knowing what I need to do. Luckily, I'm moving to a place where I'll just need a manual, old-fashioned, mower to maintain the grass. I'll be the one outside at 6AM getting the grass done, without waking the neighborhood up, before the heat of the day moves in.
I’m lucky i only have to mow for about 7 months of the year since i live in Michigan then it’s snowblower time.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Blades on a lawnmower can be sharpened multiple times. Take it off and put it in vice, sharpen with angle grinder. Make sure you are giving equal amount of "swipes" on both sides. Check for balance before putting it back on mower.
