MOWER TLC - Maintaining Mower Health

There are all kinds of things we should do that we don’t do. Changing the batteries in the smoke detector, regularly rotating the tires on the family sedan and drinking eight glasses of water daily are the types of chores many people become accustomed to letting slip through the cracks. No doubt there are some contractors who could add regular mower maintenance to that list. And even though rotating your tires doesn’t equate to certain death and fewer than eight glasses of water won’t make you pass out from thirst, failure to give a mower the regular TLC that it deserves almost certainly means costly problems down the road.

To fully understand the impact of lengthening a mower’s life, it helps to know the machine’s potential. " We target a design performance of about 5,000 hours and I think that would be about the same for most manufacturers," says Bob Walker, president, Walker Manufacturing, Fort Collins, Colo. "You could achieve about 1,000 hours per year with some machines, but the average is about 500 to 700 hours. That means a 5,000-hour machine would give you a life of about 10 or 12 years."

The gap in the life span of a riding or walk-behind mower isn’t great, but there are some differences worth noting. "Comparing the two is comparing apples and oranges," says Brendston Williams, assistant training manager, Kubota, Calif. "A walk-behind typically is a gasoline engine and if it’s well taken care of, I’d think you could get five or six good years out of it. With a ride-on you may be looking at a diesel engine and, in that case, the engine is one of the strongest components of the entire mower. It could outlast the rest of the mower if it’s well taken care of. That could get you 3,000 or 4,000 hours easily."

Alternately, Brendston says a neglected engine might last only 500 or 600 hours.

Bruce Dunning, co-owner, Creekside Shop, East Syracuse, N.Y., points out that the real difference between riding and walk-behinds is in the number of hours put on the machine in its overall life-span. "You generally put more hours on a riding mower in a year than you do on a walk-behind mower," he says. "So a 5-year-old walk-behind would probably have far fewer hours on it than a rider."

SCHEDULE A CHECK-UP. Many landscape contractors want to provide their mowers with four-star maintenance but can’t find a convenient time. One way to make the time is to follow a strict maintenance schedule that becomes a part of the routine rather than interrupting it. "You need to have a preoperational system for preventive maintenance," says Williams. "It should be a checklist sheet that is maintained by a manager or fleet owner who routinely gathers this material and ensures that someone is going through and checking those various things before operating the equipment."

Rod Roberts, service manager, Ferris, Munnsville, N.Y., says that most maintenance schedules are standard because manufacturers usually specify maintenance intervals in their owner operating manuals. "So most contractors do their own maintenance programs based on our guidelines."

"Most programs are spelled out in hours," Roberts explains, adding that air filter and engine oil should be checked before every use. "For example, after the first five hours, check the machine for loose hardware and the engine oil level. And at your first 25 hours you should adjust the PTO (power takeoff) clutch."

Walker explains that proper maintenance should revolve around three main systems on a mower. "The first is lubrication – both grease and oil," he says. "This also includes looking after your engine and boxes."

The second system involves the engine and related components: the cooling system, air filter, air intake and crank case oil, Walker says.

"The third area on a mower to be maintained is the cutting system – the mowing deck itself," Walker continues. "That involves the blades and the cleaning and maintaining of the deck."

Then maintenance can be recommended daily for some parts and every two years for others. "There are different levels of maintenance and some things should be addressed on a less frequent basis than others," Walker says.

Dunning explains that it doesn’t matter how you keep track of maintenance as long as you are keeping track. "Whenever we change the oil on a machine, we put the hours and the date right on the filter," he says. "The reason is a lot of people will change the oil every three weeks but the same filter has been in there since the last time the mower was serviced."

SEASONAL SUPPLEMENTS. Some maintenance tasks won’t come up on a daily/weekly/monthly schedule but are equally important. In climates with seasonal weather changes, winter means it’s time to put the equipment away until spring, locked-down in garages or sheds. However, just because a mower is not in use, one shouldn’t assume that it would be exactly the same when it makes its debut in spring. While it sits dormant, grass clippings, fuel in the tank, and even mice are doing their own unique kind of damage.

"One thing you should do when you’re shutting down a mower for the winter is to shut the fuel off and run your engine until you completely run it out," Williams says. "You have gas in the carburetor that will eventually run itself out if you do that and if it remains there through the off-season it will do damage to your seals, which plug the openings around the carburetor to prevent leaking. Also gas, which will stale, can do damage if it’s sitting in your carburetor." As an alternative to this, Dunning suggests adding fuel stabilizer to the tanks and then filling them with gas before running the machine for five minutes to push it through the carburetion system.

Dunning also strongly suggests thoroughly cleaning a mower before putting it away. "If you leave grass on those decks, the acid is just going to eat right through them and it will be rusty in the spring," he says. "Take the deck lid off and get in there where the pulleys, belts and spindles are and wash it clean."

"Winter is a real opportunity to completely inspect machines," Walker adds. "Some use that time to do an annual check-up that is fairly extensive."

Doing this right, Walker says, may mean pulling the engine out of the mower. "If it’s an air-cooled engine, you really need to do that once a year and that includes pulling off the shrouds and the cooling system and really washing them out. It’s almost impossible to be that thorough without removing the engine."

Dunning agrees, adding that spring is a good time to do this as well. "You can’t imagine how often you’ll find debris brought in by mice. Unless you look, you don’t know it and that causes extensive damage and the repairs will not be cheap."

Williams offers several other procedures that landscape contractors should consider before revving up their mowers for the busy spring. "Change all fluids – especially in a walk-behind mower," Williams says. In addition to changing the oil this means changing the oil filter, air filter and fuel filter. "I’d also make sure I had a nice sharp blade."

Roberts adds that because of moisture it’s a good idea to grease a mower when bringing it out. Some contractors also choose to do this before the winter, Dunning says.

THE PRICE OF MAINTENANCE. Certainly, adhering to the suggestions above and strictly following the recommended maintenance of a mower’s owner’s manual is not going to be free and easy. Quality maintenance costs money, but that’s nothing compared to what will be saved by keeping things in tip-top order.

"We have a round figure for the annual cost of maintenance," offers Walker. "If you take all of your direct costs – gas, oil and your replaceable items like filters and so forth and then you add in your insurance on the machine and your depreciation – wrap that all in a bundle and your cost of ownership and use of the machine is usually about $4 or $5 an hour."

Walker says some may find that a high price, but that there’s really no way around it. "Some contractors ignore those costs and they’re really just fooling themselves," he says.

Dunning illustrates the difference between the price of good maintenance vs. the cost of not maintaining by offering the example of a mower’s tire going flat on the job. "You have to take the time to load that mower onto a truck, take it to a shop and now suddenly you’ve got a crew of two standing around with nothing to do," he relates. "Add the repair cost to the truck time and the lost revenue of having a crew out of commission for the day and suddenly a $15 repair could be costing you $100. So imagine what a more serious breakdown would cost."

The contractors who maintain their mowers religiously "do it because of the down time it saves them," Dunning says. "Because, down the road, the down time always costs more than the repair."