Walk This Way: Walk-Behind Mowers

WALK OR RIDE? Jim Savftrom has noticed that there haven’t been many new developments on the commercial walk-behind mowers of late, and that’s just the way he likes it.

“When we’re shopping for walk-behind mowers, we stick with what we know,” said Savftrom, a supervisor at Northwest Landscape Services, Woodinville, Wash.

Although Northwest Landscape Services is involved with the maintenance of primarily large commercial landscapes, Savftrom said his 30 walk-behind machines, most ranging in deck size from 32 to 36 inches, are able to handle the work productively without the addition of riding mowers.

“Our employees are in good physical shape,” Savftrom enthused. “Many of our operators can mow just as quickly using a 36-inch deck walk-behind mower compared to using a riding mower of similar size. Plus, we’re able to sneak our 32-inch machines into places many riding machines can’t go.”

Sometimes, when making the choice to buy either a commercial walk-behind mower or a commercial riding mower, landscape contractors said the decision just boils down to dollars and cents.

“It’s the price difference that helps me make my purchasing decisions,” Wilhelm pointed out. “I can get a 48- to 52-inch deck on a walk-behind mower for $4,000 or $5,000 vs. the $8,000 to $15,000 I’d have to spend to get the same thing in a riding mower.”

Some manufacturers have attempted to address the concerns of landscape contractors who are torn between choosing a riding mower and a walk-behind mower by inventing the stand-on mower, which combines the comfort of riding with the visibility of walking. But landscape contractors have mixed views on whether or not the machine will thrive in the green industry.

“Stand-on mowers definitely keep things compact for trailer space,” Lowe said. “But they also defeat the purpose of being able to jump off and walk behind the machine if the hill or bank being mowed gets too steep.”

Concerned with visibility on the job site, Russ Fragala, president, Russ Fragala Landscape Contracting, Coram, N.Y., said he thinks stand-on machines are going to take over the industry in due time.

“In small areas, you can’t see seated on a riding mower so you tend to rip up the turf more,” Fragala explained. “If you’re standing, you can see what you’re doing and it becomes easier to maneuver the machine around the tight areas of a landscape.”

THE DRIVING CHOICE. Russ Fragala Landscape Contracting has a majority of gear drive walk-behind mowers in its equipment fleet. Fragala said they are switching to hydrostatic-drive transmission walk-behind mowers mainly to cut down on equipment maintenance.

“I keep three maintenance men on staff at all times because I can’t get enough life out of the pulleys and deck parts of my gear-drive machines,” Fragala asserted. “We grease them up well and they still wear out. The life of a pulley for us is about one month. We stay on top of it because we want to do the job right. When a pulley loosens up, you don’t get the smoothest cut out of the mower.

“Hydrostatic-drive transmission machines have no pulleys or parts,” Fragala continued. “They last 10 times longer. By switching my equipment, I can cut down on my maintenance manpower.”

Savftrom, on the other hand, relies on his gear-driven machines.

“We like to stick with what we have,” Savftrom said. “Right now, that means we don’t own many hydrostatic- drive transmission machines because of the increased cost and because our mechanics already inventory the parts needed to repair gear-drive machines.”

Although gear-drive walk-behind mowers hold the dominant walk-behind market share - about 60 percent - according to John Crowson, national sales and marketing manager, Scag Power Equipment, Mayville, Wis., they are becoming known as high-maintenance machines.

“The pulleys have a tendency to slip when they’re wet, like when mowing grass with heavy dew or along a wet ditch,” Lowe explained. “Gear-driven machines also have more exposed, moveable parts, such as shafts and couplers, which are natural wear items.

“Hydraulic-drive transmission machines bring us back to the basics,” Lowe said. “They instantly move forward and backward - there’s no shifting. They use less moving parts, so they’re more durable. Both of these things alone increase productivity by 25 to 30 percent.

“Time is money to landscape contractors,” related Greg Breningmeyer, manager of market development for commercial mowing products, John Deere, Raleigh, N.C. “Ten to 15 seconds wasted at one time isn’t a lot, but 10 to 15 seconds wasted continually throughout the course of each day can equal minutes or hours."

But, along with increased productivity and easier maneuverability comes a higher price, Breningmeyer explained.

“A hydrostatic-drive transmission makes up 25 to 35 percent of the overall cost of the mower,” he said. “As more manufacturers develop machines with hydrostatic transmission, the price will come down.”

THE RIGHT MOVES. The daily squeezing of the steering controls on some walk-behind mowers led to carpal tunnel syndrome for two employees at Northwest Landscape Services, Savftrom said.

“One of our foremen and another employee recently had surgery to fix the problem,” Savftrom noted.

Carpal tunnel syndrome is a condition that results when the median nerve in the hand and arm doesn’t work properly. Usually, this occurs because there is too much pressure on the nerve as it runs into the wrist through an opening called the carpal tunnel, according to A Patient’s Guide to Carpal Tunnel website, Medical Multimedia Group, Libby, Mont. (www.sechrest.com/mmg/cts/ctsintro.html).

Workplace ergonomics have long been thought to be a contributing factor to carpal tunnel syndrome. Alteration of the worksite, the Medical Multimedia Group suggested, is a must for employees who do any form of repetitive work.

Manufacturers have picked up on this problem and are focusing on operator comfort when it comes to machine height and where the arms and hands rest on the mower handles. They are also working to perfect the different handle grip options so less pressure will be placed on the nerves in the hands of the operator, said Rick Cuddihe, vice president, Great Dane Power Equipment, Elmgrove, Wis.

“There are heavy levers on hydrostatic drive transmission machines that are spring loaded,” Cuddihe explained. “It takes a lot of hand force on these levers to activate the pumps every time you tell the machine to go right or left. We’re working on something that’s ergonomically different to make it easier on the operator.”

Many manufacturers have already reduced the grip force and handgrip reach on their mowers. It’s also become one of their major focuses for 1999.

“We all - contractors and manufacturers - want the mowers to be as productive as possible,” Crowson acknowledged. “A part of the productivity equation is keeping the operator as comfortable as possible.”

STEPPING INTO THE FUTURE. Looking to the future, landscape contractors seem to be looking for better mulching and catching systems, stronger wear points and diesel engines.

“I’d like to see a good small diesel engine on a walk-behind mower,” commented. “It would run cooler and be more fuel efficient along with having less moving parts which means less maintenance.”

Although manufacturers have heard this request more than once, Lowe noted, they aren’t yet satisfied enough with their research to warrant building it.

“We have concerns about going diesel,” Lowe said. “It’s a tremendous investment and we can’t be sure there would be enough sales to justify it. Would a good diesel be too large to fit on a midsize unit? If we make a single- cylinder diesel would it be able to get enough power to the crankshaft? There are many limitations.”

Different landscape contractors in various parts of the country will always ask for different things, Savftrom explained.

“It’s an issue manufacturers have learned to deal with and will have to continue to deal with to sell their equipment,” he said. “In the end, it’s all about putting the right machine on the right kind of turf.”