Mower Cleaning & Maintenance
Unplug the spark plug lead before tinkering
Cleaning & Checking
All lawn mowers come with a manual and specify a schedule of maintenance. Use it and observe all lawnmower safety precautions before undertaking any cleaning or maintenance. The schedule often depends on the number of hours used rather than how often you mow. Do look after your lawn mower as it will give you a cleaner cut and make mowing the grass easier.
After every use and in accordance with the manual:
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Clean the underside, blade, chute, chassis and wheels/rollers
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Check nuts and bolts for tightness
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Check the blade for dents and sharpness
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If it's a petrol mower fill it with fresh petrol before you next mow and don’t fill it on the lawn!
P.S. I like to disconnect the spark plug and turn off the petrol on my petrol mower before playing near the blades – better safe than sorry.
Servicing & Sharpening
If you are only slightly technically orientated you can quite easily, in conjunction with your mowers manual, service a lawnmower. If it’s a petrol mower, an oil change, a filter clean and perhaps a spark plug change is pretty much all the engine requires. The chassis needs a clean, then check and oil controls, wheels, rollers and chains (if they exist) according to the manual. You'll only need a spanner or two, some washing up liquid, lawn mower oil, spark plug and spark plug spanner. Try it, it's easy.
If it’s an electric lawn mower a good clean and some oil on the moving parts is about it.
The final and most important bit is the blade. On a rotary mower you can sharpen or change the blade. Balancing and sharpening kits are readily available. For a cylinder mower the blade is more complex and requires a bit of precision sharpening. Aligning the rotating blade and the bottom blade can be done with the manual and a little patience but a mower service centre may be the best bet for sharpening.
