This is the seventh post in Exmark’s ten part Service and Maintenance Series.
The purpose of the mower is to cut grass, and the whole process starts with the blade. A mower with dull blades has to work harder and usually results in shredded rather than cleanly cutting grass. Keeping your blades sharp and replacing worn blades will deliver a better quality of cut, resulting in happy customers.
The correct angle to sharpen a blade is 28 degrees. Users should sharpen blades and replace damaged blades after every eight to 10 hours of use, or even more frequently under certain conditions. As mentioned, a dull blade forces other parts of the mower to work harder, including the belts, bearings and engine. The harder those parts have to work, the more inefficient your machine becomes.
Having a balanced blade is also extremely important to the overall longevity of your machine. An out-of-balance blade can cost you more than the price of a new blade. That’s because unbalanced blades actually swivel and wobble, causing the solid metal of the deck to flex many times per second. Not surprisingly, unbalanced blades can take a toll on bearings, significantly reducing their life span. This will eventually lead to damaging the deck shell itself, which is one pretty expensive problem to resolve. Thankfully, there are inexpensive blade balancing tools out there, and you can remedy the blade balance before it turns into an even bigger issue.
Better yet, we recommend keeping several extra sets of sharp, balanced blades on hand. Having these blades available will save you fuel and money in the long run. It doesn’t take much to make a big difference in the overall performance of your blade. If you’re looking for more information on blade maintenance, visit our YouTube page here.
Our next post will cover air filters. Remember to come back soon.
