Posts Tagged ‘Paul Jurgens’

Walk-behind Versus Riding Mower Maintenance

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

This is the ninth post in Exmark’s ten part Service and Maintenance Series.

While there aren’t major differences in the mower maintenance of walk-behind and riding lawn mowers, it makes sense to look through your individual unit’s manual for recommended maintenance schedules. The frequency and proper methods for maintenance will need to be a marriage of the manufacturer recommendations and your regular machine usage conditions. Typically, mowers differ in the hours needed between scheduled maintenance including oil changes, hydraulic fuel checks and greasing of the joints and connections.

Since your equipment may have been in hibernation for the last three to four months, it’s probably time for a bit of a refresher. After you run it for 50 hours into the season, try conducting another maintenance cycle to refresh the fluids and check the nuts and bolts. This will help your equipment last longer and kick-start your season successfully by getting the cobwebs off the machine.

Next we’ll be talking about dealer-scheduled maintenance, so check back soon.

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Oxygenated Fuels Gone Bad

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

This is the sixth post of Exmark’s ten part Service and Maintenance Series.

Milk. Parking meters. Unused gym memberships. Some things are meant to expire after a certain period of time. Fuel for your mower is included in that list.

Oxygenated fuels (fuels containing alcohol blends or MTBE—methyl tertiary butyl ether) have a shelf life of 30 days. This should prompt mower owners to mark the date on their gas cans when filling up. It is an easy step to ignore or forget when starting fresh with a new season. Using old fuel can contribute to poor engine performance and a decrease in horsepower, along with a string of other problems. Plain and simple, mark your cans and dispose of old fuel.

In addition, fuel should be checked to ensure that it does not contain over the maximum 10 percent alcohol or 15 percent MTBE. There are plenty of inexpensive testers out there, so make sure you pick one up.

Our next post will be about blades, so check back soon.

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Your Mower Doesn’t Need a Bath

Monday, March 15th, 2010

This is the fourth part of Exmark’s ten part Service and Maintenance Series.

As with many things in life, there is a right and a wrong way to clean your equipment. Mower owners should clean their units as often as possible but minimize the use of water, which is a natural enemy of metal. Using water and detergents can lead to corrosion problems.

Though power washing is a popular method to clean mowers, it’s not best for the longevity of the machine. By using those two cleaning agents, you force unnatural elements into places that can be detrimental to your mower. For example, if water sits on a bearing seal or an electrical connection, it can do more harm than good.

The proper way to clean your mower is to simply apply air pressure. A lawn or leaf blower will work perfectly for this. By cleaning with air, you will clear dirt and debris from the machine without causing damage.

It’s also important to check and clean the nooks and crannies of the machine—not just the areas you can see. Take off the cover plates, lift up the seat and scour any of the hard-to-reach areas you normally skip. This step is perhaps even more important than cleaning the areas in plain sight because if debris is hidden, it will restrict airflow to the hydraulic system, in turn, increasing heat and accelerating hydraulic oil breakdown.

Next in the series is checking your nuts and bolts. We’ll post the next tip real soon.

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