But for lawns a half-acre or larger in size, a riding lawn mower can make the task much easier. Riding mowers come in different sizes and types, with different horsepower engines and blade sizes. For larger lawns, a garden tractor is a heavy-duty version of a riding mower that can pull attachments behind it to plow or disc a garden, as well as cut grass.
Lawns of 5 acres or more can require a full-size farm tractor to tow a mowing apparatus behind it. Another type of riding lawn mower is the zero radius mower. Popular for commercial landscaping and professional lawn care, these riding mowers use four-wheel steering to move precisely around trees and other obstacles.
Driving a riding mower can be similar to driving any other motor vehicle. The rider guides the mower while sitting on top of its deck. Some have pedals to control acceleration and braking, and a steering wheel to turn. Others use levers to control throttle and steering. The engine powers both the wheels and the blade, just like a walk-behind self-propelled mower. But instead of being directly connected to it by an axle, the blade on most riding mowers is powered by a belt connected to the engine.
In addition to other controls, the rider can also lower or raise the blade, speed it up or slow it down. Before investing in a riding lawn mower, think hard about what purpose it'll serve.
There are other costs associated with operating a lawn mower. In the next part, we'll look at some of the safety and maintenance issues that come with keeping a neat lawn. Because we always want to know how fast something will go, people have been racing riding lawn mowers in the United States since At 20 races around the country each year, riding lawn mowers chase each other around a course under the banner of the United States Lawn Mower Racing Association.
Racers remove the blades and tweak the motors, suspensions and just about everything else for performance. However, the idea got its beginning in England, where the British have been going at it since In America, riders must wear a helmet and other safety gear and must be 18 years of age, unless competing in a junior league that's open to riders years old. Their mowers must be commercially sold, self-propelled riding mowers that could still do the job they're designed for, but for the racing modifications made to them.
Every year, 75, Americans suffer injuries from mowing the lawn. Nearly 10, of the victims are children [source: University of Michigan]. A majority of those injuries come from flying rocks and debris hitting unprotected legs and faces. Another 22 percent of injuries happen to the hands, fingers and arms and are caused when interacting with a mower blade that hasn't stopped spinning. Some of the most serious injuries are tied to riding mowers, which combine horsepower, weight and size into a potentially dangerous package.
Preventing injury to children involves following a few easy safety tips. First, make sure children aren't in the same area as a running lawn mower, whether it's a walk-behind or riding variety. Second, don't let anyone under age 16 operate a riding mower, and don't let children ride as passengers. Before operating a lawn mower, make sure the area to be mowed is free of loose objects, such as sticks, stones and other yard debris.
But just to be safe, never operate a lawn mower without wearing full-length pants and shoes. Some safety advocates recommend wearing steel -toed work shoes and safety goggles when mowing lawns. Making sure that the engine and blade have come to a complete stop before making any adjustments to the lawn mower or inserting hands or tools inside the mower is another way to prevent injury. And finally, keeping a lawn mower in good working condition helps promote safety and saves money by extending the machine's lifespan.
Here are a few tips for proper maintenance:. Keeping a sharp blade is an essential element to a properly working rotary lawn mower. Dull blades rip the grass instead of cutting it, reducing the health of the lawn. Blades should be sharpened once a year, usually at the end of the lawn care season. Do-it-yourself blade sharpening requires a vice, a grinder or metal file, and the knowledge of working with metal. If you decide to do it yourself, make sure the mower is turned off, unplugged and can't start before you remove the blade from the deck.
You'll also have to check to make sure it's balanced when you put it back in, using a tool called a balancer, which is available at lawn care shops. If it wobbles, you need to grind one side down more. Lawn care shops and hardware stores will often do the sharpening and balancing job for you at a nominal cost if you bring the blade in to them. Gas-powered lawn mowers don't have the same pollution controls as automobiles , and according to the Environmental Protection Agency EPA , each one produces as much air pollution in a year as 43 new automobiles being driven 12, miles each [source: E nvironmental Protection Agency ].
Electric-powered lawn mowers don't emit pollutants by themselves, but the electricity needed to power them is often generated in power plants that burn fossil fuels. Solar - powered electric mowers require no external source of electricity, but they can only run for a limited time on each charge. Since push reel mowers are powered exclusively by the person doing the pushing and are much cheaper than solar-powered mowers, they're the mower of choice if you're concerned about the environment and don't have a lot of money to spend.
On the other end of the spectrum, two-cycle gas lawn mowers are inefficient and release percent of their mixture of oil and gas unburned into the air [source: People Powered Machines ].
A four-cycle lawn mower engine burns its fuel more efficiently, but it still emits hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide and other pollutants linked to global climate change. Mulching lawn mowers are more friendly to the environment because their blades cut the grass into pieces small enough to rapidly decompose and return vital nutrients to the soil.
This reduces the need for adding fertilizer to the lawn and saves space in landfills that might otherwise be taken up with bagged clippings. However, bagged clippings can be sent to municipal compost sites instead of being taken to the dump.
There are a lot of different machines available and a lot of contractors prefer non-timed blades due to the fact that the belts are half the price and they are a lot easier to fix.
The most common cutting decks are the two and three-blade versions. We have discussed the two bald decks so I will now talk about how a three-blade deck works. When a mowing deck has three blades it does not need timing. This is because there is no chance of the blades hitting each other. Where a two-blade deck can have overlapping blades so it does not leave an uncut area. A three-blade deck has the third cutting deck and this takes care of any overlap.
They can be heavy mowers and have been known to scalp lawns if they are a bit lumpy. The video below is a 3 blade deck in action. This is actually a John Deer Mulch deck but it works exactly the same as a standard deck as far as the blade movement goes. The manufacturer will tell you that it is as important as a sharp blade because an unbalanced blade can put undue stress on an engine. I have been sharpening pushmower and ride on blades without any issues for years now without balancing them.
Over the years when I have serviced mowers I have seen some horribly unbalanced blades some with fins missing. This has never been noticeable while mowing unless one of the blades is damaged or bent. I should also point out that I have always serviced my mowers every 33 mower hours so an unbalanced blade left for an extended period may be a different story.
Stuart Clifford is the owner of Gecko Lawns. He has been building and selling lawn mowing business for the last thirty years. Last year he sold off most of his lawns and now earns a full-time income doing a 20 hours work week mowing lawns.
Stuart has helped lawn mowing contractors grow and sell their businesses. He has also done lawn business evaluation for buyers. He now enjoys writing about lawn mowing much more than actually mowing lawns.
Why does a mower need oil? Also, what mower has the fastest blade speed? Hustler brags that this zero -turn mower tops out at 15 mph and can cut grass up to 40 hours a week with a blade-tip speed of over 18, feet per minute. The Super Z holds Stens PK2 Mulching Blade , Set of 2 Sharp and efficient, they are especially good at giving your lawn a straight, sharp cut that you can be proud of admiring in the long run.
Finally, they are excellent at mulching evident from their name , which can furthermore fertilize your lawn to grow well in the future. Most lawn care experts recommend cutting no more than one-third of the total length of the grass blades each you mow ; trimming a smaller amount is even better. Very long grass is hard to mow effectively—the grass blades tend to tear rather than be sliced off cleanly by the lawnmower blade. The blade typically spins at 3, revolutions per minute and slices the grass as it passes over it.
Blades can be either straight or curved, but it's the tip of the blade at either end that does all the cutting. Can a lawn mower blade fly off? Some manufacturers recommend using a torque wrench for this task, since overtightening a bolt could cause it to crack, while undertightening it could allow the lawn mower blade to fly off while the mower is running.
How many times can you sharpen a lawn mower blade? Your lawn mower blade is dull. Sharpen the blade twice each season to help maintain a green, healthy lawn.
A sharp blade not only cuts blades clean so grass plants recover quickly, it helps reduce your lawn mowing time. How do I get my lawn mower blades sharpened?
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