Pre-season Mower Maintenance Tips

Is your mower ready for spring?

It’s almost lawn mowing season! Birkey’s does a lot of repair work on mowers during the spring, and we wanted to share our knowledge to help you get your mower ready for spring.

Every mower is different, so be sure to have your owner’s manual handy when you’re working on it.

Here are tips for getting your mower ready for summer.

• Look for cracks and breaks. Any parts of your mowers that can break should be looked over thoroughly—wheels, handles, fuel tank covers, cables. Check for cracks in the frames, too.
• Tighten nuts and bolts. Look your mowers over and check all of these. Do you see any loose nuts or bolts on the floor, under the machines? 
• Check tires. Tire pressure can greatly affect the quality of cut your mowers give? The tires have been sitting for some time; make sure they haven’t gotten soft. Even without slow leaks, tires gradually lose air. If they’ve gone flat, sitting that way over the winter can damage sidewalls. Also, check treads. Is it time for some new tires?
• Do a leak check. Notice any puddles under your mowers? Repair if you’re able, or bring the mower in for a tune-up.
• Change fuel filters. Change the oil and oil filters. Ask your Birkey’s rep or hardware store for the best oil. These are fairly simple tasks.
• Change air filters. If they’re dirty, they should be history. Dirty air filters reduce fuel efficiency and put added stress on mowers. You should change out air filters just before winter storage. If you know that the filters weren’t changed, change them now, even if they don’t look dirty. 
• Check blades. Don’t start the season with dull or damaged blades. Dull blades slow things down and cut grass unevenly. Replace them if needed.
• Check and/or clean undercarriages. Do you see a bunch of caked-on grass and dirt?
• Check batteries. How are they doing? Starter batteries on many mowers go dead after sitting for three months, Test, charge and replace, if necessary. It’s a good idea to disconnect batteries before winter storage. If you did that, but still have dead batteries, it may be because they were left on a cold concrete floor. The chemicals inside them may have reacted to the extreme temperatures. If this happens, give them a recharge.
• Change fuel. If you didn’t add a stabilizer, fuel probably separated. Drain the fuel and add new fuel before staring it up.

If you would prefer to have someone else do the repairs, call your local Birkey’s store. We will pick up your mower and get it ready for the spring mower season.