Mower Maintenance
Blade Safety
•
Inspect the blades periodically for wear or damage.
•
Use care when checking the blades. Wrap the
blades or wear gloves, and use caution when
servicing the blades. Only replace or sharpen the
blades; never straighten or weld them.
•
On multi-bladed machines, take care as rotating
one blade can cause other blades to rotate.
•
Replace worn or damaged blades and bolts in sets
to preserve balance.
Servicing the Cutting
Blades
To ensure a superior quality of cut, keep the blades
sharp. For convenient sharpening and replacement,
keep extra blades on hand.
Before Inspecting or Servicing the
Blades
1.
Park the machine on a level surface, disengage
the blade-control switch (PTO), and engage the
parking brake.
2.
Shut off the engine, remove the key, and
disconnect the spark-plug wires from the spark
plugs.
Inspecting the Blades
Service Interval:
Before each use or daily
1.
Inspect the cutting edges (
2.
If the edges are not sharp or have nicks, remove
and sharpen the blade; refer to
.
3.
Inspect the blades, especially in the curved area.
4.
If you notice any cracks, wear, or a slot forming
in this area, immediately install a new blade
(
).
g006530
Figure 53
1.
Cutting edge
3.
Wear/slot forming
2.
Curved area
4.
Crack
Checking for Bent Blades
Note:
The machine must be on a level surface for
the following procedure.
1.
Raise the mower deck to the highest
height-of-cut position.
2.
While wearing thickly padded gloves, or other
adequate hand protection, slowly rotate the
blade into a position that allows you to measure
the distance between the cutting edge and the
level surface the machine is on (
).
g014972
Figure 54
1.
Deck
3.
Blade
2.
Spindle housing
3.
Measure from the tip of the blade to the flat
surface (
).
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