WARNING: Your mower is de
signed to cut
nor mal res i den tial grass of a height no more
than 10". Do not at tempt to mow through un -
usu ally tall, dry grass (e.g., pas ture) or piles
of dry leaves. De
bris may build up on the
mower deck or con
tact the en
gine ex
haust
pre sent ing a po ten tial fire haz ard.
For the best results when mulching:
•
Clear lawn of de bris.
Be sure that the lawn is clear
of stones, sticks, wire or other for eign ob jects which
could dam
age the lawnmower. Such ob
jects could
be ac ci den tally thrown out by the mower in any di -
rec
tion and cause se
ri
ous per
sonal in
jury to the
op er a tor and oth ers as well as dam age to prop erty
and sur round ing ob jects.
•
Do not cut wet grass
. For ef fec tive mulch ing do not
cut wet grass be cause it tends to stick to the un der -
side of the deck pre vent ing proper mulch ing of the
grass clip pings.
•
Cut no more than 1/3 the length of the grass.
The
rec om mended cut for mulch ing is 1/3 the length of
the grass. Ground speed will need to be ad justed so
the clip pings can be dis persed evenly into the lawn.
For es pe cially heavy cut ting in thick grass it may be
nec es sary to use one of the slow est speeds in or der
to get a clean well mulched cut. When mulch ing long
grass you may have to cut the lawn in two passes,
low er ing the blade an other 1/3 of the length for the
sec ond cut and per haps cut ting in a dif fer ent pat tern
than was used the first time. Over lapping the cut a lit -
tle on each pass will also help to clean up any stray
clip pings left on the lawn. The mower should al ways
be op er ated at full throt tle to get the best cut and al -
low it to do the most ef fec tive job of mulch ing.
•
Clean un
der
side of deck
. Be cer
tain to clean the
un der side of the cut ting deck af ter each use to avoid
a build-up of grass, which would pre
vent proper
mulch ing.
•
Mulching Leaves.
The mulch ing of leaves can also
be ben
e
fi
cial to your lawn. When mulch
ing leaves
make sure they are dry and are not lay ing too thick
on the lawn. Do not wait for all the leaves to be off
the trees be fore you mulch.
•
It is rec om mended keep ing drive ways and side walks
on the op er a tors right while mov ing. Con tinue mow -
ing us
ing this pat
tern, hav
ing the left side of your
lawnmower next to the un
cut grass. Mulching with
the cut
ting area of the mower on the lawn avoids
grass clip pings in un de sir able ar eas.
WARN ING: If you strike a for eign ob ject, stop
the en
gine. Re
move wire from spark plug,
thor
oughly in
spect the mower for any dam
-
age, and re pair the dam age be fore re start ing
and op er at ing the mower. Ex ten sive vi bra tion
of the mower dur
ing op
er
a tion is an in
di ca -
tion of dam age. The unit should be promptly
in spected and re paired.
ADJUSTMENT
CAUTION: DO NOT AT ANY TIME MAKE ANY
ADJUSTMENT TO LAWNMOWER WITHOUT
FIRST STOPPING THE ENGINE AND
DISCONNECTING THE SPARK PLUG WIRE.
CAUTION: Before changing mowing height
stop mower and disconnect spark plug
cable.
Carburetor Adjustment
Mi nor car bu re tor ad just ment may be re quired to
com pen sate for dif fer ences in fuel, tem per a ture, al ti -
tude and load. Re fer to the sep a rate en gine man ual
packed with your mower for car
bu
re
tor ad
just
ment
in for ma tion.
LUBRICATION
CAUTION: DISCONNECT SPARK PLUG WIRE
BEFORE SERVICING.
WHEELS
- If your mower is equipped with ball bear -
ing wheels, lu bri cate at least once a sea son with a
light oil, all other types re quire no lu bri ca tion. How -
ever, if the wheels are re
moved for any rea
son,
lu
bri
cate the sur
face of the axle bolt and the in
ner
sur face of the wheel with light au to mo tive oil.
ENGINE
- Fol
low en
gine man
ual for lu
bri
ca
tion in
-
struc tions.
BLADE CON TROL
- Lu bri cate the pivot points on the
blade con
trol han
dle and the brake ca
ble at least
once a sea son with light oil. The blade con trol must
op er ate freely in both di rec tions.
MAINTENANCE
Cutting Blade
WARN
ING: Be sure to dis
con
nect and ground
the spark plug wire be
fore work
ing on the cut
-
ting blade to pre vent ac ci den tal en gine start ing.
Pro tect hands by us ing heavy gloves or a rag to
grasp the cut ting blade.
•
Tip mower as spec i fied in sep a rate en gine man ual. If
it is not spec i fied tip with car bu re tor up.
•
Re move the bolt and blade sup port which holds the
blade and adapter to the en gine crank shaft. Re move
the blade and adapter from the crank
shaft. See Fig ure
13.
WARN ING:
Pe ri od i cally
in spect
the
blade
adapter for cracks, es pe cially if you strike a for -
eign ob ject. Re place when nec es sary.
For best re sults your blade should be sharp. The blade
may be resharpened by re mov ing it and ei ther grind ing
or fil ing the cut ting edge keep ing as close to the orig i -
nal bevel as pos
si
ble.
It is ex
tremely im
por
tant that
each cut ting edge re ceives an equal amount of grind -
ing
to pre
vent an un
bal
anced blade. Im
proper blade
bal ance will re sult in ex ces sive vi bra tion caus ing even -
10
