4
•
Never op er ate mower with out proper trail shield, dis -
charge cover, grass catcher, blade con trol han dle or
other safety pro tec tive de vices in place and work ing.
Never op er ate mower with dam aged safety de vices.
Fail ure to do so, can re sult in per sonal in jury.
•
Muf
fler and en
gine be
come hot and can cause a
burn. Do not touch.
•
Only use parts and ac
ces
so
ries made for this ma
-
chine by the man u fac turer. Fail ure to do so can re sult
in per sonal in jury.
•
If sit u a tions oc cur which are not cov ered in this man -
ual, use care and good judg
ment. Call cus
tomer
as
sis
tance for the name of your near
est ser
vic
ing
dealer.
Slope Operation
Slopes are a ma jor fac tor re lated to slip and fall ac ci -
dents which can re sult in se vere in jury. Op er a tion on
slopes re quires ex tra cau tion. If you feel un easy on a
slope, do not mow it. For your safety, use the slope
gauge in
cluded as part of this man
ual to mea
sure
slopes be fore op er at ing this unit on a sloped or hilly
area. If the slope is greater than 15 de grees, do not
mow it.
Do:
•
Mow across the face of slopes; never up and down.
Ex er cise ex treme cau tion when chang ing di rec tion on
slopes.
•
Watch for holes, ruts, rocks, hid
den ob
jects, or
bumps which can cause you to slip or trip. Tall grass
can hide ob sta cles.
•
Al
ways be sure of your foot
ing. A slip and fall can
cause se ri ous per sonal in jury. If you feel you are los -
ing your bal
ance, re
lease the blade con
trol han
dle
im me di ately, and the blade will stop ro tat ing within 3
sec onds.
Do Not:
•
Do not mow near drop-offs, ditches or em bank ments,
you could lose your foot ing or bal ance.
•
Do not mow slopes greater than 15 de
grees as
shown on the slope gauge.
•
Do not mow on wet grass. Un
sta
ble foot
ing could
cause slip ping.
Chil dren
Tragic ac ci dents can oc cur if the op er a tor is not alert
to the pres
ence of chil
dren. Chil
dren are of
ten at
-
tracted to the mower and the mow ing ac tiv ity. They
do not un der
stand the dan gers. Never as sume that
chil dren will re main where you last saw them.
•
Keep chil dren out of the mow ing area and un der the
watch
ful care of a re
spon
si
ble adult other than the
op er a tor.
•
Be alert and turn mower off if a child en ters the area.
•
Be
fore and while mov
ing back
wards, look be
hind
and down for small chil dren.
•
Use ex
treme care when ap
proach
ing blind cor
ners,
door
ways, shrubs, trees, or other ob
jects that may
ob scure your vi sion of a child who may run into the
mower.
•
Keep chil
dren away from hot or run
ning en
gines.
They can suf fer burns from a hot muf fler.
•
Never al low chil dren un der 14 years old to op er ate a
power mower. Chil dren 14 years old and over should
read and un der stand the op er a tion in struc tions and
safety rules in this man ual and should be trained and
su per vised by a par ent.
Ser vice
Safe Han dling Of Gas o line:
•
To avoid per sonal in jury or prop erty dam age use ex -
treme care in han dling gas o line. Gas o line is
ex
tremely flam
ma
ble and the va
pors are ex
plo
sive.
Se ri ous per sonal in jury can oc cur when gas o line is
spilled on your self or your clothes which can ig nite.
•
Wash your skin and change clothes im me di ately.
•
Use only an ap proved gas o line con tainer.
•
Never fill con tain ers in side a ve hi cle or on a truck or
trailer bed with a plas tic liner. Al ways place con tain -
ers on the ground away from your ve
hi
cle be
fore
fill ing.
•
Re
move gas-pow
ered equip
ment from the truck or
trailer and re fuel it on the ground. If this is not pos si -
ble, then re
fuel such equip
ment on a trailer with a
por
ta
ble con
tainer, rather than from a gas
o
line dis
-
penser noz zle.
•
Keep the noz
zle in con
tact with the rim of the fuel
tank or con tainer open ing at all times un til fuel ing is
com plete. Do not use a noz zle lock-open de vice.
•
Ex
tin
guish all cig
a
rettes, ci
gars, pipes and other
sources of ig ni tion.
•
Never fuel ma
chine in
doors be
cause flam
ma
ble va
-
pors will ac cu mu late in the area.
•
Never re move gas cap or add fuel while the en gine is
hot or run ning. Al low en gine to cool at least two min -
utes be fore re fu el ing.
•
Never over fill fuel tank. Fill tank to no more than ½
inch be low bot tom of filler neck to pro vide for fuel ex -
pan sion.
•
Re place gas o line cap and tighten se curely.
•
If gas o line is spilled, wipe it off the en gine and equip -
ment. Move unit to an
other area. Wait 5 min
utes
be fore start ing the en gine.
•
Never store the ma
chine or fuel con
tainer near an
open flame, spark or pi lot light as on a wa ter heater,
space heater, fur nace ,clothes dryer or other gas ap -
pli ances.
•
To re
duce fire haz
ard, keep mower free of grass,
leaves, or other de bris build-up. Clean up oil or fuel
spill age and re move any fuel soaked de bris.
•
Al low a mower to cool at least 5 min utes be fore stor -
ing.
