Self-Propelled Lawn Mowers: Advantages and Disadvantages
What is a Self-Propelled Lawn Mower?
There are many varieties of lawn mower, but there is always one goal in mind: the easy, beautiful maintenance of a lawn or commercial landscape. With simple accessories, some mowers offer us the convenience of blowing snow. Lawn mowers have made a chore that was back-breaking and slow, easier, more efficient, and sometimes enjoyable.
You can categorize mower styles by radius of the wheel, operating procedures, size of mower blades and belts, cutting width and other mechanical differences. The self-propelled lawn mower, however, is in a class and category all by itself. As the name implies, a self-propelled mower is easy to operate and requires little physical effort.
Advantages of the Self-Propelled Lawn Mower
Requires little effort and easy to operate. These two advantages alone make a self-propelled lawn mower worth a serious look. But there is more. The self-propelled lawn mowers are fast with powerful engines. They cut grass cleanly — with close trimming where you want it. For convenience, speed and grass cutting ability, some consider the self-propelled lawn mower models the best choice of all styles.
Drawbacks
There aren’t many disadvantages to the self-propelled lawn mower models. However, there are some drawbacks that might make it impractical for some people. The cost of self-propelled lawn mowers can be prohibitive — both to purchase and maintain. Second, removing the mower deck and other parts can be very difficult and something that requires professional servicing. There have also been complaints of leaking fuel tanks and stripped gears. These are issues that are being addressed by the manufacturers, but still ought to be factored into the decision making process.
Maintenance of a Riding Lawn Mower
What is a Riding Lawn Mower?
Riding lawn mowers are a category of mower designed to make life easier and a lawn or garden more beautiful. With a few easy-to-add accessories, the riding lawn mower can be transformed into a snow blower. Agriculture and forestry depend upon riding lawn mowers to alleviate the backbreaking labor associated with those industries. Riding mowers are easy to operate and yet produce wonderful results quickly and efficiently.
There are many manufacturers of mower decks and parts and each manufacturer offers its own combination of unique features designed to meet the needs of the customer who can choose based on a variety of categories: radius of the wheel, operating procedures, size of mower blades, cutting width of mowing blades and other important mechanical characteristics.
Removing the Lawn Mower Deck
Although it may sound intimidating, removing a lawn mower deck is simple and quick. There are many types of tractors, riding mowers, landscapers, snow throwers and lawn mowers, but fortunately, the deck removal process is pretty standard across function, make and model of the mower. Requiring only a few basic tools, the mower deck can be removed after each season to sharpen the blades. An autumn sharpening means you can mow first thing in the spring with sharp blades and no hassle!
Benefits of Using a Lawn Mower Deck
The riding lawn mower does not only reduce labor work, but acts as a fast and steady source of work. It makes your lawn look beautiful. The only disadvantage of a riding lawn mower is the maintenance, which a lot people fail to do. The maintenance is not very difficult; the only thing is that you should just care for your lawn mower and check it occasionally. It is affordable and comes in various designs that you would like to use and of course it’s less time consuming with good quality work.
Why We Love Our Mowers
Basically, mowers are designed to cut grass and snow throw. Mowers mow our lawns, are responsible for tending our farms, and clear our forests. The invention of the mower has reduced the back breaking labor of beautifying our landscape to easy and efficient work.
There are many kinds of mowers — some of which can be easily converted for other purposes, like snow blowing! There are electric lawn mowers, riding lawn mowers and robotic lawn mowers. There are so many models and varieties of those models that it is possible, with a little research, to find one that fits your needs perfectly!
Makers of Mowers
There are many, many manufacturers of mower decks and accessory parts. Some companies specialize in parts, some specialize in the engines and some do both. Tractors, lawn mowers and other mower styles are built by some big-name companies — some that only produce mowers, some that manufacture all kinds of engine products! Some names are easily recognizable, like Honda, John Deere, Yamaha, Ford, Troy-Bilt and Kubota. Honda is well known for its engine manufacturing in general, whatever the product. Other important names are MTD, Ariens, B&H Manufacturing, Texas, Snapper, Rover Mowers Ltd., LawnBoy, Klippo and Greenfield Motors. This is not a definitive list, but they are important names to consider when making a mower purchase.
Styles of Mowers
Mowers can be subdivided and grouped into many different categories. There are lawn mowers, tractors, riding mowers, bloggers and mulching mowers. Some are reel mowers and others are rotary. Reel mowers are considered superior because of the even, fine quality of the cut grass.
Major manufacturers like Toro and LawnBoy have designed innovative electric cord and cordless mowers, some of which are even powerful enough to mulch! Tractors and mowers come in a wide variety of sizes and model styles so that they are well suited for a variety of purposes.
Types of mowers can also be distinguished by the radius of the wheel, the operating procedure, the size of the mower blades, the width and style of the mower belt, and/or other mechanical parts that aid their usage. It is not necessary to know all the details to find a mower to suit a given need, but it helpful to get familiar with some of these basic categories.
Get the Right Mower for You
It may sound intimidating to choose the perfect mower, but it is actually quite simple to find a good mower and mower deck with the general features needed to do a great job. Whatever the desired use, from the simplest to the most backbreaking, the right mower will make your job easier and give you beautiful results.
The Importance of Lawn Mower Deck
We are bombarded every day with new technology, inventions and incredible advancement in every area of our lives. Our daily lives have become supercharged as computers and cell phones give us instant access all the time. Even something as humble as our lawn mower has changed.
Mowers are safer, faster, cleaner and more adaptable to specialized needs than ever before. We expect our lawn mowers to do more than just a basic rough job of cutting grass; we want them to quickly and uniformly cut the lawn, clear tough patches, maybe even, with an accessory or two, blow our snow! We want to mow our lawns with a minimal of effort and maintenance, but in a maximum of comfort.
The lawn mower deck is one of the most critical parts of a lawn mower. Mower decks have also seen lots of changes over the years — improvements in materials, style and function.
The purpose of the mower deck is to act as a shield to protect the operator from grass and debris and the engine from external damage. Mower decks need to withstand tremendous heat, pressure and damage from the elements. The mower deck must be constructed of the best steel, plastics or aluminum because the load it bears is extreme and rust, cracks and corrosion will shorten the life of the mower and put the operator at risk of injury. The quality of the mower deck is directly related to the quality of the mower as a whole. It is important not to overlook this vital part when you are considering to purchase a mower.
Because it is such an important part, manufacturers have concentrated on improving the mower deck. Innovations such as the wheel horse mower deck fulfill all mower deck requirements and exceed them by promising a great performance in all weather and almost all conditions. Toro builds a mower that uses this mower deck technology.
Make sure you consider all features in the mower you may purchase. Maintenance, customer service, ease of finding replacement parts, user friendliness and cost are all worthy of research. But never, ever forget to study the mower deck. Check to ensure it is the best you can afford and feel satisfied that you have made a good choice!
Lawn Mowers: Reel versus Rotary
A lawn mower is a machine that cuts the grass and, depending on the style, size and options, may also help you do many other lawn and garden tasks. Because lawn mowers can come in so many varieties, it is important that you look at the range of features available as well cost and customer service. Honda, John Deere and Kubota are among the largest, most reliable manufacturers of garden equipment in the world, which makes them always good places to start looking!
Reel and Rotary Mowers
An immediate choice that you will be faced with is whether you prefer a reel or a rotary lawn mower. Reel mowers use a revolving cylinder with blades attached to cut the grass. When a reel mower is propelled forward, either by muscle or engine, the reel turns and rotating blades cut the grass. It is easy to adjust the reel mower to various cutting heights.
Rotary mowers are different. Rotary mowers use a flat, horizontal blade that is actually connected to the engine shaft. The blades, which are bolted underneath the deck, turn with the speed of the engine. The area under the mower deck acts as a vacuum, which lifts the grass to give it a better cut.
There are advantages and disadvantages to using a reel mower and a rotary mower. Reel lawn mowers are capable of cutting a shorter lawn because of the sheering action of the reel. Grass is cut evenly with fine clippings. Reel mowers are often used for serious lawn and turf management like golf courses. Rotary mowers, on the other hand, are often less expensive and very easy to operate. They are excellent for use in yards with high grass and weeds.
Your Options
Most lawn mower styles can come with either a rotary or a reel option. Gas, electric or rotary mowers all give you the choice. Whether you are considering a riding, self-propelled or walk-behind mower, you will have to decide! You need to think about your needs carefully; look at trustworthy brands and begin your research. Look at the grass cutting mechanism first — is a reel mower or rotary mower suitable for your needs? From there, look at the features one by one, look at the cost and look at the maintenance. Be thoughtful in these choices and you will get a lawn mower that is exactly right for you!
Thank Goodness for Riding Lawn Mowers!
Imagine your large yard or field — you look out your window and see grass and weeds, growing taller by the day, and you look at your push mower and you look at your watch. You become overwhelmed at the very thought of the hours and effort cutting that lawn or clearing that garden will consume. It depresses you and you close the curtain, leaving the job for another day.
Thankfully, with the advent of riding mowers, this is no longer the dilemma. Today, we can look out our window, notice the grass is getting a little high and the underbrush is getting a little thick and we can get a little excited about jumping on our riding mower and conquering the weeds in a reasonable time with minimal effort! Today, whole industries have evolved to build mowers and evolved because of mowers.
The 1950s saw the first practical versions of a riding lawn mower for regular household use. Since then, there has been a proliferation of companies, models and accessories spring up to build and enhance our beloved riding mowers. It is not an exaggeration to say that riding lawn mowers have revolutionized not only the agriculture and forestry industries, but most especially, our own relationship to our lawns.
Anyone from a homeowner with a larger than average job to a commercial landscape worker will find riding lawn mowers indispensable to their work. Riding lawn mowers have improved their cutting process and the old “cut and throw” method has been replaced by a more refined “cut and recut” process, so that not only does the riding mower do a speedy job, they do a beautiful job! Also, with a few simple accessories, the riding lawn mower can be easily converted into a snow blower, making it all the more convenient and useful.
The Advantages of Aluminum Mower Decks
Surrounding the blades of a lawn mower is a protective shield called a deck. The deck can be constructed by a variety of materials including steel, virtually indestructible plastic, Xenoy resin or cast aluminum. Steel has the advantage of cost, producing a less expensive mower, but it rusts and corrodes easily, shortening the life of the lawn mower and putting the operator at risk of injury.
Aluminum polycarbonate (cast aluminum) is slightly heavier and more costly than other materials, but it is as durable and strong as steel, and significantly, it does not rust. Generally, aluminum lawn mower decks are more expensive than those made of alternate materials, but they last considerably longer.
Below are examples of models in the mower market that make use of aluminum / cast aluminum in their deck construction.
* The TM-22 and TM-26 are models with aluminum mower decks. These mowers with aluminum mower decks are designed to be rugged and powerful enough to tackle high grass and underbrush, but are practical enough for the average homeowner’s lawn. These push/self propelled high wheel models have an adjustable cutting height, pneumatic or semi-pneumatic 20″ rear wheels and either mulching or side discharge.
* The M-22 mower model with aluminum mower deck may have the Briggs and Stratton 6 HP DP I/C/ or Honda 5 HP engine and the TM-26 may have the Briggs and Stratton 6 HP I/C/ or OHV, 8.5 HP I/C and 10.5 HP I/C/ or Honda 5.5 HP engine.
* The CV-22 mower model with an aluminum mower deck is ideal for trimming and tricky, tight spots. It is another high wheel design mower, but with a high front deck that allows it to plow through high, thick grass without clogging so therefore is ideal for tough overgrowth. It also features pneumatic/semi pneumatic 20″ wheels and has an adjustable cutting height. This mower model with aluminum mower deck may have the Briggs and Stratton 6HP DP I/C/ or Honda 5.5 HP engine.
* Rear discharge bagging mowers use solid cast aluminum in the deck to avoid rust and corrosion. They also feature a three-speed Tuff-Torq gear drive transmission, large 8-inch front, and 9-inch rear wheels, a two-in-one convertible, factory installed bagging system with mulch plug included and a specially designed “Double Wave mulching/bagging blade”. One lever controls the multiple height-of-cut settings, foam handle grips and console with cupholder provide comfort and convenience for the operator and a simple, easy to use 2.5 bushel bag empties effortlessly and efficiently. Handles adjust easily to match the height of the operator to make the task as easy as possible.
General Information About Mowers
Mowers come in a wide variety of styles. There are also plenty of accessories available that can modify or change the use of mowers. Tractors, snow blowers, leaf blowers, baggers — all variations on a theme: convenience! Save yourself labor and time by investing in the right lawn mower for your household and your yard will thank you for it!
Mower Parts
Mowers have many parts that may need to be replaced sometime during the mower’s lifetime. It’s important to become familiar with the parts and accessories that are associated with your mower.
Here is a partial list of important mower parts: mufflers, snow thrower parts, tires, tubes and wheels, trimmers, compressors, engine parts, electrical and welded parts. Other parts include: ball joints, battery parts, bearings and bushings, blades, pulleys, simplicity parts, switches, seats/covers, solenoids, gas caps, manuals, lubricants, blade tools, belts, tractor tires and accessories, paints, safety accessories, ignition coils and battery parts, throttle, carburetors, small engine starters, steering parts and the very important mower deck.
Manufacturers of Mowers and Mower Accessories and Parts
Not all manufacturers build an entire mower; some do parts only. Here is a partial listing of manufacturers that have earned the trust of the industry: Ariens, AYP, Briggs & Stratton, Campbell Hausfeld, Devilbiss, Emglo, Generac, Honda, John Deere, Kawasaki, Kubota, MTD, Simplicity, Snapper, Tecumseh, Murray and Kohler. Although some of the companies manufacture parts only, they are important because they offer replacements and design advancements that improve mowers as a whole.
Customer Service
Always, always pay attention to a manufacturer’s customer service policies when you are thinking about purchasing a mower or any mower accessory or part. Many manufacturers provide excellent service long after the sale by including tune-ups, oil, belt and filter changes, and replacement of certain parts. Some companies can even help you sell your used mower and offer the same kind of service to a new owner, making the mower an excellent investment for either party. It’s important to know how easily you can get replacement parts and whether or not those parts can be interchanged with ones from another company — another convenience issue. Just do your homework and an excellent mower product will be your reward!