A riding lawn mower is a convenient type of machinery that allows you to easily cut your lawn to perfection. Riding lawn mowers are a desirable technology to have, especially when you have a large field of grass that needs to be trimmed regularly. This tractor-like lawn mower is also an ideal equipment for homeowners. This mechanical lawn mower can cut your lawn effortlessly and make your lawn gorgeous and iridescent in the sunlight when used correctly. So before purchasing one, you need to understand how to use a riding lawn mower.
How to use a riding lawn mower Before Start.
With these easy to follow instructions, you will know how to start a riding lawn mower. In addition to this, these instructions and techniques should help you figure out how to use a riding lawn mower.
Although starting a riding lawn mower may look complicated, it’s actually quite straightforward. All you need to do is follow these basic instructions. Make sure you are familiar with where the choke/throttle control, bypass arm, choke oil level, blade control button, clutch/brake pedal, safety sensors and gear lever is on the riding lawn mower. This information can be found in the manual that you receive with the riding lawn mower.
- Firstly, make sure your bypass arm is in inner position.
- If AWD (all-wheel drive vehicle) there is a bypass arm for each axle.
- When seated the seat switch will be engaged.
- While seated lift the cutting deck.
- After that engage parking brake. If the engine is cold use full choke.
- Put the throttle is mid position.
- When the engine starts, immediately release key. Gradually, disengage choke.
Checking the blades
Inspecting the riding lawn mowers blade before using it, is crucial for a number of reasons. If the riding lawn mowers blade is not correctly installed, the grass won’t cut properly.
Go through the following steps:
Make sure the blades are facing the correct way. Most new blades would indicate which direction the blade should face.
Rotate the blade and find the cutting edge on one end. The cutting edge is the part that is sharpened to a point.
The toned down trailing edge is the bend in the blade. This should point towards the mower deck. Carefully, hold one side of the blade firmly and hold the deck with your other hand. Pull the blade with your hand.
If the blade moves significantly, then it is vital that you attach the blade on to the shaft correctly and tighten the securing bolt with a socket wrench.
Finally, turn the mower back on to its wheels once you know the blade is secure.
How to adjust belt tension?
Firstly, observe underneath the deck of the riding lawn mower. Find the spring and pull it carefully to see how far it stretches. When the spring is stiff it means that the riding lawn mower needs adjusting. Also you need to check the belt to see if it is loose. The belt is where the cable comes down and attaches to mower deck. There is a cable bracket that is where you adjust the cable. Adjusting the belt will tighten the belt.
Follow the following steps so you can adjust the belt tension on riding lawn mower:
- Take engagement lever and disengage the blades by pulling it back towards you so everything underneath is loose and ready to adjust
- Take 10 millimeter wrench and loosen the bolts off
- Pull the bracket away from the spring so towards you
- Pull it back all the way and tighten the bolts back
- Engage the lever again so everything under there is tightened again
- Go back under the deck and check the spring again
- The spring should now be able to stretch further and the belt should be a lot tighter
- Start the riding lawn mower and your blades should engage properly and quicker
- If it doesn’t that means that the belt has worn out too much so that would indicate the time when the belt requires replacing
Important safety precautions
The blades on a riding lawn mower spin at a very high rate so it’s vital that you use a riding lawn mower cautiously. You need to be aware on how to use a riding lawn mower safely. There is nothing to be afraid of when you are using a riding lawn mower but you have to maintain your safety throughout the use so any serious injuries are avoided. Some of the serious dangers of a riding lawn mower is that you can get caught in the equipment moving parts or you can get entangled in the PTO shaft and that can be fatal.
Some things one shouldn’t do when operating a riding lawn mower:
- Wear sandals or tennis shoes that can be easily caught or severed.
- Get distracted
- Operating machinery when one is tired
- Not paying attention to warnings and safety instructions
Some things one should do when operating a riding lawn mower:
- Wear safety glasses and a face shield. This should be worn when there is a possible chance that the face can be hit by debris.
- Wear long pants and sturdy, non-slip boots. This will make sure your feet aren’t exposed.
- Hearing protection, such as muffs or plugs are essential when using a riding lawn mower because overtime one’s hearing can be affected badly when being exposed to loud sounds, (50 to 90 decibels). To avoid this situation, just wear some sort of hearing protection. If you feel any of these affects you will need hearing protection. The effects are: after leaving the noisy area you hear a mild ringing or whooshing sound that goes away after an hour or two or you have to raise your voice significantly to be heard by someone approximately three feet away.
- Concentrating on working safely at all times is necessary when using a riding lawn mower. One shouldn’t give into the temptations of taking short cuts and not checking the blade and machine before use. One should take their time when using the machine. This ensures that you and the people around you are not at risk.
- Read and re-read the instructions and safety manual. In this manual you will be told about the different safety precautions. If it says caution, this implies that you need to be careful so you can avoid getting hurt. However if it says warning, it is a lot more serious and following the instructions are required. Danger is the most serious safety sign. If one doesn’t follow the directions that are provided it can lead to death.
Now that I mentioned all the major safety precautions, it is important that you keep all this information in your mind when you are using a riding lawn mower.
How to stop a riding lawn mower
All modern lawn mowers have a kill switch. The kill switch is very useful when you need to quickly turn the riding lawn mower off. Knowing how to stop a riding lawn mower is necessary when you are using a riding lawn mower.
Another way one can stop a riding lawn mower is by stopping the fuel supply with a throttle.
Conclusion
Now with the help of this simple guide, you should have a clear understanding on how to start a riding lawn mower and how to adjust belt tension on riding lawn mower. Obviously, everyone who owns a riding lawn mower wants their machine to work correctly and efficiently so learning how to do these basic skills are a requirement. The guide on how to adjust the belt tension on riding lawn mower is highly useful as it will save you the trouble and money of getting the belt replaced. This effective skill is essential in keeping the riding lawn mower in good shape for a very long time. In addition to this, you will have beautiful lawn because of this outstanding machinery. Furthermore, this guide provides you with important and simple safety precautions that many of us tend to forget about. After reading all the information in this guide, you will have a full understanding on how to use a riding lawn mower.