Whether you are a landscaper who works on acres of land or you just own a small-sized lawn, your lawn mower needs regular maintenance. For instance, greasing your lawn mower wheels is a pro-tip to making your lawn care companion more efficient – increasing speed, prolonging the durability, and preventing smoke, just to mention a few! As such, greasing helps keep your lawn mower in shape while maintaining its power and smoothness.
Greasing your lawn mower wheels can be a daunting process especially if you are new to lawn care. To keep your lawn mower working smoothly, you need to grease and lubricate its moving parts often. Simply put, greasing is a sure way to prolong the life span of your lawn care equipment. More specifically, greasing lawn mower wheels prevents excessive wear and tear to the wheel.
This ensures that you do not incur the extra cost of having to replace it with a new one. Besides, replacing a worn-out wheel or repairing some of its parts will take time – who doesn’t like saving a few dollars and plenty of time? Luckily, this article has everything you need to be a lawn guru in no time. You’ll get all the information on how to grease your lawn mower wheels.
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How to Grease Lawn Mower Wheels? – Step By Step Guide
Greasing your lawn mower wheels is a crucial aspect of its maintenance. If your lawn mower wheels are dull and rusted, it can lead to a smoky engine. Above all, greasing potentially reduces friction thus facilitating the movement of your lawn mower. Other handy benefits of greasing include preventing the wheels from abrasion and corrosion.
However, before greasing the wheels, you must go through your lawn mower’s manual. Most manufacturers detail vital information regarding lawn mower greasing thus you will get to know the type of grease recommended for your lawn mower model. Alternatively, you can research the user manual online. Generally, the process of greasing your lawn mower wheels is as follows:
1. Removing the Wheel
First thing first, you may need to remove your lawn mower wheels. In this case, you can remove a wheel from a push mower or a riding mower. Whichever your lawn mower type is, you need to be careful during the entire process. Besides, you can use protective wear including hand gloves while working.
Most importantly, start by unplugging the power supply so that your lawn mower does not start unexpectedly and cause an unfortunate accident. Also, when removing the wheel, you’ll need to park your mower on level ground and raise it to the ideal height using a jerk or a strong wooden block.
2. Using a Grease Gun
To use your grease gun, you need to:
- First, unscrew the head of the grease gun by turning it counterclockwise
- Secondly, Pull off the plunger rod
- Next, pull down the release latch to lock the plunger
- Proceed on by pulling the plastic tables off each side of the cartridge and inserting it into the grease gun barrel
- Replace the head of the grease gun and release the latch
- Finally, you can begin the grease flow by pressing the handle gently.
3. Grease the Wheel Bearings
Similarly, the wheel bearings also require periodic greasing to keep your mower efficient. Thankfully, a grease gun makes all the work simple. In short, can apply grease to the internal wheel bearings, if any, using a grease gun. All you need to do is pump in the grease using the grease gun until you see some of it oozing out. At this stage, you can wipe off the excess product and you’re good to go.
Notably, you can grease your lawn mower wheels without removing them. The choice of whether to remove them or not is entirely based on your preference.
To grease your lawn mower wheels without removing them, you’ll need to:
- Park your lawn mower on a straight even ground
- Locate the grease nipple on the wheel
- Insert the end of the grease gun in the wheel’s nipple
- Pump the handle gently to grease your wheel
- Repeat the same procedure for all the other wheels on your lawn mower
Video Guide:
How to Fix Wobbly Lawn Mower Wheels?
After using your lawn mower for a long time, it’s no doubt that the wheels can start becoming wobbly. Unfortunately, a wobbly wheel is a pain in the neck during mowing. For instance, a wobbly wheel on your lawn mower can cause a shake in the handlebars. This leads to unsteady steering making your mower bounce around during mowing. Worse still, it leads to an uneven cut on your lawn.
Thankfully, fixing a wobbly lawn mower wheel is a fast and straightforward process. As such, you can get your machine up and running smoothly in just a few minutes. More importantly, there are a couple of ways to fix wobbly lawn mower wheels.
Tighten the Bolt:
Before you use any method to fix your wobbly lawn mower wheel, you should first ensure that the axel on your wheel is tight enough. A loose axel can cause a wobbly wheel. If the axel is loose, tighten it using the following procedure:
- Remove your lawn mowers spark plug to avoid accidental startups of the equipment
- Locate the loose wheel axel using a socket wrench
- Tighten to fix the wobbly wheel but ensure that you don’t over-tighten.
Using a Spacer:
A cheap way you can use to fix a wobbly lawn mower wheel is by replacing the axel with a spacer. The spacer that you use should be the same size as your bolt.
- Remove your loose axel and take it to the hardware
- Find a spacer that is the same size as your axel
- File the hole where you removed your old wheel axel to remove any rust and make the hole smooth and insert the spacer onto the wheel
- Use a socket wrench to tighten the wheel back
Buying A New Wheel:
In case the wheel or the bearing is entirely damaged and you cannot repair it, then you might need to replace the old wheel with a new one. To replace a new wheel, you need to take off the old one. Make sure that you unplug the spark plug before starting the whole process, this ensures your safety.
How to Keep Grass from Sticking To Lawn Mower Wheels?
When you work on your lawn, grass and other debris tend to stick on the wheels of your lawn mower. Such clumping may not be a cause of alarm at first but with time, the problems start. What’s even worse is when you work on a moist lawn; the grass clumping may prevent your lawn mower from moving as efficiently as it should. As such, it is important to take preventative measures to keep grass from sticking to your lawn mower wheels.
Method 1: Using a Wire Brush
Immediately after mowing, you should use a wire brush to clean the wheels off the grass clumping. Doing so will prevent the grass and debris from accumulating on the wheels. On top of that, you can hose down the wheels.
Method 2: Spray Vegetable Oil
You can either spray vegetable oil on the wheels or use a rag soaked in oil to wipe down the wheels. The vegetable oil acts as a barrier to prevent grass clippings from sticking onto the mower wheels.
Method 3: Apply a Mower Specific Spray
There are convenient sprays that have been designed to prevent grass clippings from accumulating on your lawn mower wheels. You should use the best-suited product for your mower.
How Do You Lubricate Lawn Mower Bearings?
Lubricating the bearings on your lawn mower plays an important role in increasing the life span of your lawn mower. More specifically, lubricating mower bearings reduce friction and in turn prevent wear and tear. On top of that, it also aids in heat dissipation and protects against destructive issues like moisture, and corrosion.
There are different methods that you can use to lubricate; however, there are mainly four known methods that lawn owners use to apply grease and oils to bearings:
- Grease Lubrication
- Oil drip feed lubrication
- Oil force feed lubrication
- Oil splash feed lubrication
How Do You Lubricate A Self-Propelled Lawn Mower?
Using the correct lubrication for your self-propelled lawn mower ensures your machine works efficiently. Moreover, if you regularly lube your mower, it is likely to last longer. To lubricate your self-propelled lawn mower, ensure that you check the mower’s manual or the specific lubricant recommended by the manufacturer.
Conclusion:
Proper greasing of the wheels is necessary for any machine, and your lawn mower is no exception. Overall, greasing the wheels on your mower is a hassle-free task. You’ll only need to get a handful of the necessary tools and equipment. Besides, it takes mere minutes to get the job done. Nevertheless, you should always wear protective clothing and unplug the mower’s spark plug for safety.
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