How often do you clean your equipment?

[JimLewis]

How often?

[65hoss]

I voted once per week, but that doesn't mean washing. I just blow the machines off. I never wash them. My thought is that if you working why waste the time you could be making money? I don't go into great detail for something that the very next day during hour 1 it will be back the same way again.

I keep maintenance up very very well. I want the machines running. I don't want to waste time having the nicest and newest looking machines in town. Look professional--yes, look like we have to much time on our hands--no. Cleaning to much takes away from the bottom line. I'm all into the bottom line!!!:D

[kutnkru]

Decks on the mowers are scraped down, lubricated, and wahed out daily. I know that its not good they say to wash your equipment every day but the decks must be kept clean to prevent transporting diseases and other fungi from one account to the next. Hours are logged to check for oil changes.

Machines are lubed each morning with a shot or two per serk depending upon locale and function including trimmer heads. Trimmer shafts are cleaned at the end of each day to prevent the buildup of gunk. Back packs and various handheld carb areas get a quick burst of air to help clean off any debris.

The machines all get the air filters blown free of dirt and debris at the end of the day. Once a week exhaust ports are checked for carbon build up with a dowel as well. Linkages are checked and adjusted weekly too on all machines.

The list goes on but these are just some of the basic elemental aspects that I do to keep my investments running smoothly and food on the table for my girls.

Anyone care to add to the list of daily preventative maintenance tasks???

[summitgroundskeeping]

On Sunday after I'm done w/everything else. I love to wash stuff. This spring I'm going to use my pneumatic buffer to wax stuff so dirt and grime come off easier.

[jack D.]

Originally posted by kutnkru

The list goes on

Kutnkru, How do have time for cutting with all that preventative maint.? You have a full time mechanic?
Couple questions: Deck wash daily to prevent disease spreading to other accounts? Wouldn't you have to do that between every job if that is a concern? Do you disinfect? Overkill IMO.
Trimmer shafts cleaned daily? Haven't cleaned a trimmer shaft in 5 yrs. & have no excessive buildup. Trimmer heads greased daily? Sthil, once a season is sometimes overkill.

[1MajorTom]

Actual washing with water is done twice a year. Once in the middle of the season , and then after we are done for the year.

As far as maintenance goes though, Matt maintains them regularly.

Matt's thoughts are the same as 65Hoss.

[cajuncutter]

I basicaly do the same as Major....I am still scratching my head on kutnkru's theory there..huh:rolleyes: I know it is not all that ethical but IF and only IF( i have never had this happen) I spread some sort of grass killing disease then I would profit off of it rather than lose time and money on washing my decks every day.:D :blob1:

[kutnkru]

Originally posted by jack D.
Deck wash daily to prevent disease spreading to other accounts? Wouldn't you have to do that between every job if that is a concern? ,,,, Trimmer shafts cleaned daily? Trimmer heads greased daily?Nope no mechanic.

I suppose when I sit back to think about it ~ It is pointless from the aspect of disease control washing the decks. It does help to prevent clumping by cleaning them regularly because we are mowing more often wet than dry til 10 am in our area. Im also just referring to the undersides of the decks.

The trimmers are older Robins and thats what the dealer said umpteen years back so thats what Ive been doing right along. A shot in the zerk every morning. As far as the shafts are concerned I just wipe them down with a shop rag to get the dust and debris off them.

In all fairness I suppose that some of these compulsive behaviors come from working under the hood with my father for so many years. Not only can I hold the light perfectly still, in the exact spot and my father always commended me on a job well done (Hey stupid!!! I dont know where your lookin at ~ but Im over heer) -LOL!!! And when finished each time all the tools were wiped down and made sure they were clean before I could scrub up or my arsze was history.

Guess my ol man was tougher than most but better than some Im sure.

[David Haggerty]

Appearance is probably the weakest aspect of my entire operation.
As a man in the trade once told me, "People like to deal with people who look successful."

Dave

[jack D.]

LOL Kris, I'm probably on my third cold one by the time you get through that daily maint. routine. How old are those Robins? I usually retire a trimmer after 2-3 years to back-up duty.

[HOMER]

Mine get bathed good once a month, whether they need it or not!

I spray em down with miracle cleaner and start scrubbing. The stainless steel looks new again, the rims are clean, any oil or grease gets knocked off...........gotta have em clean. The decks get blown off every time I'm in a place I can. I'll do it after every yard if there is a convenient place to do it.

I'm of the opinion that if you keep something clean it just runs better and definately looks better. The control levers and deck adjusters get a shot of WD-40 pretty regular too.

I keep my truck washed at least once a week, it never go's longer than 2 weeks..........can't stand a dirty truck.

Does it get me any more business? Probably not..........but it makes me happy.

I see folks all the time that run their equipment til you can't even tell what it is. If it works for them then that's fine. I just think the rest of the machine is in that same condition when I see it that way.

[brucec32]

I think kutnkru is overdoing it a bit, to say the least! When do you have time to mow lawns?

I had a friend in the biz, part time, who was real big on washing his equipment and keeping it all shiny all the time. Then he usually rushed through the actual jobs and they showed it. He was always running late getting to jobs, and losing customers to complaints. Yet he always had time for cleaning his equipment. He lost money for a few years, then got out of the business. Yes, he LOST MONEY working by himself. ha. He was big on looking sharp and professional...big diesel truck he didn't need, big trailer he didn't need, nice mowers, blowers, all the goodies...he just didn't do enough work to make any money. But boy, his mowers looked nice.

Besides blowing off grass clippings, I may wash a mower down in the winter and then once or twice during the mowing season. If they're running well, they don't usually get all greasy. They look about the same 15 minutes later after you start using them again and getting them dirty, so I don't see the point.

I can run a $275 trimmer 2 1/2 years with nearly ZERO maintenance, and even then it's always the carb or a recoil mechanism that fails, so I can't see how super-maintenance and cleaning could ever pay off. At that point I just toss em and buy another. My amortized cost per lawn to buy a string trimmer is 11 cents. I get an average $34/lawn. Why would I bother trying to extend its life? It could never be worth the time I'd spend.

I suppose the idea behind clean equipment is that it impresses customers. Well, I've never had a single comment on my equipment, though none of it is ever trashy, either. Instead, spend your time on the following if you're worried about your image with customers:

1) buy a decent looking truck (not a beater) and wash it once every week or two. People can see your truck a lot better than they can the grease on your trimmer shaft. You'd be surprised, but a more expensive truck will pay for itself because you can now charge a little more and in people's eyes, you're now worth it. Not fair, but true. It just exudes an air of "sucess". Don't go overboard though.

EXAMPLE: The guy who did the tile in my house drove an early 80's rusty El Camino with a 4 year old tag. No way I'd ever have hired him if he hadn't already done my parents' home. Turns out he did a good job, but I almost went with a much higher bid because he looked so unprofessional that I was worried he wouldn't do the job right. He charged $3.25/ft. The other guy was $5.50/ft. He could easily have charged me $5/ft if his truck and attire looked a little sharper. He could drive a Mercedes to work for what his beater truck is costing him in image when bidding jobs. (btw, tilesetters make a killing. Consider it if you are young with a strong back and knees. Even at his low low price he cleared $1200 in three 6 hour work days!)

2) Fix or remove bent or rusty metal on your mower. it looks junky.
3) Use a real landscape trailer, not something homemade that looks like the Beverley Hillbillies sold it to you when it got too junky for them, or the bed of an old pickup you converted to a trailer. At a whopping $1200 and a 15 year lifespan, it's hardly expensive to have a decent trailer. It's also much safer.
4) Invest in a uniform shirt with your company name on it, and some decent work pants or shorts. Not cut off jeans and a tank top. $100 in shirts will bring you ten times that much in added revenue.
5) Don't smoke and mow. It looks ridiculous. You also never know about fuel leaks.
6) Get a shave and a haircut or wear it in a ponytail that's neat. You're not Tommy Lee, despite your amazing drum skills in your basement. And a word to the wise. Wispy 6 inch long scraggly fu mancho beards aren't big money makers. If you can't grow a presentable one, give it up. Also, Tats may impress groupies at parties. They're not so cool to conservative homeowners worried about you being on their property when they aren't there. You see tattoos as a hip lifestyle expression. They'll just see you as a lowlife who deserves to work for rock-bottom wages. Cover em up, unless you want a lifetime subscription to "trailer life magazine" You'll remain poor. Of course none of this applies if you're mowing lawns for rock stars or in hip downtown locations near bars.
7) Finally, ALWAYS show up on time and do a good job. This is worth much more than a clean mower, any day. The hour a week you save on cleanliness may be the hour you need to hit that last job on Friday afternoon.

[Loosestrife]

We like to clean our equipment once a week or so. There are several reasons.

1. during the cleaning process, and when the equipment is clean, it can be more eaisly inspcted for problems. How can you spot a hairline deck crack if the deck is layered with months of crud?

2. Performance. As grease and oil attract dirt, this dirt can work its way into moving parts, or into cooling fins, causing the engine to run hotter than it needs to.

3. Morale. I know that mentally, I prefer using clean equipment over SCSI equipment. Employees feel the same way.

4. Ease of repairs. I know that it is much more pleasurable to repair a clean machine than one that is covered in crud.

We give all of our equipment a very good scrubbing during the off season. We don't go to the extremes of some by waxing it, but we do give it a very thorough cleaning. During the season, we will generally use the power washer on it once a week or so, and perhaps once during the season, if time permitts, we will give it a good scrubbing.

As far as the argument not to clean it because it is just going to get dirty again... Why clean your house, it is just going to get dirty again, better yet, why shower, you are just going to get dirty again???

[LAWNS AND MOWER]

Kutnkru-- How about some pictures of your stuff??????

LAWNS AND MOWER