Extending the life of our mowers..how?

[GarPA]

Just gave the mowers wash and wax jobs yesterday. Aside from paint chips here and there, they are in pretty good shape after a couple years.

Since I've only had commercial equipment for a relatively short time compared to many of you, I was wondering if some of you mower veterans would care to share some other useful maintenance tips that you learned the hard way and wished you had done a better job doing when your machine was newer. (changing oil and filters is a given as well as proper greasing). I;m more interested in things beyond those items that jumped up and bit you and that could have been prevented with a little more TLC. Things like deck maintenance, grease fittings that appear to have been lubed enough, but weren't,etc.. ...thanks much.

[Doc Pete]

NAPA (an others) make larger filters for our mowers. I'm using the same filter on my Kaw's that fit my old GMC truck. It's double the size, which means it holds more oil and has twice the filter area.
Pete

[GarPA]

Now Pete dont laugh when I ask this next stupid question...how do I know how much more oil to put in so as to give it enough for the new filter size, but not so much as to overfill??

[DRM Ventures]

What do these filters cost.....ballpark???

Derek

[J.Gordon]

Originally posted by dmontgomery
What do these filters cost.....ballpark???
Derek

The filters are about the same money if not cheaper. Just get a good brand filter like Wix..

Originally posted by GarPA
Now Pete dont laugh when I ask this next stupid question...how do I know how much more oil to put in so as to give it enough for the new filter size, but not so much as to overfill??

Just check your dipstick. And add if needed.


Originally posted by GarPA
Just gave the mowers wash and wax jobs yesterday. Aside from paint chips here and there, they are in pretty good shape after a couple years.

Since I've only had commercial equipment for a relatively short time compared to many of you, I was wondering if some of you mower veterans would care to share some other useful maintenance tips that you learned the hard way and wished you had done a better job doing when your machine was newer. (changing oil and filters is a given as well as proper greasing). I;m more interested in things beyond those items that jumped up and bit you and that could have been prevented with a little more TLC. Things like deck maintenance, grease fittings that appear to have been lubed enough, but weren't,etc.. ...thanks much.



One thing that I do is drill an extra grease zerk in the spindle for a grease relief. So I don’t overfill my spindles, if the spindles don’t have even one zerk, I will drill and tap two holes. One for a zerk (entry) -one for a relief.(exit) just make sure you remove one zerk before adding grease. Then replace when complete. This way you can get all the old grease out and put fresh in, and not having to worry about over filling. Just make sure if your spindles are maintenance free. The bearings will have a dust cover on them, you need to remove the dust cover facing the inside on the outer bearings, so the grease can get to the bearing.


Another thing that I am going to get is called a filter-minder. It works off vacuum, when your filter gets restricted you can visibly tell when you need to replace your filter. That way you have less chances to get contaminants in your machine.
Hope this helps


Jeff :waving:

[J.Gordon]

By the way I am not a mower veteran. I am just getting into the lawn-care business, but I have worked in industrial maintenance for quite a while.

Jeff

[olderthandirt]

Synthetic oils, & grease, can almost double engine life and parts
Amsoil is great as are others. They work well in trucks also.

Macc

[General Grounds]

:blob3: we wash all equiptment than we have a checklist we go through and replace any damaged or worn parts, we have 12 mowers and we do a really good job during the season fixing any problems during the year so our check up now is pretty minimal. we check this such as battery voltage, belts, pulleys, change oils(engine and hydro) plugs, filters, i even do a leakdown test on older mowers this tells us the internal condition of the motor. this tester is made by kohler and costs about $125.00. we also replace any any bad spindle bearing. we also use amsoil products and they happen to be great. tony

[PLI1]

One thing that I am sure to do along with changing oil, greasing zerks and keeping the machine clean is paying special attention to the air filter. The bigger and better the air filtration system, the better. On filters with the foam pre-cleaner, always clean and soak with oil per manufacturers directions. It's amazing how much dirt they catch as opposed to using dry! I clean and inspect with each oil change and more often when mulching leaves and use during dusty dry periods. Doing this along with everyone elses tips above will greatly increase the life of your machines!

[GarPA]

pl...isn't there now a recommendation from Kawi NOT to oil the prefilter? I think I read or heard that somewhere...I need to go look at the Kawi manuals again...wonder why they say this now, if in fact they have?

[lawnchopper]

AIRFILTERS!!! keep those clean, change the oil and filter aswell as keeping the enging clean make sure your hydro cooler fins are free of debry. Take your backpack blower and blow off the engine and hydro, grease accordingly. sythetics are better

[Barkleymut]

GarPA- yes Kawi now recommends to NOT oil the prefilter. But I can't see why. The oil in the filter will catch more dirt, therefore it must be better. Just make sure the oil is not getting the paper element wet.

Also if you change your oil every 40 hours or so, I'll bet the engines last longer than if you change the oil every 75 or 100 hours.

[PLI1]

I change the oil every 50 hours in my machines, I install hour meters on all machines that don't come with them.

[GarPA]

at the end of last season I went to 50 hours for oil and filter. Anyone know why Kaw would now be saying to not oil the pre-filter? Perhaps it restricts amount of air going thru??

[grass_cuttin_fool]

I agree on the oil change intervals at 50 hours, and change the filter also. I think the john deere I have says to change the oil at 100 hours and the filter at 200 hours, i cant see putting clean oil in a dirty filter, I am a 1 man operation and i would rather spend money on oil and filters than on engine replacements and down time and i change air filters at 100 hours or depending on the mowing conditions

[BCM]

-Jeff Gordon- What Part of Mo are you from?