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1saxman

The Most Hated Mower Job

1saxman
12 years ago

Scraping off the half-decayed grass residue from the underside of the deck. I'll admit I have put my mowers away for the winter without doing this. So I did it today. Tip: get a pack of the small wood shims from the hardware store or home center. They are perfect for scraping this crud off without harming the deck, be it steel or aluminum. And you can split the shim to get narrower ones for detail work.

Comments (6)

  • wmas1960
    12 years ago

    Good idea. I will remember that.

    Thanks

  • rustyj14
    12 years ago

    Well, when the engine falls thru the deck of your push mower, or self-propelled, from rust, Maybe you will see the wisdom of cleaning it out!
    Last week, a regular customer brought in two push mowers for their spring go-over. One has the flush-out feature that uses water from the garden hose to flush it out. Works great. the other mower doesn't have that feature, and the deck is getting rust seepage in it. It will fall apart soon. I scraped out a couple pounds of dead grass!

  • roadbike
    12 years ago

    Yeah, second that about clean-out plugs. The 1972 Toro I replaced about 7 years ago had one and it worked great. It was well positioned and regular use kept most of the under deck clean.

  • 1saxman
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    'regular use'
    That is the key whether you just use a hose spray under the deck or the cleanout port. I had to do both my mowers, but the alum.-deck LB commercial 22271 was the worst because I have been using that one on the main yard where the grass is thicker this year (mulching), and I've been having to mow about every third day as we've had a great spring grass season so far. A clean deck makes a huge difference! We've had so much pollen and oak tree 'hair' that I've been mostly bagging since doing the cleaning. If you mostly bag or discharge, the build-up is a lot easier to get rid of than with mulching. This spring grass holds a lot of moisture even when it feels dry.

  • rustyj14
    12 years ago

    OHHH!! Golly Gee, such a distasteful job! OOOOHH, you'll never see me getting my hands dirty from cleaning out the mower deck! Such disgusting stuff that gathers under there! OOOOHH. YUCKKK!
    There is a cure for that---don't allow yer dogs to poo in the lawns! Oh, ya might run over an earth-worm, or a bird dropping, but poo is different.
    If ya don't have a dog--well-the other stuff is just dried grass! Soap and water usually takes care of things, if ya get it on yer skin.
    BUT: Buying a new mower every five years is not in my book! Especially caused by rusted decks. A putty knife, and a pair of gardeners gloves are much cheaper than a new mower! OOOHH! RJ

  • 1saxman
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Rusty; you're making yourself look like an idiot with these nonsensical posts.