Riding Mower Basics

Today most homeowner’s have a riding lawnmower. With today’s lifestyle and larger home lot, the riding lawnmower has become a necessity rather than a luxury.  Common riding lawnmower styles include the rear-engine riding mower, the lawn tractor, the garden tractor, and the ZTR (zero turning radius lawnmower).  Common consumer brands of riding mowers include Murray, Poulan, Weed-eater, MTD, Troybilt, and Yardmachine. Plus, there are many major brand name outdoor power equipment manufacturers such as Toro, John Deere, Simplicity, and Snapper.

Riding Mowers are Getting Bigger

In the eighties, common cutting deck sizes were between 28″ and 42″ with horsepower ratings between 8 and 16. But today the manufacturers have stepped up with common cutting decks between 38″ and 54″ and horsepower ratings from 12.5 to 27 horsepower.

Roughly 60% of today’s mowers have hydrostatic transmissions, while 40% use manual transmissions.

Larger cutting decks require multiple cutting blades. Decks sized 36″, 38″, 40″, and 42″ primarily use two (2) blades. Decks sized 44″, 46″, 48″, 50″, 52″, and 54″ primarily use 3 blades. There are exceptions to these rules so always make sure that you know how many blades your mower’s deck requires.

Mulching Mowers

Many of today’s mower models are “mulching” mowers. Mulching mowers don’t discharge or broadcast the clippings. Mulching mowers have specifically designed and sharpened cutting blades that cut and re-cut the clippings into tiny pieces that fall into the turf and decompose, in effect constantly fertilizing the lawn.

Mulching mowers also require more horsepower for effective operation.

The major disadvantage of mulching is the necessity to mow more often, as mulching is best done when only 1″ of grass is cut at a time. So if you plan to keep your grass at 3″, you will have to cut it each time it grows to 4″. In the southeast if you have good rainfall during the season the grass will grow 1″ every 4 or 5 days.

Selecting the Right Type of Riding Mower

Rear engine riders are primarily for smaller lawns an acre or less. Lawn tractors are generally for lawns larger than an acre.

Garden tractors, while primarily for mowing, are also capable of limited ground engaging chores such as plowing and roto tilling providing you have the proper attachments. Garden tractors are built from much heavier material, with stronger components such as axles, transmissions, and heavier cutting decks. ZTR’s are designed for mowing especially around obstacles like flower beds, trees, and etc.

ZTR’s are designed to turn within their dimensions and mow at a quicker rate than most other mowers. However ZTR’s take some getting used to by the operator, so allow some time to become accustomed to their idiosyncrasies.

Riding Mowers and Mower Safety

Riding lawnmowers have a fairly sophisticated operator safety system.

• There is the seat switch, which insures the operator is firmly seated when the cutting deck or motion drive is operating. In other words, if the mower is traveling or the cutting blades running, getting off the seat kills the engine.
• There are also elements of the safety system that insure the machine’s transmission is firmly in neutral and the blades are shut off before the engine will start or run.
• On many newer model riding mowers the blades will shut off if you put the transmission in reverse.

All these safety switches and circuits are designed to protect the operator. The safety circuit can make it a real pain to try and troubleshoot problems on the mower, but it is a small price to pay to insure the operator’s safety. Ask anyone who has ever had the “pleasure” of wrecking a mower or falling from one, a functional safety circuit is indeed a good thing.