A No Lawnmower Maintenance Life
I confess I believe in a no lawnmower maintenance life. My lawnmower has a hard life and it’s all on me. I think it goes back to my youth when I worked in a rental yard. Let me explain.
We would rent new mowers at the start of the season then sell them off at the end of the season. In between, they got repaired as needed. Most of the repairs were a bent shaft(blade hit a rock or obstacle) or blade sharpening. Now, these things got used for everything including cutting down high weeds in fields as well as mowing. I think the correct technical term is “used and abused”. Most of the time these mowers would go out as soon as they got back into the yard. A quick fill up with gas, an oil level check, a pull on the rope to see if it would start and out it would go again.
Planned Obsolescence
Planned obsolescence is a business strategy in which the obsolescence (the process of becoming obsolete—that is, unfashionable or no longer usable) of a product is planned and built into it from its conception. This is done so that in future the consumer feels a need to purchase new products and services that the manufacturer brings out as replacements for the old ones.
Planned obsolescence from The Economist
When I got my first mower I would change my oil and reoiled the foam air filter. I wanted to extend the life of the motor. I even changed my spark plug. But somewhere along the way, the mower became obsolete. I had to buy another long before it(the motor) needed replacing.
Start of the torture test
My next mower I chose not to change the oil. I did change the spark plug. Same thing obsolete before its time. Something on the mower breaks or wears out. There sits the mower’s motor not used up and its time for a new mower.
This time I went a different way. I bought a commercial mower. This thing is a beast. Heavy duty everything. Even the grass catcher was molded plastic.
I bought this thing in the late 1980’s. The oil has not been changed ever. I make sure the oil level is topped out but that’s it. I blow out the air filter every decade whether it needs it or not. A can of starting fluid is the only thing that I use to help start it. A large squirt and it will usually start on the second or third pull. This mower has endured 3 decades of abuse and is still in service.
Run hours
The mowing season for my home begins in April to early December. You can count on the mower running for my small lawn about twenty minutes once per week. So 20 minutes times 36 weeks. Divide that by 60 minutes then times 30 years. That gets the run hours on that mower at about 360 hours for 30 years.
After such abuse, the motor is still strong. There is no smoke in the exhaust. Smoke in the exhaust indicates that the piston rings need replacing. That oil is getting past the piston rings and burned.
The only thing that has broken on the mower is the plastic handle for the throttle. I left it in the full throttle position. I think I can get to 480 run hours on this mower.
Do I do any maintenance?
Yes, I do. I sharpen the mower’s blade as needed. I lubricate the linkages for changing blade height(need to raise it for summer and lower it for cool weather). That’s the only maintenance this machine receives.
Conclusion
This time I do believe that the mower will last as long as the motor with both of them expiring about the same time. Did I mention that I believe that my mower is obsolete? I see the company that made it is still in business but I don’t see a rotary mower option. No worries here. I’ve lived a no lawnmower maintenance life.
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