OVERHAUL THE LAWN MOWER

Evening Star, Issue 23325, 22 July 1939, Page 21

OVERHAUL THE LAWN MOWER

READY FOR THE FIRST CUTTING Did you put away your lawn mower just as it was after the final cutting of last year, or did you dismantle it for overhaul and get it into good condition ready for the first cutting of 1939? If the machine did not receive this attention, overhaul it now. First clean the machine thoroughly with paraffin, rags, and a brush, preferably of the type used for cleaning car wheels. This can be followed by scraping the rollers to remove caked soil; it is surprising how caked rollers can raise the blades OILING THE GEAR' WHEELS. The drive should bo attended to next,If it is of the gear type, plenty of oil will probably be the only necessity, but any gear wheels with broken teeth should be renewed or they will damage the sound wheels. If a chain is fitted this should be removed for attention. Removal merely necessitates taking out a small bolt in one of the chain-rollers, or detaching a spring link. The chain is best washed in a shallow dish of paraffin to soak off all old oil and dirt which has penetrated the rollers. When more or less free of paraffin it can be put in a bath of warm oil or melted grease and left while the rest of the work is being done. All oil holes or grease nipples should bo cleaned out to make sure they allow the oil or grease to reach the parts which need it.

It will pay to take the machine to pieces as far as possible to examine the bearings. Ball bearings will generally need no attention, but plain bearings made of brass—such as 1 were fitted to machines some years ago—become loose after a time. They can be taken up by carefully filing the fiat faces of the bearings, keeping the file perfectly horizontal during the process. _lf loose bearings are allowed to persist, rapid wear will follow. AN IMPORTANT PART OP THE MOWER. .

The important part of the machine—* the cutting mechanism —can be attended to next. The bottom plate must have a fairly sharp and even edge. If it is badly chipped, remove it and have it ground. The machine can be turned upside down while adjustment to the blades is done. Screw the bolts which control the height of the cutting cylinder, up or down, until each blade only just touches the bottom plate all along its length. Test for correct adjustment by cutting a piece of paper while turning the blades slowly. If it is cut cleanly, everything is right, but if it does not cut readily either the adjustment is incorrect or the blades need regrinding. The chain can now be put back. Take care not to have it too tight. Tension can usually be altered by moving the back roller backwards or forwards. The above advice applies to roller-driven machines, but the procedure is applioable to side-wheel mowers.