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How To Tighten Your Lawnmower Blades

How To Tighten Your Lawnmower Blades

Using your lawnmower to cut the grass in your yard must be a very tiring job. But it definitely becomes a harder task when the blades on your lawnmower are not fitted tightly. This means you will have to mow extra rounds on the yard sections since the loose blades will not mow the grass efficiently.

This is why you need to know how to tighten your lawnmower blades. You might not notice the problem at first, but when you do realize the lawn mowing isn’t going well, then you will eventually check out what’s wrong with the blades.

To help you out, here, we’ll teach you the process of tightening lawnmower blades properly.

How To Tighten Your Lawnmower Blades

How To Tighten Your Lawnmower Blades

There are different kinds of lawnmowers. Some of them are manual, which you have to use by walking with it while the mower rolls on the grass and trims it. And then there are the lawnmower machines that are like mini tractors. You basically just sit on it and steer it to wherever you want your grass trimmed.

No matter what kind of lawnmower model you are dealing with, they all have blades, and these blades need to be checked on from time to time. Blades can get old, rusty or loose. If you maintain your blades well, then you will not need to buy new blades or replace your lawnmower every single time the mower stops working.

Lawnmower blades becoming loose is one of the most common problems. It can happen when you first purchase it, or when you install new blades. The quickest way to notice this problem is when your mower makes rattling sounds when you are running it. Below are some steps that will help you know how you can tighten lawnmower blades all by yourself:

Step 1: Preparing The Lawnmower

Preparing The Lawnmower

The first thing you need to do is unplug the lawnmower. This applies to the electronically driven ones. There will be a spark plug on the lawnmower. You can take off the plug with a spark plug wrench. This way, you can get rid of any accidents that can occur if the mower starts up on its own.

Once the power source for the mower is completely gone, you can move on to removing the gas out of the mower’s tank. There are two ways you can do this. You can either siphon out the gas into a can, bottle or any other container, close it and keep it away for now; or you can run the mower on the grass until it runs out of gas. The latter method will obviously have to be done before you disconnect the mower completely.

Step 2: Positioning The Mower

Positioning The Mower

Now you need to carefully turn the lawnmower over. You can ask a friend to help you with this if you are worried about the sudden weight shifting when you are trying to turn it. But lawnmowers are pretty small and are not that heavy, so it is still possible for you to handle it alone.

Turn the mower onto its side and place a wooden plank or wooden block between the blades and the deck of the lawnmower. Since blades will rotate naturally, this wooden plank or board will prevent it from moving when you are working on it.

Step 3: Adjusting The Blades

Adjusting The Blades

You will need an adjustable torque wrench for this step. Once you have your torque wrench, choose the right sized torque. Read the article by Torquewrenchcenter blog for detailed instructions on getting the right torque.

Now, there will be bolts holding the mower blades to the shaft of the engine. For this step, you need to make sure you have thick leather gloves on. Because you will need to insert your hand into any narrow opening to get to the bolts since the blades are sharp, you could get cut when making these adjustments.

Once you manage to get your torque wrench onto the bolt attachments, you need to begin turning the wrench clockwise. Make a few turns until the bolt won’t tighten anymore.

Carefully move your hand out of the engine area and remove the wooden plank as well. Rotate the blades and try pushing and pulling them around the center to see if the bolt has actually tightened the blades into place. If you have turned the bolt to its tightest point, then most likely, your blades will be tightened perfectly.

You can then fit everything back into place, along with any gas you took out. Settle the lawnmower back on the ground and try running it to see if any sounds can be heard. You can also do a trial run on the lawn grass and see if the blades are trimming as they should.

Final Words

The steps above might need you to put in some efforts, but understanding how to tighten your lawnmower blades is pretty simple now. You will never need to call any repairman to fix any issues regarding your lawn mower’s loose blades ever again because now you know how to do it yourself.

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