Sunday, March 6, 2011

Lawn Mower: An Introduction

A lawn mower is an important equipment to maintain the beauty of the lawn. The mower is mechanized with revolving blades to cut a lawn at an even length to make it good-looking. There are two basic types of the lawn mower. The one that comes with a blade that rotates along a vertical axis is called a rotary mower and the one that employs a blade assembly that rotates around the horizontal axis is known as acylinder or reel mower. Lawn mowers are built with different designs, each made for a particular purpose. Small-sized lawn mowers that are hand-pushed are suitable for small residential lawns and gardens. The larger ones are suitable for large lawns. The largest, multi-gang mowers that are pulled by the tractors are considered for large expanses of grass such as golf courses and municipal parks. It is important to be acquainted with the repairable and replaceable parts of the lawn mower. The manual provided with the lawn mower highlights these as well as outlining components and their attributes.

Rotary and Reel Lawn Mowers

Reel lawn mowers cut the grass with their spinning blades passing over a fixed blade. Rotary lawn mowers cut with a circulating blade underneath a sturdy housing of metal, plastic or fiberglass. Both types are available in gasoline/electric models. Consider a manual reel mower for a lawn that is 1,000 square feet or less and is a soft-bladed type or because you enjoy the exercise.

If you want a power mower, you have two options: reel and rotary. Reel mowers can cut the grass shorter and give a nice clean look. The rotary types on the other hand are generally cheaper and easy to operate. Among the gas and electric types, the gas mowers pollute the environment and are noisy whereas the electric ones are quieter and non-polluting. A cord length of 100 feet should suffice for your lawn. For cordless models, don’t forget to check for how long the battery lasts. As far as push or self-propelled mowers are concerned, the front-propelled types are easy to operate.

In case of a very large lawn, the tractor type is a better option. If you have a mulching mower then you won't be left with bags of clippings as it cuts the grass into tiny bits, and then blows them back down into the lawn, where they turn into fertile compost.

Purchase of Lawn Mower Parts

Online shopping for lawn mower parts is an easier and quicker option than having to visit a local shop and explain to the shop owner the parts you want so they can arrange it for you and charge up the price to you for their service offered to you. In some cases you can do the repair work yourself by replacing the parts. In others, the part provider can assist you with the repair and replacement.

Another way to get the lawn mower parts is to just enter "lawn mower parts" into a search engine and it will whisk you off to websites that offer such products and services. It is always useful to keep particulars of your lawn mower such as maker’s name, model number, and serial number handy while buying lawn mower parts online.

The lawn mowers generally have an engine serial number and body serial number. On most occasions, the manufacturer of the lawn mower is not necessarily the same manufacturer who has manufactured the engine as well.

If you don't know the exact name and information of the part while buying the lawn mower parts online, you must search for a site that has a good view of the part of the mower and its attachment so that you can identify the correct part by viewing it.

Some sites offer universal parts that don't always interchange universally because of a slight mounting difference in the screws or bolts for attachment with a mower.

Shipping charges vary greatly from site to site. Some include a freight charge on top of shipping if the item is over a certain size or weight as in a riding mower deck. This is worth examining closely when ordering.

Realize that when buying lawn mower parts online, the item may need to be exchanged. Some sites allow shipping the incorrect part back at your cost and waiting for it to arrive at their office. Then they will ship the new item and this can take several days for the exchange to occur. The best return policies will let you order the correct item and charge your account for it, then give you credit when they receive the first incorrect item. This tends to save a lot of time and frustration.

The other way to buy a lawn mower part is to visit the shops of the ancillary product and inspect it physically and decide which one suits your requirement and budget. You may find assistance to fit the part in your mower if you don’t have proper knowledge to fit it; however, normally, it does not require much technical skill to fit it.

The main concern is the post purchase service of the part. Be sure to ask the seller as to how they are going to serve in case any sort of problem surfaces in the part after the purchase because lack of service can become an issue for you

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