Lawns Hub

Discount lawn mower parts are not exactly an exact science. There are some clearinghouses where discounted parts are found for almost anything motor-driven. It take some serious searching at Craig list or eBay for such items, but the results can pay off. Needless to say, for items that are cheaper, I recommend walking or driving to your local dealer for the parts you seek, yet, for those out of range, some research can save some money beyond doubt. Its not like discount lawn mower parts grow on trees; but as I say, bargains can indeed be found with some work.

Knowing your part number is huge. Obviously, knowing the brand is as huge, but the number is like a Holy Grail in shortening a search. Most parts are easily accessed via the part number online or at a warehouse. That is the currency of modern inventory control.

Another gold mine can be a place that recycles motors and small engines. These are often referred to as “junkyards”, simply put, and some are far better than others. Lawn mower repair facilities, shops and the like can often have parts lying around they won’t mind selling at all. Providing they don’t have an urgent need for the part, the lure of cash or immediate payment looks large in the motivations of all these places. They can easily reorder the part and have it available for work later, if not necessary immediately.

Well, the jury has returned with its verdict in the constant quest for an easier method of mowing one’s lawn and, as yet, they are not entirely convinced. It’s pretty humorous, the entire thing in a way. Personally, I am convinced it is an issue not of efficiency and not of hoping for some relief to American males with a high degree of love/hate volatility regarding their grass lawns. No, I am totally convinced it is the inner child asking - no, begging - for a new toy! Sitting back with a Bud Light, soaking up sun, our typified man gazes securely out at his robot taking care of the “grass business” as he ponders the more pressing issues of the day. His smugness includes a look over the fence at his beleaguered neighbor, once a competitor in the greenest, lushest lawn competition and now relegated to the commonness of doing his own lawn mowing. It doesn’t get much better than this!

Of course, our hero had to take his dog inside for the task. It does seem that Fido resents this interloping package, strutting around his own turf like some busy little suck up to his Master’s affections. Naturally, he rolled it over and attacked it like the unwelcome cur that it was, biting at the battery pack and catching a nasty cut on his paw while cowing it back to its natural order. Those things bite back! Fido looks out the window, biding his time. His day will come.

Our subject did have to bury a cable around the perimeter of his lawn, in precisely the right places, which took a few days. And he had to bury it for the beds in the middle of his lawn as well, so that the little sensor would catch the drift and not knock down the wife’s daffodils. And, yes, it can take 3 days to mow a 4,500 square foot lawn, with the necessary rebooting of the battery pack after 1,500 square feet or so. He will even grant that the $3,400 price tag (2008) was a bit steep. There is also of course the fact that the little demon-machine needs an absolute absence of curious kids nearby owing to its limb-snaring capacity. Nevertheless, he will soldier on, extremely delighted at breaking the High Tech lawn barrier. Onwards and lawn-wards!

The fact is, items designed to reduce the amounts of walking and actual manual hand work come in other forms as well. You can buy a remote controlled device with a typical gamer’s set of toggle switches, if you are more budget-conscious but still have that high tech urge. Naturally, as always, the unattended machine will draw a crowd, animal- and kid-wise. So it is always best to keep the remote handy and workable. If the battery were to die in the controller, who knows when it would stop? You could always ask your neighbors. They will know.

There is a cute little gas-powered machine currently on the market which actually shows some promise. With gas empowerment, you get more power. It is not that difficult to imagine that we would have sufficient technology to enable this, either. Currently, remote controlled and sometimes even automated large machinery are displayed at construction-related conventions, operating flawlessly in the huge spaces they need. Laser technology for these determines the grade and automated blade-setting placements for such things as bulldozers and large grading machines.

In the realm of the lawnmower, I have seen demonstrations of a fairly beefy little machine which can be operated by hand from a remote setting. Yes, I can actually see some fairly important relevancy here; say for the handicapped for example. It does indeed seem to operate correctly and the cut, as always, is more determined by the sharpness of the blades than anything else. Needless to say, there would be a learning curve but I can see some promise out of this high tech baby.

Currently the costs of the completely automated system look like a wonderful fantasy. In the end, it’s one of those situations where we need to wait until the technology - if there is any demand - takes off and becomes realistic. On the other hand, the hand held remote controlled units do show promise of helping those who might either require it and for those big boys who love their toys. Just watch out for Fido. He’s mad as heck and he’s not going to take this spurning happily!

Cordless electric lawn mowers are the new wave in our energy- and environmentally-friendly times.  They have imminently practical applications for lawns no larger than, say, 1/3 of an acre or less.  Larger lawns might be too stressful on the battery capacities, which are the basis behind the technological improvements allowing them now. Having said that, recharging batteries take hours not days so even larger lawns can be mowed with these new and less polluting, quieter appliances.

Indeed, the noise reduction aspects might just be as important as anything.  There are any number of levels of sound in a metallic machine, from the high whines of inter working metal pistons and rings, to the exhaust sounds emitted during the running.  This bears mentioning, especially inasmuch as hearing loss is an issue with professionals.  Much of that, needless to say, is due to the vast number of gas-powered mechanical implements used in lawn mowing, from weed eaters and mechanical edgers, to the actual mowers themselves.

Needless to say, spent gasoline emissions are non existent as well. Cordless electric lawn mowers offer a 100% reduction in spent gasoline emissions, decidedly less noxious to the environment and certainly healthier for the practitioner who leans into the exhaust constantly, clearing blades or removing clippings from containers.

Cordless electric lawn mowers, to my mind, represent a huge step towards smarter and more socially conscious gardening. This may be a step in progress similar to the introduction of aluminum engines and even hybrid cars to automobiles. It should allow us to keep what were verging on a dinosaur:  our gorgeous green lawn, with all the weather-impacting and oxygenating properties of it.

A lawn mower graveyard can be a sight for sore eyes for the lawn mower enthusiast.  Anyone, in fact, looking to load up on commonly-worn out parts should try and locate one of these modern “jewels”, or at least make a firm mental note on its location and the variety therein.  The fact is, we all know someone with a pile of lawn mowers somewhere.  Lawn mower repairmen are a most certain trade, found in every town with a population over 5,000, I would have to imagine. Certainly, I have encountered many, let me put it that way.

These fellows often collect them, the truth is. They will identify hard-to-locate parts or machines and store them for eventual cannibalization and reuse like a true mechanic will. One can often find piles of spent motors, spent undercarriages, even spent wheels and axles along with an amazing supply of debris-catchers, the lawn mower’s fondest need, inasmuch as these, typically fabric units wear out rapidly with constant use.  Indeed, there are several products of lawn mowing parts which tend to have a one season duration. Then, when Spring rolls around, there we sit, without a catcher and with some 3 weeks to wait while our grass grows and our hopes of getting it on time plummet.

A lawn mower graveyard is a truly marvelous find, if sometimes an oily and greasy mess.  They are not only just museums for spent lawn mowers of out past, but active participants in our futures and our “presents” as well. They can be, but not always are, resources for the truly creative user.

Riding lawn mower parts represent one of the most maddening pursuits of home ownership.  There are endless “almosts” in this category, yet, more maddening still, they are not all universal between brand names.  Debris-catchers, wheels, cords, starters, blades, attachments and engine parts all represent an irritating menagerie of frustration and thus an diabolically evil abuse of the typical American Male!

There are few ready answers to these conundrums, other than to mention that some brand names are more reliable and responsive than others to solving these crises.  Naturally, when one wants to have a mower serviced, he has already waited too long, the story goes, because lawnmower repair people get inundated in early or pre-Spring with guys with lawnmower issues.

My advice as a pro?  Buy a brand name product whose parts would be available when needed.  Do some research locally and find who markets the products and check into how they service the people buying from them.  One needs to know if they have the parts over the counter or not, first.  Then one wants to know how long the typical shipping scenario is.  It would also be handy to ask if any professionals at the business have experience with the items. I strongly recommend this, as one who has paid just a little less for a product only to face exasperation over my own or my repairman’s time lag in getting the necessary parts.

Commercial lawn tractors have revolutionized lawns and gardens for literally everyone. Commercially, they give the ability to mow huge expanses of lawns in a timely manner, for businesses and estates. For the average homeowner, needless to say, they do the same. But for the homeowner, they offer so many more absolutely cool variables to make the place more labor-friendly, thus also making it more able to represent one’s fondest lawn and garden fantasies of beauty and representation.

The attachments available now are legion. Not only is bagging and disposal of clippings easier, but also for those with substantially-sized lawns and gardens, the mere addition of a wagon is noteworthy. Then there are the many attachments: chippers, leaf mulchers, aeration attachments, thatch-removal mechanisms, the list is nearly endless. All these user-friendly items can enhance the traditional hard labor of lawn upkeep by miniaturizing the time frames of these optional tasks when compared to prior eras.

What results by owning a heftier and more capable machine like a commercial lawn tractor is a resulting smaller number of hours spent doing what were once optional chores. Now a desire to dethatch, for example, can be accomplished in 10% of the time and without hiring specialists for the work. The result is, of course, a gorgeous production someone can feel hugely proud of displaying.

Automated lawn mower technology represents a virtual and actually funny Holy Grail for the American Male and his typical slaves: his children. There are actually some now on the market, although the discontinuation of a few lines undoubtedly represents some systemic failure in those units indicating the technology required has either been bad enough to acquire law suits or they have simply not yet found a reliable enough performer when faced with real lawns with real lawn problems.

It’s funny, too, in a way.  You can go to almost any convention dealing with large earth-moving equipment and see fabulous demonstrations of riderless, remote-controlled bulldozers performing perfectly.  Naturally, these demonstrations take place in quality-controlled environments, with ideal soil and working conditions, for example, no rain and soil that has no gigantic impediments..Laser technology has made excavating and grading tons easier, there is no doubting this, in the very practical world where they are abundantly in use now in road grading and site formation. This much is a done deal and represents hope for those lusting for the next wave of excellent remote controlled lawn mowers. And we are legion!

Just the same, when the breaks occur and you start seeing some actually being used, you may then assume the technology has grown up.  As yet, we are close, there’s no doubt about it. As yet, power issues, inclement weather, the current need to bury vast amounts of wire underneath and the constancy of varying lengths of the grass itself add up to a pretty steep learning curve.  It will happen, I have no doubt.  We’ll just need to wait a bit longer for a reliable variant to be m,ass produced at a price we could afford.