Maintaining and Cleaning your Lawn Mower Deck

posted on Friday, June 10, 2022 in Articles

Having your lawn mower deck in prime condition is essential to getting a clean, even cut and keeping your lawn looking great. This includes keeping it clear of mud, grass and other debris, while also maintaining sharp blades and a level deck.

If the deck on your lawn tractor is lower on one side, the result can be an uneven cut. Leveling your tractor or mower’s deck on a regular basis will keep your cut even and smooth. It only takes a few minutes and just a couple of common tools to level your lawn tractor deck.

Steps to level your lawn mower deck:

Place your riding mower on level ground for a level measuring foundation.
Safety First
1. Ensure your mower will not move while you’re working near the blades by engaging the parking brake.
2. Place the mower engagement lever in the disengaged position and turn the mower off.
3. Ensure all the blades and moving parts have stopped and disconnect the spark plug wire.
Check the tire pressure. All four all tires need to have the recommended tire pressure to create an even mowing plane.
Rotate blades to the side and measure the height of each side. If the difference of the two sides is close to ? -inch, an adjustment is not needed. If there is more than ? -inch difference, you will need to make an adjustment.
Find the lift link lock nut located in front of the rear wheel on the left side. Each full turn of this lock nut will adjust the height of this side of the mower about 3/16-inch. Turn the adjusting lock nut clockwise to raise the mower and counterclockwise to lower it.
Measure from the blade to the ground again on both sides and adjust until the difference between the blade tip heights are within ? -inch.
Rotate the blades so that their direction is now front to back. Utilize the same measuring process to measure and determine if an adjustment is needed.
To make an adjustment, loosen the jam nut several turns. You can then turn the adjustment nut counterclockwise to loosen and drop the front of the mower or clockwise to tighten and raise the front of the mower.
When your front-back and side-side adjustments are made, you can replace the spark plug wire, turn the ignition key in the switch, and test your mower.

When it comes to cleaning your lawn mower deck, the cleaning process is the same, it’s just a matter of whether you will need a lawn mower lift jack for your tractor or can work with the mower turned over for a walk behind.

Steps for washing your lawn mower deck:

Drain the fuel from your gas tank so that it doesn’t leak when tipping or raising your mower.
Unhook your spark plug connection (Any time you are working on or near your blades, this is a vital safety precaution).
Remove the blades.
Wash the lawnmower deck – you can use a power washer, just don’t overdo it.
Use a putty knife to carefully scrape away any mold, grass or debris that is stuck on the deck.
Wash blades separately with obvious care for the sharp edges.
Reverse back through the steps of connecting the spark plug and adding fuel and you are ready to mow with a clean mower deck.

If you want to own a lawn tractor with a detachable deck, the John Deere lawn tractor series stands above competitors by offering attachments like the patented AutoConnect™ mid-mount mower deck. The innovative design of this John Deere lawn mower deck, compatible with the John Deere 1 Series Sub-Compact Utility tractors, with 54-inch or 60-inch decks to choose from, will make connecting and disconnecting your tractor and mower deck straightforward and easy to do from beginning to end.

Steps for connecting or disconnecting your AutoConnect™ mower deck.

Put your lawn mower on a smooth, flat surface.
If possible, it is recommended to have the deck resting over a rubber mat so that the mower deck doesn’t slide when driving over it.
With the mower on, raise the mower deck, then turn the mower off.
Undue, or lower all 4 gauge wheels.
Lower the mower deck to the install position.
Raise the rear bar bracket at the back of the mower.
Do not do anything to the front hanger bar on the front of the tractor, this will disengage as you drive off the mower deck.
Before backing off the mower deck, set your mower to the low gear range and set your tractor in 4-wheel drive.
Align the outside of your front tire with the green bar at the side of the mower deck – this is your guide bar for keeping your tires in the right alignment for disconnecting or reconnecting and keeps your wheels off the operational parts of the mower deck.
Back up slowly off the mower deck – turn your mower off and store your mower deck.

When it comes time to reconnect the mower deck to your John Deere lawn tractor you will do all these steps in reverse.

Whether riding or using a walk-behind lawn mower, having a level, clean mower deck is one of the keys to an easy, beautiful, clean cut for your lawn. Talk to a Greenmark Equipment turf salesperson to find the right mower for you, or one of our trusted turf service technicians if you need help understanding how to properly maintain your current mower deck.