Summer has come and gone, and that means for most of us that mowing season is over. That also means that it is time to lawn mower prep for winter storage. It is important to make sure that your lawn mowers are ready for the long winter months. Most people don’t even realize that lawn mowers are a lot like cars when it comes to upkeep. Improper maintenance can shorten the life of your mower and lead to costly repairs or replacement. Below are some tips provided by MetLife Auto & Home and myself to help you with lawn mower prep for the winter and can save you a lot of money in the future.
DIY Lawn Mower Prep For Winter
The first thing you should do to lawn mower prep for winter is to read the owner’s manual that accompanies the mower. It will have important safety procedures that you should follow as well as specific maintenance information for your mower, such as oil type and belt sizes. Next you should make sure that you have proper ventilation to perform your work. Remember you are working with a gas engine, and running a gas engine indoors is never a good idea. I never ride my mower into the basement when I am finished mowing. I always park it outside and let it cool down for a brief period, then I push it into the basement. It is best to perform the maintenance outdoors.
Next you should disconnect the battery or the spark plug (depending on the type of lawn mower, riding mowers have batteries and plugs, push mowers just have plugs) to prevent accidental starts. Then clean the lawn mower by brushing off any loose grass or leaves built up on the deck, and use a putty knife to scrape away any caked on grass underneath the mowing deck and blades.
Next, lubricate the mower with a manufacturer-recommended lubricant. Any moving parts, such as wheels, should have grease fittings that will accept grease that will keep those parts lubricated. Be sure to hit them, but just a single pump with the grease gun should suffice, not pump until you see grease come rolling out. That can damage the seals. Then change the oil by running the mower first for several minutes to allow the oil to heat up. This makes it easier to drain. Then remove the drain plug and allow all the oil to drain out into a proper catch pan or jug (please be sure to take your old oil to a proper oil recycling center near you).
If you think you can handle it, and if your mower is so equipped, then you should change the oil filter as well. Check your nearest auto parts store for the proper replacement oil filter before removing. Usually, the oil filter and drain plug are located near one another. Be sure to replace the drain plug once all the old oil has drained out, remove the filter with a filter wrench. Before you put on the new filter, take your finger and dip it into the new manufacturer-recommended oil and rub some of the oil on the seal ring on the bottom of the new filter. Then place the new filter hand tight only onto the filter threading. Once tightened, start the mower and watch around the filter for leaks.
The next step is to replace the spark plug. Be sure to check the gap in the plug between the solenoid (that’s the little l-shaped metal piece at the front of the plug) and the electrode (the round part that sticks out from the ceramic part of the plug). If it is not the proper gap, then your mower will not start. A gap gauge is available at any hardware or automotive store, usually for less than a dollar. Then remove the old plug with a socket wrench and thread in the new plug. Next either clean or replace the air filter. If the air filter is extremely dirty, it is time for a new one. If it can be blown out with an air hose and does not seem too dirty, then that is a viable option.
Finally, check the mowing blades for wear. If they have gouges or cracks, it is time to replace them. If they need sharpening, remove them and have them sharpened at a nearby hardware store or lawnmower repair shop. It is also a good idea to hook the battery up to a trickle battery charger to keep it charged through the winter months.
These tips will help keep your lawnmower safe for the winter, but what about your home and car? Accidents are more prone to happen in the winter months, so it’s a good idea to make sure you are properly insured. MetLife offers insurance for both auto and home that can help give you peace of mind.
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To prep for winter, we use the mowers mulcher capabilities to chop up the fall leaves which helps feed the lawn for a healthy start to spring. For the mower, we fill the gas tank – that helps prevent condensation build up and water in the gas while it’s not in use.
we don’t do anything to our lawn to prep for winter. We’ve never had a problem with our lawn in the spring. We do get regular lawn service from Tru Green
We have an end of year check-up on our mowers at the end of mowing season. All blades are checked and all fluids and battery are changed and checked.
I don’t do yard work at all, but I am hoping my husband does this stuff with our mower. I will pass this along to him to make sure he does.
I would think taking care of a lawn year-round would be a great way to prepare it for winter.
Also keeping the family informed about what products are on the lawn would be great.
That’s my husbands department. I’m not quite sure what all he does. I know he cleans it and sharpens the blade.
I’m pretty sure my husband does all of these things. I have no idea, really. I’ll send this on to him, just to be sure.
We haven’t done this yet, but I read about using coffee grounds on the lawn to help nourish it. I’ve done it with plants but never tried it in with the seed.
I haven’t started to prepare our lawn for winter but really should soon. I usually apply a winterizer fertilizer to the lawn and put away hoses and watering systems.
For our final mowing of the season, we take off the bag and set the lawn mower for mulch. That way it leaves the cut grass on the lawn to help protect it from the snow and extreme cold. As for the lawn mower, we drain the gas (and either use it in something else or discard – keeping it stored all winter isn’t the best thing to do). We also do a thorough cleaning of the lawn mower and store it in our garage (we typically put it up on a couple of landscape timbers in the garage to keep it off the floor. Cars bring in snow and ice and when it melts it can make the floor of the garage wet. Keeping the law mower clean and dry helps keep it running for the next year.
Great tips, here in Florida we really do not have to worry about prepping grass for the winter, it’s more or so the farmers with their crops is our issue at times.
I am guessing but I think he just sharpens the blade and that’s it. It may explain why we had to replace the mower recently?!
Coming from New York, we have never used a lawn mower. Is that weird?!
We live in NC and have always used a mower. Maybe we are the weird ones. Who’s to say? 😉
Luckily I rent so we don’t own a lawn mower but my mom on the other hand has a lot of property and I’m sure could use this information! I had no idea how important preparing your lawn mower for winter is!
I hire out my lawn care, but I still have a lot of other winter prep- such as bleeding the faucets and fountains, and putting away all the porch furniture.
Good info. Now if only I had a winter to get it ready for.
I’m pretty sure we have never done any winter prep for our mower. Ooops!
I live in Florida so winter feels like spring. I’m from NY so when people tell me it is cold here in winter I look at them like they are crazy. I’ll be sure to share your tips with my family back in NY, a lot of them have ride on mowers.
We’ll follow these tips for winter garden prepping.
Everything outside is Hubby’s world, lol… not sure if he does any lawn mower prep, but I am totally passing this on to him
Hard to believe that winter is just around the corner.
We had so much snow last year…..I hope we get a lot less this year.
I don’t have any DIY tricks that I do to prepare my lawn mower for winter time. But would love to learn some. Didn’t know that it was really that important.
I never thought about putting away my gardening equipment for the summer, but it does make sense!
These are some great tips. I am hoping to find a house soon so they will definitely come in handy.
Awesome tips. I am just now moving into a region where it gets cold so I definitely will be using these tips.
Great tips! I don’t think we used ours much this past summer. The kids were lazy and now ours is stored in the garage.
These are great tips and honestly not things I would normally think about doing to my mower before winter…but they make sense! Guess I’ll have to start taking better care of my lawn mower!
I like to clean it, change the oil if necessary, and the spark plugs. Just an overall checking of it to make sure it is ready to go in the spring time. Thank for the chance 🙂
You are welcome! Best of luck to you.
I need to share this with my boyfriend. He has a horrible time getting his mower started at the beginning of each season. He’s probably not winterizing it right.
To prepare our lawn mower for the winter, we replace the spark plugs and change the oil so that it’s ready to start back up next year.
What?! We are supposed to prep for winter…no wonder we can’t seem to get things going in the spring! LOL!
I use it til all the gas runs out, and empty out the oil as well so that I can start from scratch the next year.
I don’t do much to prep my lawn or mower. I guess I should start following these tips
I had NO idea that lawn mowers needed winter maintenance (I don’t think my hubby knows that either). I’m sending him a link to this article right NOW!
Great tips! We actually have a tiny yard so we don’t worry about it much. Maybe we should!
My husband sprays it down, checks plugs and he always makes sure its securely covered.
My husband cleans the blades and makes sure its securely covered.
I apply winterizer fertilizer to the lawn and put away watering systems.
I really dont know what is done to the lawnmower. I guess its cleaned and put into the shed
We clean it and remove the battery before parking it for the winter. My husband also puts a large tarp over it while in the shed in the event critters happen to get in there.
I don’t really have any DIY tricks for preparing my lawn mower other than cleaning it really well. I do like to use the lawn mower to grind up some of the leaves that fall on my lawn. I use them as a mulch for some of my more tender perennials. It’s like a blanket to protect from freeze damage.
We have a lawn service cut our lawn. And we have Bug Out that treats our grass, etc. But if we were to do our lawn, I’d try and research things I could do to help – if that makes any sense?
That definitely does. You pay someone to take care of your lawn and it’s still important that they take care of their equipment. Otherwise, if they have to pay for costly, preventable repairs all the time, how can they make money?
We just clean it out well before putting it in the back of the garage for the winter months.
One of our DIY tricks is disconnect eh spark plugs, empty the gas, clean the blades and shapen and oil everything.
Back when I had a lawn, I’d just basically make sure it was cut one last time to the best length. As far as anything more involved, I’d leave that to the pros. As a single woman, I remember choosing my projects carefully!
When we lived in our old house and had a lawn, hubby would run the lawn mower up until it got cold, making sure to chop up the few remaining leaves left from the fall. 🙂
I use a fertilizer in the winter. I really don’t do much else in the cold months.
im not that handy at diy. We clean the lawn mower for winter storage
We generally remove the gasoline, or make sure that there is none left. Also we keep it covered to protect it from the Winter element’s!
My trick is to get someone else to do it for me!
Hahaha! That sounds like quite a good trick!