You’ve got a lot of use out of your old riding mower or push mower over the years. Unfortunately, it has become broken and beyond repair during its use, or perhaps you are just prepared to advance to a more recent model.
You’re undoubtedly curious about what you can do with your lawn mower that no longer works correctly. It may be difficult, inconvenient, and time-consuming to figure out how to dispose of a lawn mower. Luckily, you have several different options. You can try to keep it by installing new blades, give it a tune-up and list it for sale, or even break it down and sell it as spare parts or scrap metal.
How to take care of your old Lawnmower
New lawn mowers can cost a lot of money, which is why most people choose to repair their mowers. If your mower isn’t cutting your grass well, it may just be an issue of dull or chipped blades. Your first step to saving an old lawn mower is to sharpen and balance the blades.
Honing is typically the first thing that pops into mind when considering taking care of a lawn mower’s blade. Still, many people are unaware that sharpening and improving a mower’s blade has something to do with its balancing.
Let’s go into further depth on how to properly balance the blades of a lawn mower which is essential for taking care of your old lawn mower. You are going to require some equipment before you can get started.
Tools and Equipment Needed:
- Sharpening Stone
- Grinder
- Safety eyeglasses
- Gloves
- Steel Brush
- Balancer or Balancing scale
- Wrench
- Blade Holder
Step-by-step instructions
1. Removing the Mower’s blade
Unplug before you start mowing to eliminate any possibility of the lawn mower running by itself without your control. Be sure to detach the wire from the spark plug. The next step is to turn your lawn mower on its side and ensure that the air cleaner and carburetor point upwards. Prevent gasoline and oil from contaminating the filter. The next step is to keep the blade in position while removing the bolt and the blade with your wrench.
2. Cleaning the Mower’s blade
Use your wire brush to thoroughly brush the blade so that any dirt and pieces of rust that have accumulated on the blade surface can be removed. It is essential that this step be taken, as the weight and equilibrium of the blade will be altered if any surplus material is left on it. If the blade appears severely cracked, rusty, or damaged in any other way, it is best to replace it with a new blade.
3. Hanging the Mower’s Blade
At this point, you should take out your balancer and place your blade on top of it. Balancers designed to be placed on workbenches are the most popular type, but there are also balancers designed to be put on walls. In either scenario, you must secure the blade by inserting it through the hole in the device’s center.
4. Examining the Balance of the Blade
After positioning your blade on the balancer, identify whether the side of the blade is lighter or heavier because you will have to adjust that side to balance it. If the blade is positioned precisely where it should be, it is balanced already.
5. Balancing or Keeping the Blade Even
Hone your lawn mower blade using your grinder or any other sharpening tool and eliminate the debris or extra metals from the heavy side. Examine the balance once more and keep working on sharpening or honing your blade until it is perfectly flat on the balancing scale.
How to dispose of your mower
Now that you have learned how to take care of an old lawn mower blade, let’s discuss your options if your mower is beyond repair, or at least beyond your ability or desire to fix it.
Here are the following ideas on how to dispose of a lawn mower:
1. Give Away Your Outdated Mower
If your lawn mower is still in usable condition and not too worn out, you may be able to donate it to a nonprofit cause or to someone who could benefit from it. Some charities will pick up donated materials for a fee, but you’ll almost certainly have to transport them yourself. However, giving away your old lawn mower is far more environmentally friendly than simply discarding it.
2. Scraping of a Lawn Mower
You might be eager to sell the components of the lawn mower to a metal scrap buyer. Parts for lawn mowers sometimes comprise pricey metals like steel and aluminum. Most scrap metal traders purchase mowers and make payments according to the going rate, which might change regularly.
However, if you sell your lawn mower in scrapping instead of breaking it down into its components, pieces, and parts, you won’t get as much cash. So, if you don’t have the time or expertise to disassemble your mower, you could consider selling it to a repairman or mechanic in your local area.
3. Trashing a Lawn Mower
If you are like one of the people who decided to pay someone to cut their lawn, then you may no longer have to use your lawn mower. If you can’t sell it or give it away, then you’ll have to dispose of it. However, not everybody has a way to haul a lawn mower to the city dump. Also, most city trash operations won’t pick up your lawn mower if you place it with your trash on pick-up day. If you can’t haul it away yourself, then your best option is to advertise on Facebook or Craigslist “free if picked up”. You’ll be surprised at how many people pick up used machines and appliances.
4. Recycle and Reuse a Lawn Mower
A lawn mower can be reused and recycled because it has both metal and plastic components in its construction. Some towns will grab your oversized items like a lawn mower for recycling purposes if you ask for them early enough. But in most places, you must bring your machine to a recycling center. If you recycle your old lawn mower, you may protect them from ending up in landfills, which can release toxic substances and chemicals on your property.
However, you may need to prepare to pay the price for the recycling of your lawn mower. Most recycling centers will charge a fee or refuse your mower if you don’t properly prepare it for drop-off. You may need to bring it to a mechanic to have any traces of oil or gas removed before recycling.
6. Sell a Lawn Mower
If you take care of your lawn mower and decide that you want to update it to the latest model, you may be able to trade it in for a reasonable price. Another possibility is that if the lawn mower that you no longer need is still in good operating condition, you might be able to sell it and get some money back on it.
No matter what ideas you take on how to dispose of a lawn mower, you can choose the one that will benefit you and those around you.