The Easy Way To Change The Blades On Most Residential Riding Lawn Mowers

Riding lawn mowers can be invaluable tools homeowners, ensuring a clean and healthy-looking lawn or backyard and coming in a wide array of styles and power levels. No matter what lawn mower brand you choose, proper maintenance goes a long way in maintaining both functionality and longevity. Maintenance may differ slightly depending on if your lawn mower is gas-powered or electric, but one universally crucial aspect of lawn mower care is tending to the blade. 

Having a sharp blade is important, as a dull one will only rip up your grass rather than cleanly cutting it, making your yard look rough and uneven. Sharpening your lawn mower blade regularly is a great way to combat this issue, but eventually, you'll have to replace it with a new one. Most experts generally recommend replacing the blade once a year. Thankfully, this doesn't need to be an arduous task, as removing your old blade and replacing it with a new one can be done in just a few minutes by following some simple steps. 

Replacing the blade of your riding lawn mower doesn't need to be super difficult, but it's still important to make sure you approach the process safely and with the proper tools. Once it's time to change out your blade, make sure that your deck is up, the brakes are engaged, the wheels are chocked, and any spark plugs are disconnected. The tools you'll need include a properly-sized socket wrench or breaker bar to remove the nut, and a block of wood or other object to stop the blade from rotating as you loosen it. Additionally, make sure that the new blade you get matches your old one in size and shape so that you know it will fit. If necessary, you can take the old blade to a hardware store to compare directly.

With everything ready, it's time to get started. First, fit the piece of wood under the mower. Position it in a way so that the blade stops on it when it rotates. Attach your socket wrench to the nut and slowly turn it counter clockwise to loosen it up. When the nut is loose enough, you can reach under and remove it by hand. Fit your new blade under the mower and give it a quick hand tightening before finishing it off with your wrench. 

This process can be applied to most major riding lawn mower brands such as Craftsman, Troy Bilt, and John Deere. Nevertheless, be sure to consult your instruction manual beforehand to make any necessary adjustments to the process for your specific lawn mower.