Toro 74766 - Mower Maintenance; Servicing the Cutting Blades

Mower Maintenance
Servicing the Cutting
Blades
To ensure a superior quality of cut, keep the blades sharp. For
convenient sharpening and replacement, keep extra blades
on hand.
Blade Safety
A worn or damaged blade can break, and a piece of the blade
could be thrown toward you or bystanders, resulting in serious
personal injury or death. Trying to repair a damaged blade
may result in discontinued safety certication of the product.
• Inspect the blades periodically for wear or damage.
• Use care when checking the blades. Wrap the blades or
wear gloves, and use caution when servicing the blades.
Only replace or sharpen the blades; never straighten or
weld them.
• On multi-bladed machines, take care as rotating 1 blade
can cause other blades to rotate.
Before Inspecting or Servicing the
Blades
1. Park the machine on a level surface, disengage
the blade-control switch (PTO), and move the
motion-control levers outward to the PARK position.
2. Shut off the engine, remove the key, and disconnect the
spark-plug wires from the spark plugs.
Inspecting the Blades
Service Interval: Before each use or daily
1. Inspect the cutting edges (Figure 49).
2. If the edges are not sharp or have nicks, remove and
sharpen the blade; refer to Sharpening the Blades (page
41).
3. Inspect the blades, especially in the curved area.
4. If you notice any cracks, wear, or a slot forming in this
area, immediately install a new blade (Figure 49).
g006530
Figure 49
1. Cutting edge 3. Wear/slot forming
2. Curved area 4. Crack
Checking for Bent Blades
Note: The machine must be on a level surface for the
following procedure.
1. Raise the mower deck to the highest height-of-cut
position.
2. While wearing thickly padded gloves, or other adequate
hand protection, slowly rotate the blade to be measure
into a position that allows effective measurement of the
distance between the cutting edge and the level surface
the machine is on (Figure 50).
G014972
1
2
3
g014972
Figure 50
1. Deck 3. Blade
2. Spindle housing
3. Measure from the tip of the blade to the at surface
(Figure 51).
39