Keep Grass Off Your Lawn Mower Blades With A Clever WD-40 Hack

Love it or hate it, if you have a lawn, mowing it is a necessary task. Cutting your grass the proper height makes it look nice and tidy, while regular mowing helps control weeds in your yard. But, as most lawn care experts will be quick to tell you, the work doesn't end there. Routine mower maintenance needs to be done in order to keep your lawn machine functioning properly. One of the more critical, albeit often overlooked, tasks to maintaining a mower is cleaning the blades and underneath the mower deck. This typically dirty task can be made much easier with a clever WD-40 hack that lubricates these parts by spraying them.

The process of mowing creates clippings. While there are many ways your lawn can benefit from grass clippings, they can be detrimental to the health of your mower. As anyone who has looked under a mower deck will tell you, grass clippings can build up on the deck and mower blades. Having a layer of grass clippings clinging to these mower parts can cause a number of problems, including clogged discharge, cutting in an uneven manner, and excessive engine strain. Over time, it can also lead to the mower deck and blades prematurely rusting. 

Given these consequences, it's obvious you should clean the grass clippings from your mower deck on a regular basis to maintain peak performance and longevity of the machine. While that task can be somewhat unpleasant, this WD-40 trick can keep grass off your lawn mower blades, as well as making the removal of grass from the mower deck a snap.

One of the best ways to prevent grass build-up under your mower deck and on your blades is to create a non-stick coating or layer. This can be done with a variety of lubricants and even non-stick cooking spray. However, utilizing WD-40 for this task has additional benefits, including inhibiting rust, as well as keeping parts moving smoothly. It also aids in cleaning the various metal and plastic parts under the mower deck.

But, before this protective coating can be applied, the deck and blades must be cleaned. To do this, either drain or remove the gas tank and disconnect the spark plug wire. If you are working on a riding mower, put blocks behind the back tires, engage the parking brake, and raise the front of the mower onto blocks using a lawn mower jack. A push or walk-behind mower can be tilted on its side. Next, rinse the underside of the deck with a water hose. Then, scrape away any remaining grass or debris with a plastic putty knife and/or nylon-bristle brush before rinsing once more. This is a good time to sharpen your mower blades and clean your air filter as well.

Of course, if you have a brand new mower, you can skip the above cleaning steps. Either way, once you have a clean mower deck and sharp blades, spray a liberal dose of WD-40 over all the exposed surfaces. Original Formula WD-40 works well for this task, although some believe WD-40 Silicone Lubricant Spray creates a better non-stick coating. Applying either of these products will keep grass from sticking to the treated areas as well as prevent rusting, which in turn will extend the life of your mower deck and help your mower blades remain sharp.