lines in the lawn

[Lawnboy11]

I have a 48" Lesco hydro and belt drive wb. However I know nobody can get the lines in the lawn perfectly straight but mine are really crocked. I was wondering if anybody had any tips for me too get the lines straighter.

Also on my hydro for some reason during and a few days after I cut with it my left hand gets pins and needles in my fingertips. anybody know what that could be from?


Thanks

[Hawk83]

Me personally, i just pick a point on the mower that you can line up with the grass, like a point of reference, ie: the edge of the engine, front caster,ect.. and just hold it steady, keeping it lined with grass as best you one can. then i just make sure to overlap my passes equally and i have nice, relatively straight stripes. not overly though provoking of a method but it tends to work for me. As for the pins and needle feeling, you might be trying to hold the mower steady too hard in the grip of your hand, which can make the vibration of the machine worse in my opinion. try to loosen your grip a bit, and relax your arm..hope that helps ya some.. good luck, hawk

[Sasquatch52]

I have the exact same mower as you do. But its basically the same with all walk behinds or ztr's. What i do is this. Line up where you want to begin mowing, then look straight across at what is in front of you ( like a tree, or a bush, fence post or anything) and start moving.

Keep your eye on that object and look down occasionally at the grass to make sure nothing is in the way. Continue to walk in a straight line until you reach that certain object. Then turn right around and only overlap maybe 1-2" from the last pass and go back down the opposite way. Thats what is did when i first learned how, but once you get some good practice it is very easy to do.

As for the hurting hands i do not know. You might have a mild case of corpral tunnel or something related to it.

[jgc8fan]

Check your equipment first... I had a problem with my lines with our Exmark 36, and discovered that it was pulling to the right due to tire pressure being low on the right front tire. Also check brake adjusters, and hydro control adjusters too. The mower should drive straight without needing you to nudge it on pavement. It might explain the pins and needles too. My left hand was killing me because I found that I had to keep adjusting my line with the brake. Once I got the mower adjusted to drive perfectly straight on its own both problems went away immediately.

[Shoal]

you might be over compensating. meaning if you try to correct every move you make you could cause a bigger problem than going to the left and right 3 or 4 inches. this may contribute you tingleness and pins feeling. you might be gripping the controls to tight. if your machine is mostly true "meaning it dont veer to the right or left" then let the machine do its works and let it ride through the terrain and try compensating less. just a thought. shoal

[GeorgiaLandscaper]

something that works for me is not to watch the actual mower going across the ground, but pick a spot out in front of the mower, like a spot in the bushes or a tree and go toward it. When you watch the ground in front of the mower you try to correct all the little problems which you don't see. I always tell my workers to never watch the ground in front of the mowers but watch out in front of it.

[ohreallythanks]

pm me so you can send donations for this advice..hahaha..........anyone else pm me as well....i need the $$$.....1) start in the middle of the lawn 2)pick a noticeable object at the end of the lawn in which you are heading 3) head towards the object keeping the mower as straight as possible 4)once you get to the other end look back at your line to see if it is crooked 5) go back up as straight as possible, but make the cut a little deeper than you would so you can have a straight line and work out any crooked areas 6) continue with that half of the yard using your previous "straight" line as your guide 7) now back to the other half of the yard 8) go back to step 4 and repeat process

of course this is not a cookie cut process because sometimes you have trees and other objects in the yard

When there are other objects in front of your stripping....make that your first line and go from there

[Blake]

Mow around & around. Forget about stripping & worry about cutting grass.

[Sasquatch52]

Mow around & around. Forget about stripping & worry about cutting grass.

But, some customers only want stripes.

[crzymoe]

the easiest way to get a straight line is start along something straight, like a sidewalk or driveway. If you dont have that then like everyone else says, pick something out across the lawn and go straight for it. when u get to the other side if your line is a bit crooked, u can fix it on your next path back. from there you should be able to keep if fairly straight.