Oil Change

Many people believe that 'commercial' operators, i.e., those that use their equipment every day, put their equipment through more strenuous paces than the non-commercial user.

I don't believe that is true.

They run their equipment at wide-open throttle; so does the homeowner.

The difference is that they use the equipment more hours on in a day than the homeowner. But that isn't a bad thing.

In 8 hours of run time, the commercial mower will barely get a chance to cool off. That's basically one thermal cycle. In 8 hours of run time on the homeowner's equipment, it could be four (or more) thermal cycles. Once an engine is up to temperature, very little wear occurs. Also, the homeowner's equipment has enough time between cycles that it "drains dry," that is, the lubricated wear surfaces of the engine have had days to shed their oil coating. That's one of the reasons why the saying "sitting does equipment no good" is true.

cpurvis said:

Many people believe that 'commercial' operators, i.e., those that use their equipment every day, put their equipment through more strenuous paces than the non-commercial user.

I don't believe that is true.

They run their equipment at wide-open throttle; so does the homeowner.

The difference is that they use the equipment more hours on in a day than the homeowner. But that isn't a bad thing.

In 8 hours of run time, the commercial mower will barely get a chance to cool off. That's basically one thermal cycle. In 8 hours of run time on the homeowner's equipment, it could be four (or more) thermal cycles. Once an engine is up to temperature, very little wear occurs. Also, the homeowner's equipment has enough time between cycles that it "drains dry," that is, the lubricated wear surfaces of the engine have had days to shed their oil coating. That's one of the reasons why the saying "sitting does equipment no good" is true.

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I tell you what put 500 or so hours a year on one cutting Pensacola Bahia Grass on a two week cycle and after three or four years of that tell me how it works out for you with a non commercial mower. The engines take a pounding and the rest of the mower takes a pounding a well. Abuse is not a strong enough word for the three I run. Assaulted is more like it.

jekjr said:

I tell you what put 500 or so hours a year on one cutting Pensacola Bahia Grass on a two week cycle and after three or four years of that tell me how it works out for you with a non commercial mower. The engines take a pounding and the rest of the mower takes a pounding a well. Abuse is not a strong enough word for the three I run. Assaulted is more like it.

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jekjr
I run a Husqvarna RZ5424 and have been for 4 years. I put around 400 hours a year on it. I purchased it new in 2007. Mowed my own yard till I started making money with it and just passed it down to my boys to mow their own lawn. 1782 hours and still ticking. Maintenance is what keeps a mower working. I have never replaced a single piece except for the battery tray. It is just a bad design for the work I put it through. Oh and 2 sets of spindles. 1st set I thought the stump was lower and 2nd set I did not see the buried wire.

jekjr said:

I tell you what put 500 or so hours a year on one cutting Pensacola Bahia Grass on a two week cycle and after three or four years of that tell me how it works out for you with a non commercial mower. The engines take a pounding and the rest of the mower takes a pounding a well. Abuse is not a strong enough word for the three I run. Assaulted is more like it.

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No, you missed the whole point.

What I was saying was to compare you and your mower putting on 500 hours a year cutting Pensacola Bahia Grass versus a homeowner with the exact same mower as yours cutting the same Pensacola Bahia Grass putting on 50 hours per year. By the time he gets to 500 hours on his mower, it'll be in worse shape than yours was at 500 hours.

cpurvis said:

No, you missed the whole point.

What I was saying was to compare you and your mower putting on 500 hours a year cutting Pensacola Bahia Grass versus a homeowner with the exact same mower as yours cutting the same Pensacola Bahia Grass putting on 50 hours per year. By the time he gets to 500 hours on his mower, it'll be in worse shape than yours was at 500 hours.

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Only if the home owner does not maintain their mower.
The heat cycles would not be significant unless the home owner's lawn is so small the mower never gets to full operating temperature.

The big difference is most commercial operators swap or sharpen blades daily if not weekly.
Daily they check the oil and Weekly they lube the mower, usually including all of places that need a drop of oil.

OTOH , home owners do not usually cut wet grass, mow in the rain, mow in 100 deg heat or allow their mowers to get wet
They dont drive in up & down loading ramps ( which always seem to catch the deck somewhere ) or leave it sitting in the strong summer sun for hours.
Commercial mowers have 1 speed flat out cause time is money & schedules must be kept.
Commercial mowers have to cut everything to within a line trimmers distance of walls, trees & fences cause they can not afford the time to do an edge run with the trimmer then a wider edge run with the walk behind.
Commercial operators are mowing different laws every day so get caught out with stuff in the grass that they did not see a lot more than home owners so i would agree a commercial mower takes a pounding, they just get looked after better.

Home owners seem to think because they paid $ 10,000 for a mower, they MUST be able to just jump on and mow without even checking the oil
Home owners seem to think "proper maintenance" is filling the fuel tank from a real mower can.

So I just couldn't help it. I asked 16 coworkers if they use a trimmer, then a walk behind, then a rider. Zero do (although a couple don't have lawns). Also, of the few of us who paid in the vicinity of $10,000 for our mowers, all approach preventive maintenance seriously. Not to hijack the post, but maybe things were getting a little out of hand there for a minute.

Sweats said:

So I just couldn't help it. I asked 16 coworkers if they use a trimmer, then a walk behind, then a rider. Zero do (although a couple don't have lawns). Also, of the few of us who paid in the vicinity of $10,000 for our mowers, all approach preventive maintenance seriously. Not to hijack the post, but maybe things were getting a little out of hand there for a minute.

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No arguemants about that.
The commercials get serviced on a monthly basis, I do them overnight for the contractors and we plan replacements before things break down, so spindle bearings get done well before they fail on the job and when spindles get done, the ldlers get done as well.
I am about to go & replace the spindle pulley on a Craftsman 1500 that was not only split in two but the owner had run like that for at least a month and only called me in because the belt finally got shreaded where as I have never replaced a broken belt on a commercial customers mower.

bertsmobile1 said:

No arguemants about that.
The commercials get serviced on a monthly basis, I do them overnight for the contractors and we plan replacements before things break down, so spindle bearings get done well before they fail on the job and when spindles get done, the ldlers get done as well.
I am about to go & replace the spindle pulley on a Craftsman 1500 that was not only split in two but the owner had run like that for at least a month and only called me in because the belt finally got shreaded where as I have never replaced a broken belt on a commercial customers mower.

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For 11 years I’ve used a John Deere x324 at year 8 I started using royal Purple and the mower runs quieter so I keep using it changing once a year and I mow 4 acres a week.

tigercat said:

Oils are a wild subject sometimes!

I don't use synthetic oils because I believe I change my oils and filter often enough (once a year or every 30 - 40 hrs). You see, even basic oil has additives that make the oil protect your engine. So there is to a lesser degree synthetic oil in basic oil. Also, I never scrapped an engine because of an oil related issue.

Now that I said that I will be chased down and beaten up....

But if you like to run synthetic oils in your machine it won't hurt a thing. It may give your engine longer life if you run them harder and longer than I do. If you run synthetic then you can get longer run times between oil change intervals (change you oil every 80 hrs or so).


So if you mow more than I because of where you live, then go synthetic just to extend your oil change intervals. Otherwise, I feel it's not worth the extra money. IMHO.

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tigercat said:

SAE 30 would be a good choice. I run Royal Purple full synthetic. I don't know the amount needed, but I'd guess 2-3 quarts with filter. Add some and check it, add more check it again. Fire it up to fill up the filter, then top it off.
Once you know the level, right it on the wall or something, then next time there is less checking.:smile:

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Contradictory don't you think?

indio51 said:

With my new "Freedom Z" with the Kohler 7000 Series 22 hp (KT725) owners manual says any of the new oils w/detergent even synthetic oil can be used. Has anyone tried synthetic such as Royal Purple? What are your thoughts on this?

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Synthetic motor oil is superior to conventional oil and there is no debate about that from anyone familiar with them both. Synthetic oil offers superior viscosity, wear protection, and fluidity over a range of temperatures, with reduced contaminants. Royal Purple is a good synthetic oil - superior to conventional - but I believe there are better choices. Consider instead Mobil 1, Pennzoil Platinum, or Quaker State Ultimate Durability. Just make certain it's full synthetic, not a blend.

The price differential can be minimal to non-existent. I recently purchased 5 quarts of Pennzoil Ultra Platinum at Walmart for $25. Pennzoil offered a $10 rebate so I only paid $15 or $3 per quart.

Having said all that, use conventional oil during break-in.