Yard-Man 950 series Owner's Manual page 4

tive and may re sult in personal in jury
through con tact with the rotating blade. The
blade con trol han dle must op erate eas ily in
both di rec tions and au to mat i cally re turn to
the dis en gaged po si tion when re leased.
Never operate the mower in wet grass. Al -
•
ways be sure of your footing. A slip and fall
can cause se rious personal in jury. If you feel
you are los ing your foot ing, re lease the
blade con trol han dle im me di ately and the
blade will stop ro tating within three sec onds.
Mow only in daylight or in good ar tificial
•
light. Walk, never run.
Stop the blade when cross ing gravel drives,
•
walks or roads.
If the equip ment should start to vi brate ab -
•
normally, stop the en gine and check
immediately for the cause. Vibration is gen-
erally a warn ing of trou ble.
Shut the en gine off and wait un til the blade
•
comes to a com plete stop be fore removing
the grass catcher or un clogging the chute.
The cut ting blade continues to ro tate for a
few sec onds after the en gine is shut off.
Never place any part of the body in the
blade area un til you are sure the blade has
stopped ro tat ing.
Never op erate mower without proper trail
•
shield, dis charge cover, grass catcher, blade
control han dle or other safety protective de -
vices in place and work ing. Never op erate
mower with dam aged safety de vices. Failure
to do so, can re sult in personal in jury.
Muffler and en gine be come hot and can
•
cause a burn. Do not touch.
Only use parts and ac cessories made for
•
this machine by the man ufacturer. Failure to
do so, can result in personal in jury.
If situations occur which are not covered in
•
this manual, use care and good judg ment.
Con tact your cus tomer sup port de part ment.
SLOPE OP ER A TION
Slopes are a ma jor fac tor re lated to slip and
fall ac cidents which can re sult in se vere in -
jury. Op eration on slopes re quires ex tra
caution. If you feel un easy on a slope, do
not mow it. For your safety, use the slope
gauge in cluded as part of this man ual to
measure slopes be fore op erating this unit on
a sloped or hilly area. If the slope is greater
than 15 de grees, do not mow it.
DO:
Mow across the face of slopes; never up
•
and down. Ex ercise ex treme cau tion when
changing di rection on slopes. Watch for
holes, ruts, bumps, rocks, or other hid den
objects which can cause you to slip or trip.
Tall grass can hide ob stacles. Al ways be
sure of your foot ing. A slip and fall can
cause se rious personal in jury. If you feel you
are losing your balance, re lease the blade
con trol han dle im me di ately, and the blade
will stop ro tating within 3 sec onds.
DO NOT:
Do not mow near drop-offs, ditches or em-
•
bankments, you could lose your foot ing or
bal ance.
Do not mow slopes greater than 15 de grees
•
as shown on the slope gauge.
Do not mow on wet grass. Un stable foot ing
•
could cause slip ping.
CHILDREN
Tragic ac cidents can oc cur if the op erator is
•
not alert to the presence of chil dren. Children
are of ten at tracted to the mower and the
mowing ac tivity. They do not un derstand the
dangers. Never as sume that chil dren will re -
main where you last saw them.
a) Keep chil dren out of the mow ing area
and un der the watch ful care of a re spon-
sible adult other than the operator.
b) Be alert and turn mower off if a child en-
ters the area.
c) Before and while mov ing back wards, look
behind and down for small chil dren.
d) Use ex treme care when ap proaching
blind cor ners, door ways, shrubs, trees, or
other ob jects that may obscure your vi -
sion of a child who may run into the
mower.
e) Keep chil dren away from hot or run ning
engines. They can suf fer burns from a hot
muf fler.
Never al low chil dren un der 14 years old to
•
operate a power mower. Children 14 years
old and over should read and un derstand
the operation in structions and safety rules in
this manual and should be trained and su -
pervised by a par ent.
SERVICE SAFE HAN DLING OF GAS OLINE:
To avoid per sonal in jury or prop erty dam age
•
use ex treme care in handling gasoline. Gas-
oline is ex tremely flammable and the va pors
are ex plo sive. Se ri ous per sonal in jury can
occur when gasoline is spilled on yourself or
4