Mowing Tips - Craftsman 917.388350 Owner's Manual

MOWINGTIPS
• Under certain conditions, such as very tall
grass, it may be necessery to raise the
height of cut to reduce pushing effort and to
keep from overloading the engine and
leaving dumps of grass clippings. It may
also be necessary to reduce ground speed
and/or run the lawn mower over the area a
second time.
• For extremely heavy cutting, reduce the
width of cut by overlapping previously cut
path and mow slowly.
• For better grass bagging and most cutting
conditions, the engine speed should be set
in the fast position.
• Pores in cloth grass catchers can become
filled with dirt and dust with use and
catchers will collect less grass. To prevent
this, regularly hose catcher off with water
and let dry before using.
• Keep top of engine around starter clear
and clean of grass clippings and chaff.
This will help engine air flow and extend
engine life.
MULCHING MOWING'rIPS
IMPORTANT: For best performance, keep
mower housing free of built-up grass and
trash. Clean UNDERSIDE OF MOWER
HOUSING after each use. See "Cleaning"
in MAINTENANCE section of this manual.
• The special mulching blade will recut the
grass clippings many times and reduce
them in size so that as they fall onto the
lawn they will disperse into the grass and
not be noticed. Also, the mulched grass will
biedegrade quickly to provide nutrients for
the lawn. Always mulch with your highest
engine (blade) speed as this will provide
the best reoutting action of the blades.
• Avoid cutting your lawn when it iswet. Wet
grass tends to form clumps and interferes
with the mulching action. The best time to
mow your lawn _the early aftemoon. At
this time the grass has dried and the newly
cut area will not be exposed to the direct
sun.
• For best results, adjust the lawn mower
cutting height so that the lawn mower cuts
• off only the top one-third of the grass
blades, if the lawn is overgrown it will be
necessary to raise the height of cut to
reduce pushing effort and to keep from
overloading the engine and leaving
clumps of mulched grass. For extremely
heavy mulching, reduce your width of cut,
mowslowly andraisetherear of thelawn
mower one wheel adjuster setting higher
than the front.
• Cert,_n types of grass and _ conditions
may require that an area be mulched a
second time to comple_ hide the
ctippings. Whendeinga secondcut,mow
acroas or perpendta.dar to the flint cut path.
• Change your cutting pattem from weak to
weak. Mow north to south one week then
change to east to wast the next weak. This
will help prevent matting and graining of
the lawn.
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