My 2004 Lawn Boy 10684 (Insight with Tecumseh, Variable Speed) started squeaking and not wanting to turn last season, so having let my so-called 'grass' (weeds) get high, I was forced to work on it. I knew what I had to do, my least-favorite job; pull the rear wheels, clean the wheels, axle bore, spur gear/ratchet drive, grease everything and put back together. If I would do it every year like you're supposed to, I would never have any trouble with it. But no, I let it go until it cries for grease.

Also, I pulled the cover off the bottom of the gearbox for the first time, finding the original graphite-type grease not exactly hard but no longer fluid. The mower was up on its side so I just took my grease gun and pumped the box full, pumped the dished cover plate full and put it back on - using grade 1 Slick 50 Teflon grease. On some mowers with a plastic box and no removable cover, I'll drill a 1/8" hole in the corner of the box with a hand drill, slowly so the cuttings are pulled out by the drill, then pump it full of Sten's grade 00 green grease. The 32 oz. plastic bottle has a pointed spout cap that is perfect for this. Then I put a little O-ring under the washer head of a small self-tapping hex screw and seal the hole - haven't had one fall out yet.

Anyway, the mower then got washed and the air filter vacuumed clean and put back on since I didn't have a new one on hand. Oil from last year is still so clear it's hard to see on the stick but I finally determined it was at the right level. I use stabilizer all the time so I don't do anything special for the fuel when I put it away in the fall. I'm using Castrol HD30 in this one which is an excellent mower oil. BTW, this is my 'second' mower, the one I use for 'dirty work'. The 'yard queen' is a 2007 Lawn Boy 22271 Commercial (Honda 190cc commercial, Variable Speed). I use Castrol 'Edge' 10W-30 Synthetic in this one.