Four Reasons to Perform Routine Maintenance on Turf Equipment

As a turf maintenance professional, you have a lot of responsibility. Whether you’re getting the field ready for the big game or making sure the course is up to par (pun intended), you depend on the performance of your turf equipment to get the job done. In order for that equipment to be reliable, it needs to be maintained properly, but setting up a maintenance program for your fleet is no easy task. Here’s four reasons why creating a program to perform routine maintenance on turf equipment is more than worth the effort required.

Routine maintenance prevents breakdowns

At the risk of stating the obvious, performing regular maintenance on your turf equipment will greatly reduce unexpected breakdowns. Instead of always reacting to an emergency or crisis, when you have a maintenance plan in place you will be able to schedule downtime for your equipment and have more control over your expenses. According to Toro’s website, most problems in turf equipment develop over time and are preventable via routine maintenance. Performing maintenance tasks like washing, greasing, and oil and filter changes on a regular basis can keep your equipment running smoothly in between overhauls. Keeping good maintenance records for each piece of equipment will also allow you to make sure that you always have the necessary parts on hand.

Routine maintenance extends the life of your equipment

Although maintaining equipment properly can get expensive, it pales in comparison to the costs of replacing a piece of equipment altogether. Performing regular maintenance on your fleet of turf equipment can extend its life by years and save you many thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars. Installing machine guarding to shield critical mechanical parts and deflect liquids, swarf, and abrasives is a good way to protect your machine.

Routine maintenance keeps your turf looking great

Properly maintaining your turf equipment not only helps keep the equipment healthy, it also keeps your turf healthy. For example, mower blades that have become dull through overuse tend to tear the leaf tissue rather than cutting it cleanly. The frayed ends of the leaf can then turn brown and give the turf a tan color for several days after mowing, and also make great entry points for disease organisms. Unexpected breakdowns of vital pieces of equipment, like sprayers and CKS industrial workstations, can even effect the health of your turf. In these situations, you might find yourself in a position where you need to rent equipment while fixing the equipment you own just to keep your turf healthy. As you can imagine, the costs of renting equipment while performing emergency maintenance on your existing equipment will quickly blow your budget out of the water.

Routine maintenance helps the environment

In addition to keeping your small patch of turf healthy, routine maintenance of your equipment helps the environment in general. You’ll get more miles per gallon of gasoline out of better-maintained equipment, and when your machines are running at peak efficiency they’ll cause less air pollution. Given that the average lawn mower emits as much smog-forming pollution as five new cars travelling at 55 mph, even a small reduction in the amount of time your equipment is running helps reduce the carbon footprint of your fleet. In order to help industry professionals come up with a plan to perform routine maintenance on turf equipment, Indianapolis-based Toro distributor Kenney Machinery has created the unique Count On It Method™ that focuses on a comprehensive lifetime ownership approach. This method allows maintenance professionals to focus on preventing downtime and unplanned expenditures rather than dealing with emergencies. To find out how your current maintenance plan compares to the approach we recommend, complete a free Peace of Mind Audit on our website, and a representative from Kenney Machinery will follow up with you to review your results.