DIY

Fixing my lawnmower

Cropped photograph of my Flymo lawnmower

Our lawnmower broke recently and I had to decide whether to buy a new one or try and fix it.

It’s only a basic electric Flymo model – a Glider 350 – so getting a new equivalent wasn’t going to be too expensive if that was my only option.

The main problem with the lawnmower that stopped it from being used was the front roller had broken but there were a couple of other issues that could do with looking at as well – the blade was getting blunt after years of use and the hinge on one side of the grass collection box had broken.

I thought it was going to be difficult to find spares but there’s an official site for them in the UK – https://www.shop.flymo.co.uk/. All you need to do is enter your model number and a list of available spares appears. The website also comes with a handy exploded diagram so you can find the right part and see how it all fits together.

It looked pretty simple and the total value of the parts was cheaper than buying a new mower so I thought I’d give it a go.

Fixing the front roller was pretty straight forward. The metal spindle that went through the roller had corroded and finally snapped.

Close up photo of broken roller spindle

I couldn’t reuse the old roller as the remains of the spindle were stuck inside pretty tightly and I wasn’t going to be able to get it out without damaging the roller.

The new spindle and roller clipped easily into the front of the lawnmower.

Close up photo of new front roller and spindle fitted to lawnmower

The cover to the grass collection box was a little trickier. It suffers from poor design. There’s a tab on the hinge that limits it’s travel but over the years seems to have gotten filled with grass and jammed. This is how the hinge broke in the first place.

Close up photo of broken hinge on grass collection box

I had to use a vacuum cleaner to clean it out before I could fit the new cover in place with a little encouragement.

Close up photo of hinge jammed with grass

The hardest problem I faced was trying to change the blade which is design to be replaced! The mower comes with a plastic tool to remove the blade bolt but it was far too flimsy for the job.

I had to use a plier wrench to get it off and even then this was a little tricky as there’s no way to lock the blade to stop it from rotating and the head of the bolt itself is made of plastic.

After about 20 mins I did eventually manage to fit the new blade.

Photo of new lawnmower blade and tools required to replace it.

With everything repaired I now had a fully working lawnmower. The whole process of identifying the parts and fitting them was relatively simple and I would do it again if I needed to.

It’s also left me with a few extra quid in my pocket.