Looking for a new lawn mower? Struggling with mechanical jargon? Don’t let them confuse you. Look for specifications like torque, size, and horsepower.
And this brings lawn mower buyers to an important question, “what is good torque for a lawn mower?”
Factors like power and torque define how much amount the machine can do in a specific time. Plus, how it performs in tough areas.
Evaluating your lawn, grass, and power needed to mow helps find the best fit for your family and budget.
Moreover, the right mower allows a confident walk in the garden and lawn while doing the job effectively.
What does engine torque mean on a lawn mower?
Do you know how a mower cuts the grass? It does so by rotating and twisting the blades. And the power that these blades need to twist the blades is what we call torque.
In other words, torque is the quantity of power or force that drives the blade rotation. Since torque is the mower’s power source, it’s an essential factor when buying a mower.
However, some lawn mowing jobs need more torque. And, choosing a mower with appropriate torque ensures you have sufficient power to finish the work.
In addition, it also helps improve the lifespan as well as durability of the machine.
Torque vs Horsepower
Torque is a popular term for expressing power for a walk-behind mower. However, for a riding mower, horsepower describes the mowing power.
Although torque and horsepower are a bit different, a higher value of each refers to more force and engine power. Also, both terms have different ratings.
For instance, the usual range of a walk-behind mower’s gross torque falls within 4.50 and 8.75 ft-lbs. However, riding lawn mowers come in the 10.5 to 26 gross horsepower range.
Ft-lbs is a unit of measurement for the amount of force that can produce a 1-foot motion for a 1-pound weight.
Horsepower is measured distinctly due to the combined working of the transmission, wheels, blades, and hydraulics.
Engine Power
To understand the capabilities of a walk-behind lawnmower, you should know its engine size torque. The higher the torque, the better is efficiency for difficult jobs.
Thus, if you need a cleaner cut in difficult terrain, get a higher torque mower. Since the engine generates torque on the mower, higher torque needs bigger engines.
However, if you choose less torque for difficult areas like thick, high grass and hilly terrains, the mower will be prone to faster wear and tear.
Thus, it’s essential to evaluate your lawn and mowing requirements before choosing the engine power for your mower.
What is Good Torque for a Lawn Mower?
Don’t know how to know what torque you require to mow the garden? Consider all the factors from yard size to thickness and height of the grass.
Flat and small yards with regular maintenance need a light-duty machine with a torque range of 4.50 to 5.50 ft-lbs.
On the other hand, big yards with thick and tall grass need a mower with medium to heavy-duty capabilities.
The walk-behind mower for medium-duty jobs is available with a torque range of 6.25 to 6.75 ft-lbs. And, heavy duty machines have 7.00 to 8.75 ft-lbs torque.
Steps to Improve Your Mower’s Torque and Horsepower
By now, you can find your answer to “what is good torque for a lawn mower?” But if you own a machine with a bit lower power, here’s how ways you can tweak it up.
Clean house
This isn’t a trick to make the engine more powerful. Instead, it enables making the best use of what the engine already got.
The more weight you add, the lesser will be the efficiency. Every 100 pounds added can make the engine inefficient by 2%.
What you can do is check the truck to find anything you don’t need and can offload. Removing weight will reduce the engine load and improve the power output.
Get a supercharger or turbo kit
Got a big truck? Why not get it a turbocharger? They love it as it makes them more fuel efficient by boosting air intake by using waste exhaust heat.
An engine becomes more responsive with a turbo kit. You can get kits that boost your truck’s power by up to 200 horsepower more.
Besides, superchargers give various benefits over turbochargers such as zero delay between the intake pressure boost and throttle application.
Engine Tune-up
Every machine can rot faster if not properly taken care of. Thus, your mower also needs regular maintenance for better life and performance.
Although tuning up isn’t a true power booster but it efficiently enhances performance, especially when the truck is suffering.
For instance, when fuel or air filters get clogged, the engine could be starving on what makes it function correctly.
Moreover, an oil change is a vital factor in keeping the engine in shape. And you can notch up responsiveness with synthetic oil.
Install a cold air intake
Installing a cold air intake is a less expensive method to add power to the engine. The stock airbox on the truck is usually restrictive and is there to keep the engine noise low.
However, cooler air being thicker packs in more oxygen. And this can help burn more fuel. This upgrade can result in a horsepower increase by 6-11 and throttle responsiveness.
Aftermarket exhaust system
Need a quick fix for extra horsepower? Get an aftermarket exhaust system. Quietness outranks other features of a factory muffler.
However, you can replace it with an after-market one for enhanced power and a robust sound.
You can gain 20 horsepower with this small trick. However, using aftermarket headers in place of the factory exhaust can also add some power.
Add an engine tuner
Most manufacturers prefer smooth shifting and fuel efficiency instead of generating the maximum horsepower possible.
While they want to keep it quiet, reprogramming can help boost the truck’s horsepower.
Wrap Up – What is Good Torque for a Lawn Mower?
To conclude, every lawn and individual can have different mowing needs. So, the good mower torque depends on your requirements.
However, general specifications start with 4.5 ft-lbs for light-duty jobs and go up to 8.75 ft-lbs for heavy-duty ones.
Check yours to know the exact answer to “what is good torque for a lawn mower?”