How to fix the cable of a Self-Propelled Lawn Mower?

The cable of a self-propelled lawn mower can sometimes come off or get stuck.

Isn’t it annoying to find your lawn mower stuck in the middle of the work? Or, having it not start at all. It is such a waste of time especially considering lawn mowing is such a boring job.

Self-propelled lawn mowers have these mechanical problems all the time. It could be a cable, a wheel not working properly, the belt coming off, the transmission not starting, it is always something.

Anyway, we have gathered a step by step guide for you. This guide will help you fix the cable of your self-propelled lawn mower in no time.

Required Tools for this action

In order to fix your self-propelled lawn mower, you will need these tools. We have made a list for you to check. You can follow our steps once you have gathered all the tools here. This will make your job much easier.

Tools required for this job:

Work Gloves

You don’t need work gloves, but they will make your job so much easy. You will be able to finish your work with a minimal mess on your body. You could try Mechanix Wear Covert Tactical Work Gloves for quick but greasy work.

Plastic Sandwich Bag

We are recommending this item so that you can collect any waste that comes out of your lawn mower while you clean it and repair it. You will probably need it to collect exhaust oil or gasoline.

Wire Cutter

You will be needing this item to cut wires. This will be one of the main tools. If you don’t have any wire cutters, we suggest you get yourself one of Klein tools wire cutters and wire stripper.

Lawn Mower Wires

Of course, you will need lawn mower wires. This blog is all about fixing them. So get yourself some lawn mower cables. These Oregon Control Cables, Stens Throttle Control Cable, and Murray Engine Stop Cable should do the trick.

Small Needle Nose Pliers

In any kind of job where we need to open solid mechanical parts, we will always need pliers. And again we will suggest you another product. Try the SE Mini 6 inch Needle Nose Pliers.

Nut Driver Set

And the final piece of our job, a set of nut drivers. We suggest you take Dewalt Screwdriver Bit and Nut Driver Set if you don’t already have a driver set.

Alright, if you have all of these, then we can start our cable fixing process. Just look at the next section.

Steps to fixing a Self-propelled Lawn Mower Cable

Alright, follow these steps to fix your self-propelled lawn mower.

Step1 Unplug the power

Unplug the spark plug of your self-propelled lawn mower. This will disconnect the power source from your self-propelled lawn mower.

Step 2 Remove the cable

You will find a cable clip on the mower handle which you will need to pivot up. It will remove the cable from the mower handle. There is also a bail control bar that you need to release.

You will also have to find the drive control lever and release the drive cable attached to it. You can do that by pressing the release tap near it. You should now be able to pull out the zone control clip of the driver cable.

Now, it’s time to secure the cable. To do this, you will need to cut the cable ties attached to the mower handle.

Step 3 Open the drive covers

First, locate the fuel tank and remove its top.

Grab your plastic sandwich bag and put it on top of the fuel tank. Put it in such a way that its opening is covering the mouth of the tank. This will prevent any kind of leakage of gasoline or fuel.

Now, tilt the mower and lift the front wheels of the lawn mower. Lift it just high enough to remove the bottom mounting screws. This will open the bottom drive cover.

Now, simply release the handle of the mower. Lower the mower very carefully keeping the upright posture.

Next, remove the top drive cover screws. You might find a height adjustment lever there depending on your mower brand. Release the lever and the drive cover should come off with a little pull.

Step 4 Remove the drive cable

You need to remove the drive cable now. For this, you will need to focus on the anchor post. Here you will find the end of the cable and you can easily remove it from here.

Now press the release tab. It will allow you to pull the drive cable sheath. It will be easy for you to remove the whole cable this way.

Step 5 Connection the new cable

Alright, now it’s time to get the new cables and replace the old ones. 

This should be easy for you. Just attach the new cables where the old ones were. Yes you might need more than one cable

Step 6 put them all together

Put everything back together.

The drive systems first and then the outer sheaths. Once done, all is left to do is connect the spark plug and start the lawn mower.

If you have got everything right, your lawn mower should start normally.

And there you go, that’s how you fix the cable of a self-propelled lawn mower. If you want to know how to fix the wheel of a self-propelled lawn mower check out our other blog.

F.A.Q.s

Why did my self-propelled mower stop propelling?

There are a lot of reasons as to why a self-propelled lawn mower could stop working. The most common reason is the wearing out of the V-belt. The V-belt is the only thing that pulls the wheels from the power of the transmission.

How do you fix a lawn mower cable?

To fix a lawn mower cable all you have to do is take the lawn mower handle and insert the cable through the hole of the handle. This will attach the lawnmower handle with the cable.

How do you fix a throttle cable on a lawn mower?

Simply replace the cable housings and then thread the cable back in. Then attach the cable housing to the throttle handle.

How much does it cost to fix a self-propelled lawn mower?

The average self-propelled lawn mower repair cost should be within $40 to $100.

Final thought

Did you follow our guide?

Got your problem fixed?

Well, we hope your problem is solved. Self-propelled lawn mowers most of the time have some sort of issue. As the machine gets older new problems to emerge.

These mechanical problems are mostly visible on gas powered lawn mowers. The electric ones are a bit hassle-free. Still, they have to be taken to a mechanic sometimes.

This is the reason why self-propelled lawn mowers have so much cost. This is also the reason why people are not willing to buy a self-propelled lawn mower.

But that is where we come in to give you easy solutions to these kinds of problems. We hope to encourage you to solve these problems by yourself to reduce the cost.Anyway, we hope our how to fix the cable of a self-propelled lawn mower was helpful.