This page is the current version of this Gravely Pro-Turn 148 mower safety summary — download the PDF below for the complete document, including the manufacturer's full manual.
Eighteen and over, whatever their experience on other mowers — never let a child operate this machine. One seat, one person: never carry a passenger, least of all a child. Eye and hearing protection every time, closed footwear with grip (never sandals, thongs or bare feet), and no loose clothing or untied long hair.
Not while tired, unwell, or affected by alcohol, medication or other drugs. Daylight or good artificial light only, and stop and shelter if there's lightning about — wet grass costs you grip long before it looks slippery. Anyone else who drives it during your hire reads this and the manual first.
Walk the whole area first and pick up anything a blade can throw — wire, stones, sticks, bottles, hose fittings, toys — and note drop-offs, ditches, dam banks, tree roots, sprinklers and soft ground. Look up as well as down: branches, verandahs, carports and powerlines all need clearance with the roll bar upright.
Check the machine is whole — guards and shields fitted, discharge chute down, decals legible, no grass or debris packed around the engine or muffler, and a parking brake that holds. Test the interlocks from the seat: the engine should start only with the blades off, steering levers in neutral and the parking brake set, and shut down if you get up while the blades are engaged. If a guard, interlock, decal or the roll bar is missing or damaged, email us and we'll come to you — don't start it.
Keep everyone out of the mowing area while the blades are turning — thrown objects leave the discharge side fast enough to injure, so never run the mower without the chute in the operating position and never point the discharge at people, pets, cars or windows. Disengage the blades before crossing gravel or driveways, and avoid mowing in reverse — when you do back up, look down and behind first and keep looking while you move.
Children are drawn to a running mower. Never assume they're where you last saw them — if a child comes into the area, stop the machine rather than working around them.
15° maximum, straight up and down — a zero-turn goes over sideways more easily than it looks, so never cross the face and stay well back from drop-offs, ditches, embankments and dam banks. If you can't back up a slope, don't mow it. Choose a low ground speed before you get on the slope so you never have to change it there, and don't start, stop or turn on the face.
If you lose traction: blades off, straight down the slope, slowly — don't try to turn out of it. If you lose steering control: levers to neutral, brake on, then blades and engine off, staying seated, belted, bar up. Never put a foot down to steady the machine and never jump if it starts to go over. Don't park on a slope; if you have no choice, set the parking brake and chock the wheels, and never release the transmission bypass on a slope.
Bar up, belt on is the normal state and how the machine is delivered — the belt keeps you inside the protected space if it goes over. Lower the bar only for transport or to get under something you can't go around, and go straight back up after; with it down, drive with extra care and stay off slopes, and take the belt off when the bar is down — a belt without the bar holds you in the worst possible place.
Never weld, drill, cut, repair or modify the bar. Check it, its pins and the belt for damage and loose hardware each day, and tell us if anything's wrong.
The deck stays dangerous after shutdown — blades keep spinning after the switch is off, and moving a single blade by hand spins the rest, so keep hands and feet away from the deck, discharge and belts at all times, and treat the deck as live until the key is out and everything has stopped. Clear a blockage only with blades off, engine off, key out, brake on and gloves on — never with the engine running. The muffler and engine stay hot long after shutdown; let it cool before you touch, cover or load it.
Unleaded petrol, E10 at most — higher ethanol blends make the engine run hot and damage it. Engine off and cool before the cap comes off, refuel outdoors on the ground from an approved container with the machine off the trailer, no smoking or flames, and wipe up spills before starting. Clear grass and chaff packed around the muffler and engine during the day, not just at knock-off — that build-up is how mowers start fires.
This machine has a petrol engine and a hot exhaust — don't use it on or near bush, scrub or unimproved land unless the exhaust has a working spark arrester, and check for a Total Fire Ban or Harvest and Vehicle Movement Ban before you start (dfes.wa.gov.au and your local shire).
You hit something solid (shut down and check the blades and deck before you go again — tell us, a bent blade or spindle isn't always visible); it sounds or feels different (new vibration, knocking or rattling means stop now); you smell fuel or see smoke or leaking fluid (shut it down, get clear, don't restart); someone comes into the area (blades and engine off until they've gone); or you're simply not sure — stopping costs five minutes and it is always the right call.
Blades off (PTO disengaged), levers to neutral, park brake set, engine off (throttle to slow), key out — then wait for all movement to stop before you leave the seat. Never leave it running unattended, not for a minute; the key goes with you. Left on site overnight: level ground, brake on, key out, out of reach of children, and never shut in a shed with a water heater, pilot light or other ignition source while there's fuel in the tank.
Fault, damage or a near miss: stop, then email contact@timech.com.au — don't attempt a repair, a workaround or a part swap, maintenance is ours. Rollover, fire or injury: people first, call 000, get everyone clear before you think about the machine, then leave it where it is and tell us what happened.
Nothing towed, fitted or bolted to this machine unless Timech supplied and fitted it, and never jump-start or charge a flat battery yourself — battery gas is explosive and the terminals spark, email us instead. This summary covers the hazards Timech Hire considers most likely on this machine; it is not a complete statement of every warning in the Gravely Operator's Manual, and reading it doesn't make you a trained operator.