Sam Rourke
Sam Rourke is the maintenance & care editor at Mower Mentor. Sam covers the routine, preventive side of mower ownership: oil changes, blade sharpening and balancing, air-filter and spark-plug tune-ups, deck cleaning, fuel care, winterizing and spring start-up, and the by-the-hours maintenance schedules that tie it all together. Sam came to this work through fifteen years of small-engine service, holds Equipment & Engine Training Council (EETC) certification, and has run a Briggs & Stratton and Honda GCV service bench long enough to know which maintenance steps actually matter and which are dealership upsells. Every procedure on the site is one Sam has done on a real machine, photographed step by step, with the torque values and part numbers that the manual buries. Sam's own fleet - a gas walk-behind, a battery mower, and an aging riding mower - is the documented test bed for the maintenance calendar. Sam lives in the US Great Lakes region.
Published work
Articles by Sam Rourke
Maintenance & Seasonal Carecompare-lawn-mower-spark-plug-prices-at-home-depot-lowes-walmart-amazon-and-4-more-stores-same-week-same-3-plug-numbers-with-real-pickup-times
Maintenance & Seasonal CareSet the gap to 0.020-0.030 in (0.5-0.76 mm). Measured gap and size specs for Briggs, Honda, Kohler, Kawasaki and Craftsman engines, plus socket sizes.
Maintenance & Seasonal CareTested 5 lawn mower spark plug testers on 4 engines in spring 2026. See the $6 inline pick that wins, which to skip, and how to use one in 60 seconds.
Maintenance & Seasonal CareCheck the plug, not the mower. Most lawn mower spark plugs take a 5/8-inch (16 mm) or 13/16-inch (21 mm) socket. Size chart by engine, plus 5 tested picks.
Maintenance & Seasonal CareClean a fouled mower spark plug in 10 minutes: wire brush the carbon, solvent the rest, re-gap to .030 in. Plus when the plug is past saving.
Maintenance & Seasonal CareTest a lawn mower spark plug three ways in under 10 minutes: the ground-and-pull spark check, an inline tester, and the ohm test that misleads most owners.
Maintenance & Seasonal CareCompare foam vs paper before you buy: which engines need foam, whether you must oil it, cut-to-size sizing, and how long a foam filter really lasts.
Maintenance & Seasonal CareReplace a lawn mower air filter in 4 minutes. Get the 7-step swap, the orientation photo trick, and the real replace interval for your engine.
Maintenance & Seasonal CareSkip the tune-up: electric mowers have no spark plug, air filter or oil. Here are the 4 jobs that matter, with intervals, costs and a gas-vs-electric table.
Maintenance & Seasonal CareTap the paper cartridge, wash the foam pre-cleaner, and check the oiling rule for your model year. Covers 100, D, E, L, S and X Series riders.
Maintenance & Seasonal CareSwap your John Deere spark plug in 15 minutes: a 5/8″ socket, a .030″ gap, and why V-twin riders have two plugs - plus how often to replace it.
Maintenance & Seasonal CareFind the right John Deere spark plug by model: M78543 (RC12YC), the NGK/Champion cross-reference, the .030 gap, socket size, and why V-twins take two.
Maintenance & Seasonal CareMatch your John Deere riding mower air filter by model: MIU14395 fits most 100-series; GY-series covers L/LA V-twins. Read your tag, pick OEM or aftermarket.
Maintenance & Seasonal CareTune up your John Deere in 5 steps — oil, air, fuel, plug(s), blade. Match the right LG kit to your model and skip the $100–$350 dealer bill.
Maintenance & Seasonal CareMatch the right Craftsman tune-up kit to your 917 model and engine. See genuine vs aftermarket value, what's inside each kit, and where to buy.