How to Pack and Move Lawn Equipment

Professional movers are bound by FMCSA regulations that prohibit transporting hazardous materials, and gasoline qualifies. An enclosed moving truck in summer heat can reach internal temperatures well above 100°F. Gasoline expands with heat and creates vapor pressure – a small leak from an improperly sealed tank or fuel line becomes a serious fire risk in a sealed truck cabin full of furniture.

This isn’t a technicality that movers enforce inconsistently. Most legitimate moving companies will refuse to load any equipment with fuel present, and some inspect mowers before loading. If they miss it and something happens in transit, your claims coverage is voided.

The simplest method: run the mower until it runs out of fuel. Start it in your yard and let it idle until the engine sputters and stops. This uses the gas productively rather than disposing of it, and leaves the tank with the minimum residual fuel possible.

If you don’t want to run it dry, siphon the gas with a hand pump siphon into an approved gas container (red, sealed plastic or metal fuel can). Don’t use food containers, water bottles, or anything not rated for fuel. Siphon from the tank access point or directly through the fuel line if accessible.

After draining fuel, this is the most important safety step. Use a spark plug wrench to remove the plug – or simply disconnect the spark plug wire if you don’t want to fully remove it. Either method prevents the engine from accidentally starting due to residual fuel or vapor during transport.

Put the spark plug or the disconnected wire in a small zip-lock bag and tape it to the mower somewhere visible, so you know exactly where it is when you need to reconnect on the other side.

The underside of a mower deck accumulates grass clippings, mud, and moisture. In a moving truck, that debris transfers to other items and can cause rust or staining if the mower is stored next to furniture, mattresses, or boxes.

Use a garden hose, a stiff brush, and a scraper to clean the underside of the deck thoroughly. Give it time to dry completely before wrapping or loading – a wet mower deck sealed in moving blankets can develop rust during a long transit. The same wrapping approach applies to other large, awkward items: see our guide on how to move a mattress for blanket-wrapping and strapping technique that transfers directly to mower protection.

For the blades: if you’re removing them for separate transport, use heavy gloves and wrap each blade in thick cloth or bubble wrap before packing in a box labeled “sharp.”

If the blades are staying on the mower, the original plastic blade guards (if you still have them) are the best protection. If not, wrap the blade area with moving blankets and secure with tape or straps.

Push mowers can go in a standard moving truck, provided the fuel is drained. Here’s how to load them correctly:

Riding mowers present two problems for standard moving trucks: they’re often too wide, and the ramp angle on most moving trucks is steep enough to make loading a riding mower genuinely dangerous without the right equipment.

The best options:

• Utility trailer – A standard 6×10 or 6×12 open utility trailer (rentable from Home Depot or U-Haul for $50–$80/day) handles most residential riding mowers comfortably. Drive the mower up a loading ramp at a shallow angle, secure it with four tie-down straps at the four corners, and you’re set. This is the most practical solution for most people. If you’re weighing a trailer alongside your other transport options, our guide on renting a moving truck vs. hiring movers helps you compare the full cost picture.
• Ship it separately – Services like uShip connect you with independent haulers who specialize in equipment transport. For long-distance moves, the cost of shipping a riding mower via uShip can actually be lower than renting a trailer for the full trip, especially if you’re already near the limit of your moving truck capacity. Get quotes before assuming it’s expensive.
• Sell it and buy another one – Riding mowers lose value quickly and are available in essentially every region of the country. If you’re moving more than 500 miles, the cost of shipping a riding mower may exceed its depreciated market value. Check Facebook Marketplace prices in both your current city and your destination – the math sometimes makes more sense to sell and rebuy.
• Interesting fact: Riding mowers weigh between 300 and 600 pounds depending on the model. A standard 26-foot moving truck has a ramp rated for roughly 1,500 pounds, but the angle of the ramp combined with that weight makes loading a riding mower without the right ramps or a loading dock genuinely dangerous. Falls from moving truck ramps cause hundreds of injuries per year – riding mowers on steep truck ramps account for a meaningful share of those incidents.

Hand tools – shovels, rakes, hoes, loppers, shears – are straightforward to pack but need a bit of thought to avoid injuries to movers and damage to other items. For a complete list of what to handle in the days before and after your move, our new house moving checklist covers the full sequence.

• Bundle long-handled tools together with moving straps or zip ties, 3–5 per bundle, and wrap the bundle ends in cardboard or thick cloth secured with tape.
• Stand them upright in a corner of the truck rather than laying them flat where handles can shift and cause damage.
• Sharp-edged tools (pruning shears, hatchets, hedge trimmers) should be individually wrapped in cloth or bubble wrap and packed in labeled boxes. Mark the box clearly: “Sharp tools – handle with care.” Don’t pack sharp tools loose in a box with other items.
• Power garden tools (string trimmers, leaf blowers, chainsaws, hedge trimmers) follow the same fuel rule as mowers. Drain all fuel and disconnect spark plugs or battery packs before packing.

Beyond fuel, there’s a category of lawn and garden products that professional movers won’t transport. Planning what stays, what goes, and what gets disposed of is part of building an accurate picture of your move – use our moving cost calculator to estimate what your load will actually cost to transport once hazardous items are removed from the inventory.

For these items: use them up before you move, give them to neighbors, or check your municipality’s hazardous waste disposal schedule.

Many cities hold free household hazardous waste drop-off events quarterly. You can find your nearest event at Earth911.com by entering your zip code and material type.