How to Store a Zero Turn Mower Outdoors With a Cover

If you own a zero turn mower and you do not have a shed or garage bay to put it in, you already know the problem. The deck gets wet and stays wet. The seat cracks. The wiring harness gets chewed by mice. And every spring, somebody brings a machine into my shop at the dealership with a corroded ignition switch or a rusted deck spindle and asks me what happened. What happened is that it sat outside uncovered from October to April. I have spent over 20 years on the bench at an outdoor power equipment dealership in East Texas, and I can tell you that a cover like the Tough Cover zero turn mower cover is the cheapest insurance you can buy for a mower that has to live outdoors. This guide walks through how to store a zero turn mower outdoors with a cover, step by step, the same way I would walk a customer through it at the counter.

I keep my own 54 inch zero turn at home on about two and a half acres of St. Augustine and Bermuda. It lives in a detached two-bay garage, but I have parked it outside plenty of times when the garage was full of projects. The difference between a mower that sits outside with a good cover and one that sits outside bare is the difference between a machine that starts on the first crank in March and one that needs a weekend of work before it will even fire. The cover is not a replacement for a building. It is a way to make outdoor storage survivable.

Step 1: Pick a spot that drains

Before you even think about the cover, look at where the mower is going to sit. The ground underneath matters more than most people realize. If you park on bare dirt, the mower will sink into the soft spots over the winter, and moisture will wick up into the tires and the underside of the deck. If you park on grass, the same thing happens, plus the grass stays wet under the mower and holds that moisture against the metal all season.

The best surface for outdoor storage is gravel, because it drains and it does not hold moisture against the machine. A concrete pad is fine too, as long as it is not in a low spot where water pools. I have a small gravel pad beside my shop at home, and that is where my mower sits when it has to be outside. If you do not have gravel or concrete, at least lay down a couple of pieces of pressure treated lumber or a tarp to keep the tires out of the mud. The goal is to keep the mower out of standing water, because standing water is what rusts out spindles and corrodes electrical connections.

One more thing about the spot: think about wind. A zero turn mower cover is a big sail, and if you park the mower in the open where the wind can get under the cover, you are going to spend the winter chasing it across the yard. Parking next to a fence, a wall, or a row of shrubs cuts the wind down and makes the cover stay put. Just leave enough room to walk around the mower, because you are going to want to check on it a few times over the winter.

Step 2: Clean the mower before you cover it

I know it feels backwards to wash a machine right before you put it away, but this is the step that saves you the most work in the spring. Grass clippings hold moisture against the underside of the deck, and that moisture is what starts the rust. A deck that is caked with wet clippings in November is a deck with pitted spindles by March. Take ten minutes and knock the clippings off with a hose or a leaf blower before the mower goes under the cover.

While you are at it, wipe down the seat and the control levers. Bird droppings and tree sap will etch a vinyl seat if they sit on it for months, and a cover does not stop that if the mess is already on the seat when you put the cover on. A quick wipe with a damp rag is enough. You are not detailing the machine. You are just making sure you are not sealing a bunch of moisture and debris under the cover.

If you have the means, give the underside of the deck a quick rinse and let it dry before you cover it. I run my mower for a couple of minutes after washing to spin the water off the blades and the spindles. That little step makes a real difference. A dry mower under a cover stays dry. A wet mower under a cover just steams inside its own little tent all winter.

Step 3: Do the end of season maintenance now

The cover will protect the mower from rain, sun, and wind, but it will not protect it from stale fuel or a dead battery. If you are going to store the mower for more than a month, do the maintenance before you put the cover on. That means adding a fuel stabilizer to a full tank of gas, or draining the tank if you prefer to store it dry. I use a stabilizer and leave the tank full, because an empty tank can develop condensation inside over the winter.

The battery is the other thing. A zero turn mower battery will drain itself over a few months of sitting, and a fully discharged battery is often a ruined battery. If you have a battery maintainer, hook it up. If you do not, at least disconnect the negative cable so the parasitic draw does not run the battery down. I have a maintainer on my mower at home all winter, and that battery is on its fourth season.

Check the tire pressure while you are at it, and if the mower is going to sit for a long stretch, think about putting it up on jack stands or at least on some pieces of wood so the tires are not flat-spotting on the same spot all winter. This is the kind of work that takes twenty minutes in November and saves you a service call in March. I have seen too many mowers come into the shop in the spring with a dead battery, stale gas, and a flat tire, and every one of those was preventable.

Step 4: Put the cover on the right way

This sounds too simple to need explaining, but I have seen more than one cover blow off because it was thrown over the mower like a bedsheet. A zero turn mower cover needs to be seated properly or it will not do its job. Start at the front of the mower and pull the cover down over the deck, then work it back over the seat and the engine. Make sure the cover is sitting down over the control levers and the roll bar if your mower has one.

The Tough Cover zero turn mower cover has a soft lining that will not scratch the paint, and it is cut to fit the shape of a zero turn, so it does not flap around the way a generic tarp does. It has elastic at the bottom edge that helps it hug the mower. Even so, I add a bungee cord at each corner when I know the mower is going to sit outside for a while. That is the difference between a cover that stays on through a thunderstorm and a cover that ends up in the neighbor's yard.

One thing I tell every customer: do not cover a hot mower. If you just ran it for an hour, let it cool down before you put the cover on. A hot engine under a cover is a fire risk, and it also traps heat and moisture that can damage the wiring and the rubber hoses. Give it fifteen or twenty minutes to cool, then cover it. That is the kind of detail that does not show up in the manual but matters in real life.

Step 5: Check on it a few times over the winter

A cover is not a magic force field. It is a piece of fabric that takes the worst of the weather, and it needs a little attention now and then. Once a month, or after any big storm, go out and look at the mower. If the cover has shifted, pull it back into place. If there is a puddle of water sitting on top of the cover, brush it off or let it drain. If a corner has come loose, re-secure it.

This is also the time to catch problems while they are cheap. If you notice a mouse has chewed a hole in the cover, patch it or replace it before the hole gets bigger. If the cover is wet on the inside, that tells you there is a leak or a spot where the cover is touching the mower and wicking moisture. Fix that before it becomes a rust problem. Ten minutes of checking now beats a weekend of repairs in the spring.

I will be honest with you: most people skip this step. They put the cover on in November and do not look at the mower again until March. And most of the time, it is fine. But the people who check on their mower over the winter are the people who never have to bring it into my shop in the spring. You do not need to obsess over it. Just look at it once in a while.

What Else Helps

A cover is the main thing, but it is not the only thing. If you want to make outdoor storage even easier on the mower, a few small additions go a long way. A sheet of plywood or a piece of outdoor carpet under the mower keeps moisture from coming up from the ground. A small bag of desiccant or a couple of dryer sheets inside the cover can help keep mice from nesting in the seat or the wiring. I have also had good luck with a light spray of silicone lubricant on the control levers and any exposed cables before covering, just to keep moisture off the metal.

And if you are in an area with heavy snow or ice, consider a simple frame or hoop over the mower before you put the cover on, so the weight of the snow does not rest directly on the seat and the controls. A couple of PVC pipes bent over the mower and covered with the Tough Cover will shed snow instead of holding it. That is a trick I picked up from a customer who stores his mower under a carport, and it works.

The difference between a mower that sits outside with a good cover and one that sits outside bare is the difference between a machine that starts on the first crank in March and one that needs a weekend of work before it will even fire.