Not Happy With Riding Mower Cut

[tarzan]

I have a Craftsman 26.0 HP, 48" Mower Model No. 917.275901. It has triple cutting blades. After I added a mulching kit this year, I find the mower cuts very uneven. At the suggestion of some Google searching, I have examined the blade heights, and I think they are level. But I do notice that cut-grass bunches up greatly and rapidly on the one deck-side, where the chute used to go, but is now covered with a blocking plastic 'plate'. I have to hand-dig the 'bunched' grass from the deck underside three-four times each cutting for my 1/2 acre. The grass pretty-much encompasses the cutting blade next to that deck end. When I do that, it cuts more evenly.

So I wonder, is there anything I can do to try to reduce the 'bunching up'?

Suggestions?

Apeman

[Stormin Mormon]

Pressure wash the underside of the deck, then let it dry. When dry, spray with a good brand of aeroseol silicone lube, so the under side of the deck is slippery.

Might help.....

Mower supply places used to have spray to keep grass from sticking to the deck, but that was years ago. Not sure they do now days.

. Christ> I have a Craftsman 26.0 HP, 48" Mower

[Ed Pawlowski]

Mulching blades chop the grass multiple times to make a finer clipping. First thing to try is to mow slower so the blades have more time to do the job.

OK, that should be second. First is to be sure the blades are on the right way and not upside down. You also mention that the blads are even. Is there a way to adjust the height of each? It may help if the blade on the bunching side was adjusted slight up or down to throw the clippings in a different manner.

[tarzan]

Good idee.

I hope I put them on right. I'll check. I'll have to find a diagram somewhere just to make sure.

Supposed to be. I am going to check that.

I can try that.

I thank you.

The Apeman

[dpb]

...

You close up the discharge chute and then are surprised the grass has nowhere to go except to that closed location???? What do you expect to happen?

Only real solution is to mow frequently enough there's not enough clippings that the mulching action can handle it. As another said, creeping along will give more time for it to handle a little more material but there's a basic problem that it has to go somewhere.

Ensuring it's dry when mowing will help a little as well but better solution would possibly a bagging unit instead. Altho I've just gotten a new 42" ZTR and it's just barely adequate to have sufficient discharge velocity to keep up w/ the output given the speed at which it runs as compared to the old rider w/ (I think 38" cut). Might have to go to one of the externally-powered units to be able to use the full capacity of the mower.

But, imo, there's no way you can expect to "mulch" that much material at any speed of practical use unless you can mow it frequently enough that there's only a smidge being cut each pass...

[tarzan]

There used to be a teflon spray for the same app. It was expensive as I recall. Someone once suggested PAM. Since the grass clumping is also adhering to the deck underside, a lubricant thereon is a promising idea.

This is the first three-blade cutter I have owned (48"). I thought that might be causing trouble. My old two-bladers never seemed to cut uneven. Their muclching adapters did sometimes clump up however. Oh how I miss my old Signature. That sucker just ran and ran until its heart gave out.

Thanks

The Apeman

[tarzan]

I guess you have a point. In that case, it would be the nature of the beast - the beast in this case being the way mulching works. I hope spraying something on the underside of the deck will reduce the sticking of the grass clumps to the deck.

I would return to bagging the grass - I have a three-bag bagging kit for ths mower, but the last time I bagged grass for a 1/2-acre lot I generated 23-25 bags of cut grass a week. Where I live now I have no way to get rid of that volume of cut grass without spending big bucks.

Life shouldn't be this difficult. Thanks The Apeman

[TomR]

Good point. I once bought a used lawn mower at a yard sale and I later noticed that it didn't cut very well. I bought a new blade, and when I went to put it on, I figured out that the old blade was on backwards (a.k.a. upside down) -- duh. It was actually cutting with the back of the blade instead of the cutting edge of the blade.

[dpb]

On 8/28/2013 9:54 AM, [e-mail] wrote: ...

...

They will rotate CW looking down from above the deck for a RH discharge (that or rear is only I've ever seen on residential so that's nearly guaranteed); the cutting edge should be leading, obviously.

[dpb]

...

If it's wet, it's going to clump and the mulching is going to exacerbate the problem by chewing up the cut grass instead of just cutting it off and discharging the clippings; that's what it's intended to do.

I know of nothing that will be a magic elixir to stop this happening; the decks are designed to discharge to one side and so with such a large deck you're putting a tremendous amount of material over there.

If you can't mow frequently enough to just discharge it and it's too much expense or difficulty to bag it sounds like it's time to go to something other than grass.

[tarzan]

Dirt is is, I guess.

The Apeman

[Dean Hoffman]

I didn't notice anyone mentioning cutting higher. I have no idea if that would help. Height probably doesn't matter as much as consistency.

[woodchucker]

Don't bag, I have 2 acres and just let it go out, regular blades, always point the chute to the cut side, never to the uncut side, that way it won't clump on the grass and require a second cut when you come to cut the uncut+ cut sitting on top of it.

[Dan Espen]

Hmm, I don't bag just discharge, but hitting any clumps on the second pass always seemed like a good thing. Two times through the mower and it's really chopped up.