deck stripes!

[plowmaster 0]

ok, so i notice the deck that came with the tractor even has stripes. i have a rear discharge that stripes, and a side discharge on the tractor now that stripes. blades are sharp (with a grinder) and it leaves two semi-uncut stripes whatever the speed at witch i mow.

i remember when this deck was purchased new, and there was a faint trace of stripes even new.

how do i get her to cut evenly? is it a fore/aft adjustment, as ive never played with that.

thanks.

jon

farm on.

[refracman 166]

Jon, ive been told that if the blade tips are rounded and not square this can cause this problem, when I sharpen mine I make sure not to round the tips.

No stripes as of yet. B)

[TT-(Moderator) 1,127]

Make sure there is sufficient overlap of the blade ends by using a framing square on the center blade (turn the blade sideways) and laying it back over the inside ends of the outer blades. There should be a minimum of

[bustedglass 1]

My 37" s/d deck has done that since new in 1985. I like the way it looks .

[dgjks6 6]

Which deck?

I had that problem with my 37in side discharge deck, and after lots of tinkering and adjustment (and new blades) it went away - now it is smmoth and flat.

Greg

[Teddy da Bear 11]

I noticed that in my decks too....even with the recommended wheel horse blades.

So I made my blades from longer blades. The stock blade "clearance" (not talking overlap) was almost 1/4". When I made the blades, I ground the lengths to within an 1/8" clearance on rotation. Problem solved.

To measure clearance...rotate middle and outer blades until they are "tip to tip", then measure.

This stripe can especially occur when you turn a corner while cutting.

[kpinnc 10,730]

I had that problem with my 37in side discharge deck,

The problem with a 37 inch deck is with the "split" adjuster for the rear wheels. If you're not careful, you can easily set it up to mow with one side higher than the other.

Kevin

[Rod(NASNUT) 1]

This stripe can especially occur when you turn a corner while cutting.

That is when my C-105 lets the stripe

[WheelHorse_of_course 99]

Not sure "striping is the right word" as on other boards the simplicity owners are very proud of their decks with the striping roller.

I do get strips of taller grass on occasion - it seems to be where the tire tracks recover.

That would be affected by cut height (I cut high), type of grass, condition, moisture, etc. Naturally it is worse if I go too long between cuttings.

I suspect "high lift" blades would help but I don't know B)

[Stigian 1,234]

I find that my Raider 10 cuts fine on shorter grass, but not so happy on the longer stuff.

I plan to sort out the blade tips which are a bit worn with some weld and then grind it back to the right shape/size.

I might well leave this job until winter though, as i only cut long grass once a month its not too much of a problem.

[92Pony 1]

I was just noticing this very thing on Saturday. I was cutting some taller grass (lots of bahia) and the striping was horrendous! Now, I know that bahia is a pain to cut with those tall shoots all over, but shoots or not, I was getting two stripes with my 48" SD deck)

This leads to a question I've been wanting to ask on here (and I saw it referenced above in this thread); Should the blades be installed on the deck in a staggered fashion (Not all oriented the same direction)? Should there be clearance between them if they're aligned tip-to-tip-tip - or, staggered, should there be a degree of overlap - but would that create a possible situation where the blades would contact one another? (As you can tell, I'm somewhat confused as to how the three blade deck works exactly - LOL!)

Wade

[TT-(Moderator) 1,127]

Without getting in to severely intricate detail, the center blade housing is located ahead of the two outer blade housings on a typical 3 blade deck. (triangle-shaped deck shell) This allows for cutting swath overlap of each blade without them hitting each other. It doesn't matter where you position the individual blades when installing the deck belt, and they will eventually move due to belt slippage or contact with immovable objects.

The old "inline" 2 blade decks accomplished this by either gear-driving the blades or using a toothed belt and pullies to keep them timed properly. When assembling the drive components, one blade was installed parallel to the direction of travel, and the other blade was turned 90 degrees. (Speedex actually used a timed 3 blade "inline" deck in later years!) The combined half-length of each blade was greater than the distance between the mounting centerlines, and the blades could actually hit each other if they weren't properly timed.

The newer 2 blade "offset" decks (like the 37" WH unit and many AYP/MTD models) took the standard "inline" 2 blade deck and angled the shell so the "lead" blade centerline would sit several inches ahead of the "following" blade centerline. This allowed the blades to be moved closer together (or use of longer blades) so the swath of cut on each blade would overlap slightly in the center while the mower is moving straight ahead. A standard V belt could now be used to drive the blades - without any timing issues.

What you are seeing with the skipping problem can partially be blamed on the low-vacuum design of the WH deck you are using. The deck shell is very deep and the blades are positioned near the bottom, which does not promote much airflow. One of the most important functions of a mower blade is to create a vacuum to "suck" the grass up and hold it there until it gets cut off. That is what the "flip" or "twist" on the trailing edge of the blade does. Adding more twist to the blade will increase the vacuum to a point, but too much twist will create excessive turbulence and increased blade wear.

The other WH "trademark" problem of the two uncut (or partially cut) strips of grass is caused by the front tires of the tractor. The grass gets pushed down by the tires and the deck doesn't have enough vacuum to quickly and cleanly pull it back up so it can be cut. The bigger and heavier the tractor is (and the wider the tires are) , the worse this will be. The only "freebie" cure for this would be to slow down and allow the deck ample time to suck the grass back up again. (and you still won't get all of it.)

Running the deck at the highest possible rpm and decreasing ground speed is the best cure for these issues. The lower you can set the deck height, the "cleaner" it will cut - because it won't be drawing excess air from outside the bottom of the shell. A good set of blades with a little added "twist" wouldn't be a bad idea either.

If I get a chance, I'll try to draw up some diagrams of the blade position/swath of cut details. A picture is worth a thousand words, right? :whistle:

[92Pony 1]

Thanks for the post Terry - Very informative! A picture might be worth 1000 words, but you did pretty well with substantially less words.

Wade

[Teddy da Bear 11]

Here is the picture!

Attached Image (Click thumbnail to expand)