Mowing Problems with Bx "Fine Cut" rck54p23bx deck cut

[OrangeRidge]

As Neil said , too long for that type of deck ( which
is why a T2380 was no good for me ... ) , and 800kg
all-up with operator doesn't help . Cut closer or buy a
standard deck or a lightweight mower . It's annoying,
isn't it !

 

[Scooby074]

As tall as that pasture is, you should be using a bush hog. That's not a lawn.

3" is too tall for a lawn? Thats the recommended height for KBG. Usually i cut it sooner ~1-2" growth, but even then the cut sucks. As mentioned the previous deere cut this same lawn, at even higher growth levels with no issue at all, at higher ground speeds.

As Neil said , too long for that type of deck ( which
is why a T2380 was no good for me ... ) , and 800kg
all-up with operator doesn't help . Cut closer or buy a
standard deck or a lightweight mower . It's annoying,
isn't it !

Annoying doesnt begin to describe it. I cant use words here that describe my opinion of Kubota's decks. Family site and all that Dealer said the pro deck was the same as Kubota's commercial ZTR mowers. I assumed i was going to get that level of cut.

The way i figure it, the BX is about 200kg more than the deere. A fair bit yes, but not a huge amount. I cant see that being the whole issue.

 

[dodge man]

I think its a setup problem. I know when I mow, it looks better then when my son cuts the lawn. If I mow in low range, and run the HST pedal to the floor or a little bit less, that speed seems to give the best cut. My son mows a little bit faster. My BX has the regular cut deck with a mulch kit and blades installed.

Before I bought my BX, I was mowing with a Scotts mower with a 54" deck, and this mower was made by John Deere, but a lower cost Deere unit. I know I cut my mowing time by at least 15 minutes with the BX, and was suprised the cut was almost as good as the Scotts I had before. You should be able to get a good cut, its probably just a setup issue.

 

[timswi]

I have a standard 54" deck on a BX23 with OEM Kubota blades (which aren't the best) and mine cuts great, only leaves small straks on very sharp turns. I can cut 6-8 inch grass down to 3.75 and leave no standing grass except where my tires might mash it down and it later stands up..That ain't the deck's fault.

This does every bit as good of a job as my mom's JD GT275.

 

[Earl Ohl]

I have a rck54p23bx deck on my BX and the cut is aweful! I have the factory mulch kit with the factory mulch blades installed.

The cut is Uneven and Leaves stragglers particularly on the outside edges of the deck. The tire tracks are visible until next cut.

Dealer suggestion was to cut at WOT and lower the deck height. I dropped the deck from 3.5" to 3" and increased the engine speed to max with little improvment.

Im going to cut and paste my post from the Gator blade thread so as not to derail that topic:\

I had some time to kill so i mowed part of the lawn.

Done at Wide open throttle (34xx RPM) cut at 3", low range 4 wd. driving very slow

heres a couple pics. notice the uneven cut particularly on the corners. This same lawn was cut with my x540 at a much faster pace with no issues. it came out nice and flat.

Hopefully the pictures will show the problems im having with my cut. I might create a thread just to detail my issues so as not to sidetrack the discussion on gator blades.

In the following picture it looks nice and flat with decent striping, however looking carefully you can see the grooves where the tire tracks are.


Anybody have a solution? This cut is completely unacceptable on a 18K machine!!! a $1800 yard man would cut better.

Scooby, this is wild-a** guess, but I wonder if the deck belt is installed properly? I've only seen it happen once, and I forget what brand tractor it was, but the deck belt was on wrong and one of the blades was turning the wrong way. This shouldn't be too hard to check before you try some of the harder things.

 

[Scooby074]

I think its a setup problem. I know when I mow, it looks better then when my son cuts the lawn. If I mow in low range, and run the HST pedal to the floor or a little bit less, that speed seems to give the best cut. My son mows a little bit faster. My BX has the regular cut deck with a mulch kit and blades installed.

Before I bought my BX, I was mowing with a Scotts mower with a 54" deck, and this mower was made by John Deere, but a lower cost Deere unit. I know I cut my mowing time by at least 15 minutes with the BX, and was suprised the cut was almost as good as the Scotts I had before. You should be able to get a good cut, its probably just a setup issue.

Ive tried varying the speeds. No difference. Cant run in high range or 2wd of course due to the slopes.

Im thinking setup issue as well. Might throw a piece of plywood or something so i have a flat plain to measure off.

Scooby, this is wild-a** guess, but I wonder if the deck belt is installed properly? I've only seen it happen once, and I forget what brand tractor it was, but the deck belt was on wrong and one of the blades was turning the wrong way. This shouldn't be too hard to check before you try some of the harder things.

Ill check that out. If i had a uncut strip that was the same width as a blade, id think a blade was going the wrong way too. i dont have that really. The crushed grass is in the direct path of the wheels and about the same width as the front tire.

I still have the relatively minor issue of grass not being cut on the furthest outside edges of the deck, say 1-2" on each side.

 

[Earl Ohl]

Ive tried varying the speeds. No difference. Cant run in high range or 2wd of course due to the slopes.

Im thinking setup issue as well. Might throw a piece of plywood or something so i have a flat plain to measure off.



Ill check that out. If i had a uncut strip that was the same width as a blade, id think a blade was going the wrong way too. i dont have that really. The crushed grass is in the direct path of the wheels and about the same width as the front tire.

I still have the relatively minor issue of grass not being cut on the furthest outside edges of the deck, say 1-2" on each side.

Another wild a** guess and a little background story. I have a JD LX288 with a 48 inch deck. When I bought it I got 3 spare blades. They are exactly the same as the origional ones. This summer the origional blades finally became worn down enough to where I thought they were not safe anymore. I put the spare blades on & scrapped the origionals. I then ordered another spare set. Same part number, same shape & contour, etc. Except the new blades are only sharpened about half way along the leading edge whereas the origionals and first spare set are sharpened almost the whole length of the leading edge. I wonder how those blades are going to cut when I put them on? I bet I'll have to modify them to make them like the others. I don't think they'll cut correctly the way they are.

You might want to try to get a look at another set of blades that are for your deck & see if they're sharpened any differently.

 

[Volfandt]

Does the depressed grass ever recover and if so is it cut or taller (uncut)?

My primary finish mower is a BX23 w/a 60" MMM and even tho I liked the finish cut of the OEM std blades at 1st, it too left tire depressions in my bermuda grass. My fesue, which is the majority of what I cut, isn't as thick so it didn't show up on it, just the bermuda.

Resetting the deck per specs, i.e. adjusting the blade(s) leading edge(s) 1/8" to 1/4" lower than the trailing edges, adjusting the blade tip side to side so the left side outer edge was as equal to the right side outer edge and this improved the cut tremendously but I still had some depressions in the bermuda grass.
Allow me to caution that these measurements must be made on the blade tips and not the MMM's edges. Measureing to the shell edge won't properly adjust the blades....

The 2nd season I changed over to gatorblades and this made an immediate improvement. I still get some depression at 1st but within hrs the grass restores and it's an even cut.

This season (after 5 seasons on the original GB's) I went to the high lift 3 n 1 mulcher magnums and they are producing a much better cut than the std GB's. I still get the same depression & recovery situation as the orig GB's but the clipping discharge is smaller and more disbursed.

I have no personal experience w/the fine cut but I am very happy w/the way my BX23 finish cuts.
I believe someone has posted the part#'s for the GB's that will fit a 54" MMM. If interested you may try a search in this forum.
Good luck
Dave

 

[keyman1808]

Dave Do you have the GB part numbers for the 60" deck ?? I was thinking of swithching after reading this post.

 

[radioman]

I have a hard time telling from the picture, but it appears to me that there is a strip with one blades down too low. The outside two blades is higher giving appearance of uneven cut.

Again the pics is hard to tell, due to time of day when pics were taken, but I am thinking that the middle is too low or one of them is too low. Problem is, I never ran a smaller/fine cut deck. I have the standard 60 inch and I am happy with it. There must be a trick for using fine cut. Messicks might be correct it too high, but I do know that if grass is too high, it will leave stragglers all over, not in a certain strip so messicks might be wrong.:confused2:

I am thinking the deck is level, but the blade tips and height needs to be measured. is it the same for all 3? how does the rolled lip look on rear of deck to ground? is it even from one side to other? I am going to assume it is. Is the wheels barely touch the finished cut of grass?

Just a few more routine questions to eliminate doubt from my mind, is the deck clogged with caked on clippings? is it clear before every mowing? Have you tried removing the mulching sides? What type of grass is it you are mowing? it appears to be a field type of grass with a mixture making it harder to mow with a slower spinning BX bladetips. I know this since my yard where house is easy to cut with fewer weeds. Across the street where my other lot is, its mostly weeds and little grass, it cuts unevenly when its high. I just cut it again few days later to smooth it out and it looks good and I can mulch up the clippings or I just get out my crappy mower out and mow it down since the blades spins MUCH faster.