John Deere rider deck always cloging up with caked material

[chriswheeler]

I've had my 42" JD rider for almost 8 years now and it has always worked well. My biggest complaint is that it doesn't throw the cut grass out well with the standard blade set or the high lift blade set. Bagger unit never worked very well. The inside of the deck always clogs with cut grass that forms a almost cement like cake in all of the underside of the deck. Once a year I'll remove the deck and replace the blades and chip out all of this material. The cake forms anywhere under the deck where the blades aren't turning. Average blade life is a season or roughly 10 hours. It isn't like I'm using this thing in a business or something like that, I'm only putting on something like 10 hours or so a summer on this thing. Is this normal ??
Chris

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

My 48" deck does the same thing. But after every time I mow, I pull my deck out, flip it over, scrape it, replace the blades with sharp ones (if necessary) and then re-install.

I think it has something to do with all the paint being gone underneath the deck and the rough surface under there is a perfect surface for clippings to adhere to.

Also, I'm cutting a mix of weeds and grass. It's worse in the spring when the weeds have a high moisture content.

 

[chriswheeler]

Yes, I'm mowing lots of weeds as well as grass, but it's plenty dry here, it's Nevada, water is tough to come by here now in the drought.
Chris.

 

[mfreund]

Try a set of Gator blades. They worked wonders on my 72" deck.

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

Try a set of Gator blades. They worked wonders on my 72" deck.

I've thought about it, but it seems *****-backwards to me. For a deck that's clogging, seems to me a LOW lift blade would allow the deck to cut it and discharge the material easier and more quickly.

I know Oregon makes some G5's for my deck. I'm gonna order some just to see how they work.

 

[chriswheeler]

I've got the standard low lift blades in there now and it shows no difference between the low lift and the high lift as far as the material sticking to the deck or the mower discharge, has to be something else ??
Chris

 

[mfreund]

I've thought about it, but it seems *****-backwards to me. For a deck that's clogging, seems to me a LOW lift blade would allow the deck to cut it and discharge the material easier and more quickly.

I know Oregon makes some G5's for my deck. I'm gonna order some just to see how they work.

I do not know how or why, but when I got the 72" it was horrible for clogging up. With the Gator blades there is still some material under the deck but about 10% compared to regular blades.

 

[chriswheeler]

Who makes these Gator blades ?? are they a JD product or aftermarket ?? Also, who would normally carry them ?? I'm up for trying a set. Removed the deck yesterday and removed no less than 25 lbs. of material caked to the inside of the deck, and this is at least normal for me. Remember, this is a little rider, 20hp 125 automatic with a 42" deck. The cake got so thick that the blades would no longer turn freely. Sharpened the blades and re-installed the deck. Thought about soda blasting the underside of the deck and coating it with some sort of Devcon brush on epoxy ceramic coating to prevent some of the sticking, but thinking this is way over the top, Deere has to have something else in mind, I just don't know what that might be.
Chris

 

[mfreund]

Woods makes the Gator blades. Since Deere owns a majority stake in Woods........ I normally get mine from a Deere dealer on eBay, but your local dealer can get them.

 

[chriswheeler]

Found the Gator blades on ebay, thanks. No more expensive than what the Deere dealer charges for a set of standard or high lift. Sure worth a try. Thinking if these don't keep the deck a little cleaner, I'm going to weld a hose fitting to the top of the deck, let the water flow with the blades turning and see if it might clean itself. Last step will be the soda blasting of the inside of the deck and apply a coating with the Devcon brush on epoxy to make it harder for the cuttings to stick to the inside of the deck. You would have thought that Deere would have thought through this one a little better, but this mower came from a big box store 8 years ago or so. Other than the caking under the deck, it's given good service.
Chris