It WAS a good day...

[sargex595]

A few years ago on the fourth of July weekend, I decided to mow a triangular piece of property owned by the State at a intersection that leads into our Village. The State hadn't mowed it and it lookled like ****. I have since mowed every two or three weeks during the summer. About two years ago I was mowing it and was near where the State had two road signs. All of a sudden my X595 with my 62" deck came to a complete stop and stalled the engine. I almost got knocked off the tractor. After I started the tractor back up, lifted the mower deck and backed up, I noticed that I had hit the end of a metal sign post that was sticking out of the ground. I had never seem it before. I was scared to look under the deck but only had a slight dent in the deck and a small gouge out of one blade. My tractor was a 2001 X595 and had around 1,100 hrs on it. They are really built tough. Have not had any problems since. I did take my Milwaukee cordless grinder and cut the end of the post off below ground level so that won't happen again.
Curt.

 

[Dashe]

I think you are missing an opportunity to use the new machine as a stump grinder. Looks to me that it was born to grind. These X7xx machines are tough. Just cleaned my 54C and squirted a little JD yellow on the bottom and looks as good as it did when I got it.

 

[Gittyup]

You are correct. The gearbox itself is not directly connected to a blade, each blade has it's own pulley.

The last 2 days we have had double digit temperatures and it dried out the grass enough for the first cut. Winter average on the west coast of BC is about 4-8 degrees Celsius. The problem is, it rains for days, weeks, sometimes a full month, almost nonstop. So even though it isn't cold here during the winter, or snow on the ground, you can't do anything when everything is soaking wet and the ground is very soft.

In 5 years when ALL of my debt is gone, I plan to buy a compact utility for the heavy work on our property, and when I do, you can bet your boots it will have a cab on it!

I guess they are different from the 400 series. My 54" deck has a gear box connecting the PTO shaft to the center blade/pulley. This, in turn, powers the other two blades via a belt on the 3 pulleys. I guess you lose some power with all belt drive, but it's safer on the gear box/pto. I'm not sure what would happen to mine if I hit something like that. Not sure if there is a shear pin or something in there to protect it. Though, in the 18+ years of used it I've hit and stalled maybe one time. My wife did run over a piece of wire fence and made a mess around the spindle. But she's still going strong (both the wife and tractor).

 

[JDTank]

I like it better without a blade coming off of the gearbox. If you ever did hit something with that kind of setup, the dollars would be huge. The gearbox for my 54 inch deck is just shy of $700. I would rather replace spindles or blades before a gearbox. I certainly don't notice a power loss with the current setup.

I do notice however that the gearbox must have a good amount of resistance. When you shut off the PTO it only takes about 3 seconds for the blades to come to a complete stop. On a belt driven deck that would probably take twice as long.

 

[aczlan]

I do notice however that the gearbox must have a good amount of resistance. When you shut off the PTO it only takes about 3 seconds for the blades to come to a complete stop. On a belt driven deck that would probably take twice as long.

There is probbaly a brake on the tractor side of the PTO that comes on when the PTO disengages.

Aaron Z

 

[jenkinsph]

There is probbaly a brake on the tractor side of the PTO that comes on when the PTO disengages.

Aaron Z

That is correct.

 

[JDTank]

That is correct.

I did not know that. Learn something new everyday!

 

[arlen4720]

I did not know that. Learn something new everyday!

I always engage and disengage the blades at idle....I figure it saves wear on the clutch/brake.

 

[sixdogs]

You are probably damage free and the fact that the stump broke apart is a good indicator. Had the stump not done that it would have been much more resitance to the machine is my thinking.

 

[JDTank]

You are probably damage free and the fact that the stump broke apart is a good indicator. Had the stump not done that it would have been much more resitance to the machine is my thinking.

Luckily, it was a root from a very soft pine tree. If it was a hard wood, it may have been a different story.

When I hit the root I was crawling on the machine, moving very very slow, so I was lucky. Had I been going fast, the momentum likely would have damaged something.

Like my Dad always used to say to me as a kid when I did something stupid "see...i'll bet you'll never do that again"