taborekle
Gold Member
Ok, lets talk mowing,
On my JD 420 mower, it has a mid mount mower deck. Now I've mowed for years with the mower deck wheels on the turf (slightly to mid weighted) and it did a fine job. My cousin-in-law who works at a JD dealership stops by and tells me that I need to set the wheels all the way up, so that they don't touch the lawn, and then use the 'lift' on the hydralic lift coupled with the mower deck height fine adjustment. That way the mower deck floats over the terrain and the wheels are not carrying any weight.
I tried it, and found that when cross cutting on a hill, even though the mower is tilted to the tilt of the hill, the mow deck floats to the level position, which means that the uphill side of the mower deck is floating closer to the land, and makes a lower cut, then the down hill side of the mower deck, which leaves a higher cut. The result is a terrible looking lawn.
I reset my wheels and now again use the wheels in addition to the mower deck height fine adjustment to do my cutting. The wheels ensure that the mower deck follows the land and that the deck is the same tilt of the land. And I have a much better looking lawn.
So I guess my question is, do you really want a mower deck to float? It doesn't seem to work for me.
YMMV
Larry
On my JD 420 mower, it has a mid mount mower deck. Now I've mowed for years with the mower deck wheels on the turf (slightly to mid weighted) and it did a fine job. My cousin-in-law who works at a JD dealership stops by and tells me that I need to set the wheels all the way up, so that they don't touch the lawn, and then use the 'lift' on the hydralic lift coupled with the mower deck height fine adjustment. That way the mower deck floats over the terrain and the wheels are not carrying any weight.
I tried it, and found that when cross cutting on a hill, even though the mower is tilted to the tilt of the hill, the mow deck floats to the level position, which means that the uphill side of the mower deck is floating closer to the land, and makes a lower cut, then the down hill side of the mower deck, which leaves a higher cut. The result is a terrible looking lawn.
I reset my wheels and now again use the wheels in addition to the mower deck height fine adjustment to do my cutting. The wheels ensure that the mower deck follows the land and that the deck is the same tilt of the land. And I have a much better looking lawn.
So I guess my question is, do you really want a mower deck to float? It doesn't seem to work for me.
YMMV
Larry