72" 914mmm/uncut rows

[thcri]

Re: 72\" 914mmm/uncut rows

I guess I kind of was wondering why I couldn't mow at 3". It is too low for me to be comfortable also. If the mower has a 4" setting on it I should be able to mow at the 4".

Guess I will call the dealer and see what he says.

murph

 

[thcri]

Re: 72\" 914mmm/uncut rows

Called the dealer,

Based on what I told him as far as sequence of events he told me he thought the bearings were out on the outside blades. This is frustrating to me as I faithfully have greased the complete deck every three times I mow. I asked him if New Holland knew how to properly size bearings because I am on my second set of wheels in less than a year and I know they are close to going again because of the play and know the bearings on the blades. His exact words to me was "You and every one else" So tommorrow I will take the deck off and loosen the belt and see if the bearings are loose. Luckily they will be under warranty but when the warranty runs out then what.

As far as the wheels it is even more frustrating because I never allow my wheels to take the full pressure of the deck. I set the wheels at the height I want it and then on concrete I lower until the wheels are about a 1/4" off the ground and that is where I set the draft control.

Just maybe a bit frustrated.


murph

 

[Mosey]

Re: 72\" 914mmm/uncut rows

murph - I don't blame you for being frustrated! For what those things cost, you shouldn't be having so much trouble. I don't trust the manual on how often they recommend greasing on my LandPride, so I grease it about 4 times as often as they say to.

 

[markie61]

Re: 72\" 914mmm/uncut rows

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I grease it about 4 times as often as they say to. )</font>

You know, I did that too on my Landpride AT2572, but then it threw grease from the top of the spindles onto the belt, which ate the belt /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif I still lube regularly, but pay more attention to the overflow - live and learn....
Mark

 

[djradz]

Re: 72\" 914mmm/uncut rows

I'm certainly no expert on bearings, but greasing every 3 or 4 or even 5 or 6 times seems too frequent to me. Too much grease is not good as the housing needs some free air space inside for the grease to move around without churning up like a blender. I think one to two times a year is plenty. Maybe half way through the year and then again near the end. Unless, you've got faulty seals, there's no where for that grease to go. Think in terms of your car or truck wheel bearings. These are no different and carry much less load. Some folks never have the bearings greased and in fact on a front wheel drive vehicle, there is no way to grease either the front or the back on many of them. Anyway, as I said, I'm no expert, but I do know that too much grease can be almost as bad as too little.

On this mower striping. I can't for the life of me see how the bearings have anything to do with this, unless the shafts are so loose they're ready to fall out of the housing, and the blades are just flopping around. I think I might be looking for a new dealer if he's telling you this right off without any more details.

Just an after thought, could the lines be caused by the front mower wheels pressing the grass down, prior to the cutting?

 

[Mosey]

Re: 72\" 914mmm/uncut rows

Mark and djradz - Thanks for the advice. So far I haven't noticed and grease flying around inside and getting on the belt. I'll cut back on the greasing I guess, at least on the blade bearings. I'll still pump away on the wheel bearings though, since they get in mud in the spring.

 

[Hoeman00]

Re: 72\" 914mmm/uncut rows

I've got a power greaser and put a shot in before every mowing.
I had a 6' Woods RFM and it had the stripes since day one and dealer told me it was fine.
I tried going slower and different heights but it still left stripes.
I went to a local surplus/everything store and found a set of Deere blades 3/4" longer and 5/16" larger hole so I machined some bushings and it worked great.
The only thing I see w/ my 84" is it leaves some windrows but I usually don't mow on time so I'm cutting 3 or 4" of grass.
If your bearings are out grab the blade and try to rock it up and down.
I can't believe they are wore out.
How about getting in some taller grass that it leaves stripes in and shut down the whole tractor then get down and size up where the stripes are.
Use a tape and measure the cuts and see what u come up w/.

 

[thcri]

Re: 72\" 914mmm/uncut rows

djradz,

The only reason that I grease them as much as I do is because the first ones went out from the factory after about 5 mowings. To me that was way to early and mostly thought that maybe the dealer never greased them from the factory. I don't put much in them, maybe only one or two squirts at the most. I usually don't see any grease coming out of the bearings. I am also aware that you can overgrease that is kind of why I watch it. When I mentioned it to the dealer, he made it sound like he is having a lot of trouble with these wheels. Like I said I also keep the deck about a 1/4" off the ground too so there shouldn't be much pressure on them??

As far as the streaks, they are right behind the outside side of the front tires, also line right up where the blades separate or the divider points under the mower. My imagination could be the front wheels are bending the grass over but why not the whole tire area being bent over and not mowing? The streaks are 1 to 2 inches in width.

Dealer did tell me he ran into it one time where the bearings on the blades where out and it was just enough to tip the blades. I will try and get the mower in and loosen the belt to see they are loose.

murph

 

[hazmat]

Re: 72\" 914mmm/uncut rows

I'm with DJ,

Too much grease can hurt you. Follow the Manufacturer's recommendation - not the dealers.

No offense to any mechanics/techs out there, but most of the time the engineers who come up with the maint. schedules do know what they are doing. Too often a mechanic will draw conclusions from an isolated incident - Ie Jones' MMM gave out 'cause he only greased it 2X per year. Thus he recommends that everyone should grease before each mowing. Could have been that it never had the correct amount of grease to start with (hard to tell as you can't see it in there or when it starts to come out.)

Regarding the spindles. Before you loosten the belt, check the belt tension. I can think of a few reasons a spindle would die. #1 is lack of lubrication (but remember too much is bad) and #2 is an overtight belt #3 would be some kind of mis-alignment. This is purely speculative, but maybe the tech at your dealer is cranking all the belts too tight?

I'd try the wiggle test before you loosten the belt. Also if the spindles were shot they'd probably be making a heck of a racket. Did you notice any sound changes?

As mentioned before - a good cleaning might do you some good. Try that before lugging the 400# deck off to the dealer.

Edit here - Just read that you did clean the deck /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Good luck - hope you get this resolved.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Re: 72\" 914mmm/uncut rows

Just curious, has someone suggested setting the blade positions. On side discharge models, the blades must be staggered (one at 12 o'clock, next at 3 o'clock, next at 12 o'clock etc). If yours is a rear discharge it may 'still apply. Maybe you have already tried this. On lighter cuts it doesn't make much difference but on a heavier cut if the blades don't discharge the grass past the baffles it will cause the clippings to accumulate under the deck and cause uncut areas. Otherwise, too high of a cut setting can cause uncut strips or bad bearings. Usually if the bearings are bad enough to cause strips you will know it. Just my opinion
Good Luck,
Peter