Adjustments and mowing with RCK60-30B

[davatk]

Looking for some advice from experienced MMM people. I recently purchased a B2630 and MMM (RCK60-30B). My first mowing job, although fast, did not look that great. Before mowing, I adjusted all the wheels to what I thought would set it to a 2" height cut, which is what I normally mow my yard at. I am pretty sure I have them all set properly (followed diagram/chart in owners manual). Anyhow, after mowing it appears almost as if one side is higher than the other, as the grass cut looks uneven. Should I be measuring the blade height from a solid surface and adjusting something else to make sure both sides match ?

Also, the B2630 has position control, and I understand the RCK60-30B is a "floating deck". Should I drop the position contol all the way down when mowing or should I drop it down till it touches the ground then stop ? I did the latter when mowing this first time.

Thanks for any advice and experiences anyone can share about getting the best perfomance out of one of these mowers.

 

[radioman]

The position control is exatly what its for- the height you want to cut at. The wheels are not meant to roll continous with lawn. The wheels is onyl for prevent scalping. I set mine to point it barely moves from brushing from grass. Do you have the manual for mower? it has the adjustment settings in there.

 

[Toolguy]

I found that my RCK60-30B MMM was about 1/2" low on the left side when adjusted for my regular mowing height of 3". To even it out I drilled another set of holes in the mounting tube that the holds the wheel. It was easy enough to do. First, I drilled through the tube on one side only. I also offset the hole so it was not directly under the standard hole. Then I put the shaft up through the tube and used the hole in the tube that I just drilled and the hole in the shaft as a guide to get the second hole in the right spot. Worked great. My only guess is that the tube is welded to the deck a little off spec. I could have complained to Kubota and said I wanted a new deck, but it was a lot easier just to fix it myself. It sounds like that is what is wrong with yours. I measured the blade height by parking on a level, cement surface. I first made sure that the air pressure in the rear tires was equal. Then I used a tape to measure the height of the blade tip on each side. To be safe, be sure and turn the tractor engine off when you do that.

Your mower is a "ground following mower". The wheels on the mower are meant to carry the weight and are used to adjust the height. You can hold it with the position control if you want to, though. On mine, I removed the rear set of wheels and used a chain on each side to carry the weight. It is now a "semi-suspended" deck. The front wheels still carry some of the weight. I did it because I didn't like the look of the tracks that the rear wheels left in the cut grass.

Overall I like the mower. It does a good job on my lawn. It will never be as good as a ZT mower, though. The tractor tires leaves tracks on the lawn that a ZT does not. That is just the trade-off you get with having one machine that does many jobs. Good luck.

 

[davatk]

The position control is exatly what its for- the height you want to cut at. The wheels are not meant to roll continous with lawn. The wheels is onyl for prevent scalping. I set mine to point it barely moves from brushing from grass. Do you have the manual for mower? it has the adjustment settings in there.

Hi radioman. I'm not sure your statment is correct since this is not a "suspended" type mower. I was under the impression that with a floating deck, the wheels should always be on the ground. The post after yours seems to confirm that - he called it a "ground following" mower.

 

[davatk]

I found that my RCK60-30B MMM was about 1/2" low on the left side when adjusted for my regular mowing height of 3". To even it out I drilled another set of holes in the mounting tube that the holds the wheel. It was easy enough to do. First, I drilled through the tube on one side only. I also offset the hole so it was not directly under the standard hole. Then I put the shaft up through the tube and used the hole in the tube that I just drilled and the hole in the shaft as a guide to get the second hole in the right spot. Worked great. My only guess is that the tube is welded to the deck a little off spec. I could have complained to Kubota and said I wanted a new deck, but it was a lot easier just to fix it myself. It sounds like that is what is wrong with yours. I measured the blade height by parking on a level, cement surface. I first made sure that the air pressure in the rear tires was equal. Then I used a tape to measure the height of the blade tip on each side. To be safe, be sure and turn the tractor engine off when you do that.

Your mower is a "ground following mower". The wheels on the mower are meant to carry the weight and are used to adjust the height. You can hold it with the position control if you want to, though. On mine, I removed the rear set of wheels and used a chain on each side to carry the weight. It is now a "semi-suspended" deck. The front wheels still carry some of the weight. I did it because I didn't like the look of the tracks that the rear wheels left in the cut grass.

Overall I like the mower. It does a good job on my lawn. It will never be as good as a ZT mower, though. The tractor tires leaves tracks on the lawn that a ZT does not. That is just the trade-off you get with having one machine that does many jobs. Good luck.

Thanks Toolguy for that great description. That sounds exactly like what my problem may be - assuming that I did not mess up on the adjustments. I'll get out the old tape measure as you suggested and do a measurement to a cement floor in my garage to get the real scoop. That's how I used to do my yardman and it always worked well. I guess I just expected the kubota $2500+ mower to have the adjustment wheels correct. Maybe not, we'll see.

A couple of questions - what side did you end up drilling the whole in ? And do you remember the drill bit size that you used ?

Thanks again ! You guys on this forum are great ! :thumbsup:

 

[Toolguy]

It was the left side. I can't remember the size of the hole. It is about 3/8". Maybe one size larger. Just big enough for the pin to freely slide through.

 

[ttstraw]

The decks on the xx30 series tractors are ground engaging meaning they are meant to ride on the ground. Before I would drill holes I would check the wheel/pins and make sure there isnt a difference in length in them, maybe you just need to shuffle them around because they got put in the wrong sleeve on the deck. Is it possible that the front wheel/pin is a touch shorter than the back ones and for some reason they are on the same side right now, hope that makes sense.

...Never mind on this...I just saw a xx30 series deck on the detail your tractor thread and yeah your not going to get those wheels mixed up on where they go......!!

 

[davatk]

The decks on the xx30 series tractors are ground engaging meaning they are meant to ride on the ground. Before I would drill holes I would check the wheel/pins and make sure there isnt a difference in length in them, maybe you just need to shuffle them around because they got put in the wrong sleeve on the deck. Is it possible that the front wheel/pin is a touch shorter than the back ones and for some reason they are on the same side right now, hope that makes sense.

...Never mind on this...I just saw a xx30 series deck on the detail your tractor thread and yeah your not going to get those wheels mixed up on where they go......!!

Hmm, might be worth checking anyway. You never know. I'll do that before I drill any holes.

 

[davatk]

Ok, so I measured the blade height, and lo and behold, one side was a half inch higher. Then I look at the front wheel adjustments on the deck and see that some idiot (yours truly) had adjusted one of the wheels improperly. :ashamed::ashamed:

So, I readjusted it properly measured the blade on both sided and now all is good !

Then proceeded to mow my yard, loving every minute of it.

Luvin my new tractor. :tractor::cool2:

 

[ChuckinNH]

The position control is exatly what its for- the height you want to cut at. The wheels are not meant to roll continous with lawn. The wheels is onyl for prevent scalping. I set mine to point it barely moves from brushing from grass. Do you have the manual for mower? it has the adjustment settings in there.

Wrong. The BX mower is different than the mower he is talking about. That deck is designed to follow the ground, and the lift should be lowered all the way.

 

[Tom_H]

Wrong. The BX mower is different than the mower he is talking about. That deck is designed to follow the ground, and the lift should be lowered all the way.

Chuck, can't quite follow whether That deck is the "BX mower" or "the mower he is talking about".

I get all my rain in the winter and the grass grows while always far too wet to cut. By the time it even begins to dry our, it is very tall. Therefore my first cut in the spring is with my BX MMM at the completely raised position. I make a second pass with it lowered a little, but still well above the 4.0 position on the knob. I've never had a problem.

I have read elsewhere that the MMM on B series tractors must be lowered all the way to the ground. Some posters say that is not correct. I have read that the MMM on B series are not truly "suspended" and others say that is not correct.

Would you mind elaborating a bit. I surely would like to get a clear picture.

 

[ChuckinNH]

All the older B's, and the larger B's now B2630-B3200 use a ground contact mower that is designed to ride on the ground. The wheels on the deck are adjusted to establish cutting height. The BX series, and the new B2x20's use a suspended deck where the cutting height is adjusted with a wheel on the operators platform, but is actually controlled by the 3pt. The decks he asked about are the larger ones for the larger B's.
Hope that's a little clearer. My dealer probably has a half dozen, or more of those used too.

 

[Tom_H]

Which type does the B3030 have?

 

[ChuckinNH]

The B2630, and B3030 use a mower that rides on the ground. The height of cut is adjusted by raising, or lowering the mower wheels.

 

[Lindy]

It's exactly as Chuck says.

I have a B3030, and I've had both decks on the tractor -- the 60" RCK60-30B and the 72" RC72-30B. I upgraded to the 72" deck after owning the 60" deck for a while. They both mow nicely. I just wanted the extra width for mowing more easily along fencelines, around trees and other obstacles. Also, the wider deck gets the job done a bit faster (diesel isn't getting any cheaper).

They both ride on the ground. You just drop the position control all the way down for mowing.

It's easy to adjust the mowing height, but the diagrams on the deck can be confusing. You have to select TWO things for each wheel to get the desired height: First the "X" or "Y" hole on the deck into which the pin will be inserted, and second the proper depth hole on the wheel spindle itself.

I've been very pleased with both of the decks. Never had any issues at all with uneven cutting.

 

[davatk]

I found that my RCK60-30B MMM was about 1/2" low on the left side when adjusted for my regular mowing height of 3". To even it out I drilled another set of holes in the mounting tube that the holds the wheel. It was easy enough to do. First, I drilled through the tube on one side only. I also offset the hole so it was not directly under the standard hole. Then I put the shaft up through the tube and used the hole in the tube that I just drilled and the hole in the shaft as a guide to get the second hole in the right spot. Worked great. My only guess is that the tube is welded to the deck a little off spec. I could have complained to Kubota and said I wanted a new deck, but it was a lot easier just to fix it myself. It sounds like that is what is wrong with yours. I measured the blade height by parking on a level, cement surface. I first made sure that the air pressure in the rear tires was equal. Then I used a tape to measure the height of the blade tip on each side. To be safe, be sure and turn the tractor engine off when you do that.

Your mower is a "ground following mower". The wheels on the mower are meant to carry the weight and are used to adjust the height. You can hold it with the position control if you want to, though. On mine, I removed the rear set of wheels and used a chain on each side to carry the weight. It is now a "semi-suspended" deck. The front wheels still carry some of the weight. I did it because I didn't like the look of the tracks that the rear wheels left in the cut grass.

Overall I like the mower. It does a good job on my lawn. It will never be as good as a ZT mower, though. The tractor tires leaves tracks on the lawn that a ZT does not. That is just the trade-off you get with having one machine that does many jobs. Good luck.

I went to adjust my deck again yestereday - wanted to raise it up a half inch. Anyhow, looked at the diagram again, and when I did what it said, for the height I wanted, it was off again. It apears that there is a problem with the way the holes are drilled on one of the front wheels, the right one I believe. Anyhow, I had to use the "diagonal" hole as opposed to the pependicular one, and the blade height was right on. Moral of the story, is - at least with this mower (RCK60-30B) measure the blade height to confirm you've got what you expect. :thumbsup:

 

[TripleR]

Ok, so I measured the blade height, and lo and behold, one side was a half inch higher. Then I look at the front wheel adjustments on the deck and see that some idiot (yours truly) had adjusted one of the wheels improperly. :ashamed::ashamed:

So, I readjusted it properly measured the blade on both sided and now all is good !

Then proceeded to mow my yard, loving every minute of it.

Luvin my new tractor. :tractor::cool2:

Good to hear it worked out for you.