Anti-Scalp Roller Mod's?

   / Anti-Scalp Roller Mod's?
  • Thread Starter
#21  
Re: Anti-Scalp Roller Mod\'s?

I may have to inquire at another company. The folks I emailed yesterday (check a few posts up) have not responded. Really ticks me off when I e-mail a company, beg them to take my $$, and they won't even give me the courtesy of a response! Seems like that has happened a lot lately. Is this a problem with anybody else? Ever find folks who just don't want your $$, despite the ton of $$ they are spending for their fancy websites with little sayings like 'e-mail us today...we're eager to help!'.
 
   / Anti-Scalp Roller Mod's? #22  
Re: Anti-Scalp Roller Mod\'s?

I agree that the wheels are a poor design. My property is on a hillside with a lot of angulations and I was really worried about scalping and uneven cut when I bought my BX. However, I feel that my 60 MMM delivers a fine cut. Maybe I just don't have a picky eye!

John
 
   / Anti-Scalp Roller Mod's? #23  
Re: Anti-Scalp Roller Mod\'s?

"Also, not sure about the use of polyurethan tread. I need to do some more research to zone in on the proper elastomer for this application. "
Skateboards and in-line skates use polyurethane wheels. They both take a beating on concrete and blacktop and hold up very well, so on grass it should work OK. Also, I had a floating dock in tidal water that had polyurethane rollers between the dock and the pilings. Used to change out the original rubber annually, but the poly still looked unworn after three years.
 
   / Anti-Scalp Roller Mod's?
  • Thread Starter
#24  
Re: Anti-Scalp Roller Mod\'s?

bxmmcc,
that statement was a case where my fingers typed one thing and my brain was thinking of something else. my brain was trying to say that I was leaning toward one of the polyurethane compounds, but was not sure if that was the 'optimum' choice. PU (acronym for polyurethane in the chem. industry) has a wide range of hardnesses. The websites list several durometer (measure of hardness) ratings of the various plastics they use. Can be almost as soft as foam, or as nearly as hard as steel. As always, there's tradeoffs for every choice and I was attempting to admit my ignorance of all the possibilities.
I even screwed up the price of the wheels in that letter to the wheel website. I just ordered some new ones recently from Tractorsmart.com for ~$5.50 or so each...not the $8+ I mentioned earlier.
RET
 
   / Anti-Scalp Roller Mod's? #25  
Re: Anti-Scalp Roller Mod\'s?

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( RET
If you raise the wheels to the recommended height, they essentially do nothing. If they are set a little lower the cutting performance is greatly increased.

Greg )</font>

I still don't understand. The MMM floats with the tractor. If an anti-scalp wheel hits the ground it raises the mower deck thus making the grass higher on one side and lower on the other.

From the hundreds of earlier posts the BX is supposed to have a better cut than the MMM on the B7500 etc since the those decks roll on the ground instead of suspending from the tractor.

It's just not making any sense to me, but then again I'm not the smartest person in the world, just one of the better looking ones.
 
   / Anti-Scalp Roller Mod's? #26  
Re: Anti-Scalp Roller Mod\'s?

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I still don't understand. The MMM floats with the tractor. If an anti-scalp wheel hits the ground it raises the mower deck thus making the grass higher on one side and lower on the other.

From the hundreds of earlier posts the BX is supposed to have a better cut than the MMM on the B7500 etc since the those decks roll on the ground instead of suspending from the tractor.

It's just not making any sense to me, but then again I'm not the smartest person in the world, just one of the better looking ones. )</font>

OK........ I am going to try to help you!! People that are creative and own BX machines are particular fussy about how things work and the quality of the work that is accomplished by the use of the said machine. For this reason and this reason only, we are always trying to re invent the wheel. Not only are we the smartest people in the world, we are the best looking!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

2464_1.3165632.gif
 
   / Anti-Scalp Roller Mod's? #27  
Re: Anti-Scalp Roller Mod\'s?

Hootie
Are you sure that your deck is level? We have only seen trouble with one of our BX's not mowing level and that turned out to be a problem with the tires believe it or not. The deck is a little trouble to level, but keep measuring the height of the blades in the front, side and rear positions. Check tire pressure also. Hope this helps.
Lewis
 
   / Anti-Scalp Roller Mod's?
  • Thread Starter
#28  
Re: Anti-Scalp Roller Mod\'s?

Ditto what Junkman said. I am pretty darn handsome if I have to say so myself. The balding scalp and beer belly just adds to my atractiveness.

1st, let me say that the BX 60" deck is great. Very clean cut overall.
2nd, my deck is within 0.00001" of being level. Like I said earlier, I'm picky. I guarantee it. (that's easy since ya'll can't drop by with a ruler to call me on this!). On level ground, I get perfectly even cuts.
Here's what I'm trying to explain:
With wheel set relatively high, when you hit a pothole the deck will temporarily dip on one side before the wheel catches it This results in a section that is cut lower on one side of the swath than the previous pass beside it. With wheels set lower, the deck can't dip or tilt to the side as far before the wheel catches it...thus less 'undercut'. {If my left front tire rolls into a hole, I don't want my deck to go down with it.}
What about bumps that are high, such as roots and such? Well, with the wheel set low, it WILL tend to push the deck up and, for an instant, result in a 'high cut'. But, as soon as the deck wheel rolls off of the hump/bump/root, and the deck returns to it normal elevation, straddling the bump, the back 1/2 of the deck will ensure that the 'high cut' is sheared down to the intended level. 'High cuts' are correctable. 'Low cuts' are a done deal 'til next mowing session.

By the way, gotta apologize for being down on castercity.com. The OWNER just called me and we spent 30 min. discussing my 'pet project'. He really appreciated the 'free advertising' he got by mentioning his site here and wants to help solve the issue (and spread the word about his company too). He is working me up some options/prices right now and will fax to me within next hour or two. He retired at age 50, got bored, and decided to start up this company as a 'hobby' to keep his brian engaged...he's 61 now. He loves working on little 'brain teasers' like this just for fun. He's teaching me a bunch of cool stuff too about what are good/bad/ugly choices for this application. Will share his suggestions when I get them via fax.

As always, handsome and (getting) Smart, /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
roger
 
   / Anti-Scalp Roller Mod's?
  • Thread Starter
#29  
Re: Anti-Scalp Roller Mod\'s?

Just ordered 4 anti-scalp wheels from Castercity.com to test.
There was no pic on their website, so I had to go by the owner's description over the phone. Owen (the owner) had consulted with his engineers and pondered all morning over the best choice he could recommend. What I ended up with is what he calls a 'canvas' wheel. That makes me think of those trailing wheels on a rear mount mower. Owen will be installing brass hat bushings (uhhh, Owen said the proper term in this application is 'bearing', not 'bushing' (?)). After brass bearing installation, I will have a 3/4" dia hole remaining. Since the OEM axle is 5/8", I plan to go to McMaster.com and get a 3/4" axle with a grease zerk in the middle of the head (couple of bucks apiece).
Owen made me promise to keep him posted on how they perform this spring/summer. If they do not work out, he said he would work with me at little/no cost to try something else.
He's excited about making this work.
I'll post pics when the wheels arrive.
By the way...they cost $15 each vs. $5-6 for OEM. So, they need to last ~3x as long as OEM to break even on parts cost.
roger
 
   / Anti-Scalp Roller Mod's? #30  
Re: Anti-Scalp Roller Mod\'s?

RET,

While we are waiting for those wheels to arrive...let's take a look at the mowing situation again. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

You are trying to get a perfect cut on a rough surface by your own description. So the question is, should any mower without some kind of exotic self-leveling, automatic elevation stabilizing system be expected to do what you are asking? Personally, I doubt it.

Let’s look at your example of the pothole in an otherwise smooth lawn [my simplification, you have lots of them].

Take a MMM mower that rides on the ground on its own wheels. It is essentially just dragged along by the tractor, with the tractor supplying the power to turn the cutting blades. The tractor falls into the pothole, the mower rides on the surface. But when the mower wheel falls in the pothole, the mower itself drops (at that corner) about the same depth as the pothole is deep. And the mower jumps right back up that same amount when the wheel comes out of the pothole.

A suspended deck, moves up and down with the tractor, but since the edge of the deck is a greater distance from the tractor wheels [farther than the MMM that rides on its own wheels is], the deck edge does not drop as far downward, as the ground-supported deck would, for the same size pothole.

The tractor frame is like a lever, and the deck is at the midpoint. The midpoint of the lever moves half the distance as the end, if the lever pivots at the other end. When the front wheel drops in a hole, the tractor essentially pivots on the rear axle. So it looks like a suspended deck should average out the roughness of the cut, as compared to a mower that rides on the ground on its own wheels [which are closer together than the tractor’s wheels]. For this reason a suspended MMM deck should provide a smoother cut on rough ground than one that rides on its own wheels.

So now what role do the anti-scalp wheels play on a suspended deck? I am having a problem expecting them do anything other than what they are designed to do. That is, in an extreme situation they keep the mower from digging in. I don’t see them as being there to turn the suspended deck into a dual function suspended/ground-riding deck. If this is true, then the anti-scalp wheels should be as high as possible, and only contact the ground in extreme situations.

Like I mentioned above I am very interested in your project and look forward to the continuing reports of your progress. Just thought it might be fun to analyze the situation a bit while you are waiting for those wheels from castercity.com.

As I am thinking through this, I am leaning towards the conclusion that the real solution to the problem of a good, even cut on your rough lawn is for you to spend some time leveling the uneven surface you are mowing. I doubt that any improvement you come up with to make the anti-scalp wheels more bulletproof will result in a better cut of the lawn. And I am not sure you really want them to be hitting the ground all the time. If they are doing this you are forcing them to perform the much heavier duty service of a ground-contact-mower wheel. This is not what they were designed to do.

I don’t want to sound like I am saying that the wheels don’t need any improvement. I do believe they should have bearings and grease fittings. These are mower decks that cost more than 20 HP garden tractors (which come with mower decks attached) from Sears! They should be top notch, high quality product in all respects. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Bottom line? Sounds like what you are cutting really requires something that is somewhere in between a brush hog and finish mower! You may be using your finish mower in a service situation that it was not designed for. In other words, you may actually be abusing it, and seeing the results of that abuse. The root problem may not be the fact that the wheels have failed.

Hey, I’ve done similar thing at times too /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif, so I am not being critical, just trying to state a possible fact. I don’t know how hard you are working that MMM. I am just going by what I think I heard you say.

Like everyone else, I look forward to hearing your coming report on the wheels from castercity.com. Should be a very positive improvement for all users. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 

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