Mowing B6000 Mower Blades

Anonymous Poster · May 16, 2002

I recently bought a B6000 (about a 1978 model) that runs great and has a 48" Kobuta MMM. Only problem is that the pulley on the front of the engine drives the long belt for the mower the wrong direction (blades turn backwards).

I have thought of two possible solutions.
1. Get a slightly longer belt and cross it under the tractor as the belt goes back to the mower deck.
2. Have made, or buy if possible, mower blades that are sharpened on the opposite edge and have the trailing edge curved up to lift the grass.

Anyone else encountered this situation? What was your solution? Any other suggestions?

Thanks,
George

chim · May 17, 2002

I remember seeing blades that were CCW rotation somewhere on the 'net while looking for replacement blabes. Do a Dogpile search for "mower blades" or "replacement mower blades" and surf around for a while.

I'd be careful about changing rotation because of mower performance. Most mowers are designed for certain air flow characteristics, and you could end up with miserable results.

If you want to try blade substitution, maybe a search of a left-discharge decks would provide some blades that "mow the wrong way". I wanted to try Gator Blades, but they had none for my old deck. I bought some that were the right length and enlarged the mounting hole to fit. Those suckers were made of some pretty tough metal.

Seems funny the Kubota dealer wouldn't be able to put you onto something.................chim

mwechtal · May 17, 2002

The mower deck that came with my B7100 manual tranny did the same thing, until someone told me that the belt had to be crossed. Once I looked at it closely, I could see that the 2 pulleys that turn the belt back 90 degrees were set at different heights. I had to be sure to twist the belt in the correct direction so that it wouldn't rub on itself.

My guess is that the belt is supposed to be crossed.

Mike

looch · May 17, 2002

Interesting. My old B5100E had the same MMM/belt system and the belt did not have to be crossed. I wonder if there are different pulley set-ups for US vs. grey market or for different types of mower decks?

George, do you have a model number on that deck? I don't have mine anymore, but I bet there's someone here who might have some knowledge about your particular deck.

Kelvin · May 18, 2002

farmergeo2,

I'd say that the blades are the correct blades and the mower's drive belt is installed wrong. As mentioined in the other B7100 reply, the belt on my gear drive B7100 has to be crossed as well; otherwise, the blades will turn in the wrong direction.

Look at the height (ground clearance) of the two front pulleys. If they are different heights (probably 1/4" difference) then I'd bet that the belts need to be crossed.

I still dispute whether the B6000 is grey or not. As a minimum it was produced as a US product (based upon the Kubota USA B6000 sales brochures that I have), and may possibly have been importe as a grey as well.

GREY MARKET EDITED COMMENTS: Another post had a link to the Kubota.com website that had Kubota's list of grey tractors (<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.kubota.com/graylist.cfm>http://www.kubota.com/graylist.cfm</A>). The B6000 is on the list of grey tractors but has an asterisk with a note implying that is was also a US market tractor.

Kelvin

SteveM · May 22, 2002

I have a B6000E with the (woods made) 48" MMM. Mine is a US model; but i dont believe the grey was any different. Anyhow, you have your belt incorrectly routed, which is easy to do since it serpentines around so much. If I had a scanner I would email you the routing instructions off my owners manual; but absent that, go to your local dealer and see if they can help....if not, post back and I will try to fax you the routing instructions if you have a fax I can send to....