Mowing BX 60" mower

[4570Man]

First, I think all the comments in the last 8 posts are very good to check/consider. One not mentioned was bent shrouds and other metal underneath the deck. I run 2 differing model decks on 2 different Kubotas and cannot remember for sure which one has the semicircular shrouds and "guides" underneath and which one does not. Bent, misaligned sheet metal under there can cause striping for sure.

Is your striping ALWAYS there?, just frequently?, only when mowing heavier deeper grass? My BX2200 has around 830hrs on it and probably 95% of that is mowing grass with the 60 inch belly mower. I get striping only when mowing grass that has gotten too tall (happened to me less than 10 hours ago matter of fact.) Well sharpened blades tends to minimize many problems including this one.

Well sharpened blades aren’t the end of it. I see plenty of people running sharp, but severely worn blades. Once the blades loose the straight cutting edge and square tip the cut quality decreases.

 

[diesel85]

That's very true. I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but I was told to have the blades oriented like - | - configuration when I bolt them on.

 

[JWR]

That's very true. I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but I was told to have the blades oriented like - | - configuration when I bolt them on.

That won't really matter (blade orientation) because it will change over time with small amounts of belt slippage. There will always be small amounts of belt slippage on the pulleys for each blade & that will vary with load on each blade, etc. For all practical purposes random (even when everything is et up perfect with ideal tightness, etc.) These decks (thank goodness) do not depend on blade orientation to either miss each other or to cut well.

 

[redharley]

Under deck all looks well, going to get a set of new blades Saturday if time allows. Striping happens weekly mostly when on side hills it is most noticeable.

 

[JWR]

Under deck all looks well, going to get a set of new blades Saturday if time allows. Striping happens weekly mostly when on side hills it is most noticeable.

Don't mean to insult your intel at all, but the striping is not a slight lack of overlap in your mowing passes is it !? With larger mowers going laterally along fairly steep hillsides it is quite easy to misjudge and fail to overlap the passes a tiny bit(which of course leaves stripes.) Seems to happen more on slopes than on flatter places. Seems more of a nuisance on hillsides even on BX size machines.

Some of that with larger machines is sideways looseness of the hitch allowing the deck to ride "downhill", etc. That part is of course not related to your situation with a belly mower.