Deck Baffles

1BeachBum · Aug 16, 2009

I've had a ZForce 44 for several years now. It cuts ok and have had no unexpected problems- except for deck clogging. It doesn't clog completely but after just a little cutting it starts sounding like I'm sitting in a B17 flying a mission over Germany in WW2- blades slapping all the grass stuck to the underside of the deck. It still cuts ok after this but I spend about 30 minutes after cutting each and every time jacking it up and cleaning the deck. The wash fittings are useless- never clean completely. I watch my neighbors cut in about the same amount of time and then put their mowers up- no deck cleaning required! They ride a variety of mowers and I've crawled under a few checking after they cut and the cedks are basically clean- nothing like my cub. Called the dealer and eventually cub and no results. A guy at a parts place recommended removing the deck baffles. Does anybody know if this will help. I'm to the point that if I could sell the mower it'd be gone today. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

OldMachinist · Aug 16, 2009

If you have the formed mower deck like 99% of the Z-Force mowers then there no baffles to remove. I know a few models had a fabricated deck that had baffles. I have a Z-Force 50 and it's the same way. There are some posts on here about guys that put POR-15 on the underside of there deck and have said that the grass doesn't stick. POR-15 is a high performance coating that is super hard. I intend to put some on this winter to see how it works. If you do search for POR-15 on this forum you'll find sevaeral posts about it.

rcbe · Aug 16, 2009

1BeachBum said:
I've had a ZForce 44 for several years now. It cuts ok and have had no unexpected problems- except for deck clogging. It doesn't clog completely but after just a little cutting it starts sounding like I'm sitting in a B17 flying a mission over Germany in WW2- blades slapping all the grass stuck to the underside of the deck. It still cuts ok after this but I spend about 30 minutes after cutting each and every time jacking it up and cleaning the deck. The wash fittings are useless- never clean completely. I watch my neighbors cut in about the same amount of time and then put their mowers up- no deck cleaning required! They ride a variety of mowers and I've crawled under a few checking after they cut and the cedks are basically clean- nothing like my cub. Called the dealer and eventually cub and no results. A guy at a parts place recommended removing the deck baffles. Does anybody know if this will help. I'm to the point that if I could sell the mower it'd be gone today. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cut when grass is dry - simple rule of thumb: if you see your front tire treads running wet from grass moisture, it's too wet to mow w/o the grass clippings sticking/plugging up yer deck... let the yard dry out and then cut.

1BeachBum · Aug 16, 2009

It's been raining every few days since March. I can only wait so long. The front tires sometimes are dry and I still get clippings on the underside of the deck. One consolation is that the wetter the yard is the easier the deck is to clean. Seems funny that the neighbors don't have the problem. And this deck does have baffles but they're welded in place. I'm not a welder so puting them back would be a problem. I have noticed that the clippings discharged from my cub are a lot finer than the neighbors' mowers. The neighbors' mowers I've looked under don't have baffles so that's why I was asking. I'll look for por-15 though. Thanks.

OldMachinist · Aug 16, 2009

I found a picture of the bottom of the Z-force 44" deck in the service manual and I see that it has a baffle. The 50" deck has that area formed in it and the discharge area is larger.

I agree it's been hard to find a time this year when the grass is dry. Even when it hasn't rained in a couple of days the grass stays wet until about 1pm and starts getting dew again by 4pm. But thats just how it is with the humidity in the central states. Here's the POR-15 website POR15, Inc. - Stop Rust Permanently - Repair Gas & Fuel Tanks If you shop around you can find some places selling it cheaper than the manufacturer's website.

1BeachBum · Aug 16, 2009

Yeah that's my deck. I was curious if removing the baffles would give me a less fine cut, less recirculation. The coarser the cut grass the heavier it would be and maybe too heavy to cling to the bottom of the deck. The neighbors don't have baffles and the discharged grass is much coarser. It is much more obvious laying on top of the ground, especially the next day as it dies and turns dark brown. But at least they're not laying under their mowers after each cut scraping and cursing, like me. Thanks again for the reply. I'm fixing to go out and cut the yard, again! If you're anywhere near middle Tn. and hear somebody yelling in a little while you'll know who it is.

savageactor7 · Aug 16, 2009

When there's a cycle of wet weather and we're forced to cut wet grass ...which I have no problem doing, you have to be more diligent about sharpening your blades. Dull blades bend grass over and rip the tops off...sharp blades cut cleanly and won't be as prone to clog up conventional mowers...sorry I don't know about zforce. but sharpening the blades can't hurt.

Golf courses cut wet grass daily...but they always sharpen their blades.

OldMachinist · Aug 16, 2009

If you remove the baffle you might lose the suction required to lift the grass to get a clean cut and it might not be able to move the clippings to the discharge chute. I think it would just cause you more trouble. Ny father-in-law applies MopNGlow floor wax to the bottom of his John Deere deck every time he cleans it. I have seen the bottom after several cuttings and it is cleaner than mine.