Finish Mower Height

[lonka2]

I purchased a 60" Big Bee finish mower a few months back and it just cuts too low. Approximately 2 inches. I was able to locate the manual on-line and it says you can cut from 1 to 6 inches. I have placed all the spacers on the bottom of the wheel spindle and there is no more room for additional spacers. Does anyone know of a simple fix?

 

[greg_g]

More spacers. By the looks of the parts manual ( http://www.agequipmentusa.com/agequ...nishing Mowers Big Bee FM 48-60-72 manual.pdf ), you only got two 1/2" and one 3/4" spacers per corner. Stands to reason that with no spacers you'd get the aforementioned 2" cut. If three per corner is all you got, that means you're only raising it another 1-3/4 inches. For the full 6" cutting height, you'd need spacers that total 4 inches

//greg//

 

[lonka2]

Thanks for the information Greg. I guess the problem I'm having is the wheel spindle will only accept 2 half inch spacers (See Photos). I was thinking about taking the wheel assemblies to a machine shop to have extensions made, but I wanted two see if someone else had a simpler solution. Thanks again.

 

[greg_g]

No - I think the problem is with whoever told you it could be adjusted to cut between 2" and 6". Take a closer look at that owners manual I uploaded for you. The cutting heights are stated on pg2.

And the 1st photo suggests that those aren't OE wheels/tires on there. They appear to be possibly as much as 2" too small for those forks. Most finish mowers I've used have tires sized so the tread and sidewalls nearly touch the top and sides of the forks. Bigger tires would give you back some cutting height.

//greg//

 

[lonka2]

Thanks Greg,

Tire size did cross my mind but if I put larger tires on, they would interfere with the turn clearance. There is only a quarter inch gap between the mower deck and the wheel (while it turns). I mentioned 1 to 6 inch cuts based on the attached flyer. Other than tire size, do you have any other suggestions?

 

[CDsdad]

I'm like greg. I don't think those are the original wheels. I don't think the fork assemblies are OE either. Maybe you could find a better diagram showing the wheel assemblies that gives you the size and compare to what you have.

 

[lonka2]

Here is a picture of new Big Bee sold at stevenstractors.com. I believe these are the same wheels and forks.

 

[Wayne_Freeman]

Having both a finish mower and bushog I am curious why you would want a finish mower to cut 6" grass unless you have a lot of scalding going on from undulations?

 

[lonka2]

I would like to raise my cutting height to around 4 inches. This would be a better cutting height for St. Augustine grass. BTW, this is my first posting on TBN and I am grateful for all the suggestions.

 

[MarkLeininger]

I would like to raise my cutting height to around 4 inches. This would be a better cutting height for St. Augustine grass. BTW, this is my first posting on TBN and I am grateful for all the suggestions.

I hear you, I cut my pasture grass as high as I can get it to keep the weeds down but the grass healthy. Not sure what's wrong with your setup, but it doesn't matter, you need to change it. Two options I see are to try to find different blades that might give you a few inches more height if there's room under the deck. Instead of welding extensions on the wheel pins, I think I'd have them weld new cradles that the deck hangs from, and raise the deck a few inches. That cradle is a hack welding project, even I could do it. Those pins are a nice finish and need to fit pretty accurately through the bushing. Doesn't seem easy to get that right.

That's one advantage of rotary cutters over finish mowers. Rotary cutters usually cut up to about 10" or 12". Of course if you need that quality cut they won't work.