Forget bagging, go muching

[Trouble]

OK, I had huge problems with my Powerflow on my Deere GT....to the point where I almost lost a finger unclogging the SOB. 22 stiches and a crooked "healed" index finger later, I switched to a muching setulp and I HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT. Screw the bagger, save a grand and get the mulching kit. The other thing I've learned is to do whatever it takes NOT to take the mowing deck off of your GT. What a pain in the you know what to get it off and on, regardless of whether it takes tools or not. It sucks, plain and simple. I know this won't help most of the big time tractor folks here but if it helps someone doing a search then my job is done /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif This was my first purchase in terms of a "tractor" and based on my dealer experience and general horrid time with the powerflow, I'll definitely look at other vendors.
-Trouble

 

[yellowsocks93]

Not to make you feel bad about taking the mower deck off but I can do it in 3 mins at the JD dealer I work for and I have taken about 5 or so on and off. I just learned how easy it is. Let me give you the steps to make it easier for you.

1) remove tension from mower belt but unhooking the latch on the curved trimming side of the mower. Then unhook the belt from the tractor to the mower. It should slip off very easily with no tension on it.

2) raise mower all the way up and put the gauge wheels in the service or sideways position.

3) while the deck is up adjust the cutting height to the lowest setting.

4) remove the J pins from the 2 arms that raise and lower the mower deck.

5) remove the mower linkage in the front by rotating the black latch from out of the hole the tab is in.

*I think steps 4 and 5 can be reversed but I can't remember.
6) raise the mower lift arms so nothing gets hung up on them

7) slide out mower from underneath tractor.

That's it. I did not know how do do it a couple months ago as I thought it was hard but now when I need to change blades on mine at home I am going to take the deck off.

The belt on the power flow was not slipping was it? Or why was it clogging so much?

 

[Ledgemere Farm]

I don't have the powerflow, just the regular old 7 bu. bagger. It works great if you:

1). Don't bag wet grass.

2). Don't bag when the grass is out of control (too high).

3). Don't bag while mowing in reverse.

Not a problem for me now. I mostly wanted it for leaves anyway. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Trouble]

Yellow, thanks for the tip, I'll give that a try. My biggest problem is that the deck wheels just doesn't sit on the ground when the deck is down so there is always tension on the rear attachment points. Getting the deck off is one thing but getting the bugger back on SUUUUCKED. With the help of a floor jack, a crowbar and other various tools I overcame /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif Of course once I got the rear attachment/lift points in, the darn front bar thingie that goes into the moving slots was out of engagement so I certainly wasn't going to start over, so I loosened that thing, slipped it into the teeth and tightened it back up. Now when I received the tractor, one side of the deck wasn't even attached at the rear (with the 'j-hook' dealies as I described above)...Could this thing be set up wrong from the dealer as well? I really kinda was made to feel like a scumbag going in to buy a $150 mulcher for my "measly" $6000 lawnmower. I asked about other attachments and while I got answers I really felt like I was wasting the salesman's time. I was treated quite well by the Massey dealer when I was shopping which was further away from me at the time but the Deere dealer was right up the street. About a month after I bought the thing, the Deere dealer moved. I also thought I bought a 3 bag powerflow but of course when it showed up it was a 2 bagger. I was rather ignorant and I know the salesguy walked all over me now. The dealer has a nice parts guy but I'm still rather jaded by the sales situation that's happened twice now. FWIW, this is in Southern NH. I won't mention the dealer but they have a few locations and do Deere only it seems. I was trying to chat with the salesguy about the new uber 27xx (I think...biggest CUT there is from Deere) they had in the showroom and while there was NOBODY else there, he didn't want to chat one bit. I faced the same thing recently with a Dodge dealer while looking at the new Magnum wagons. Was treated like dirt. Went to a Benz dealer a week later with a relative for service on her car, walked into the showroom looking like a bum and the guy seemed so happy to help me! He understood that just because you don't look like you fit a certain demographic doesn't mean you can't buy an S series with cash. Of course my wife would shoot me in the head if I came home with a 100K car, that's besides the point /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif I'll be visiting that guy again I'm sure!
-Trouble

 

[shoppintractors]

Sorry to hear about your unfortunate experience with the deck and power-flo bagger.

I have a power-flo bagger and after two years of on going use I have been quite impressed with it's performance. Vacuums and stands the grass straight up. Clogging has been rare. I used the power-flo one time without the bags and chute and it propelled the grass clippings 10+ feet up and behind the tractor. I've used it on 10 -12" tall grass and it picked up the clippings without hesitation. I have the two bag-bagger and the bags do fill up quickly if the grass is thick and long.

Don

 

[DAP]

Those instructions sound like there for the 42" deck.

I have the 48C and it is marginally different enough to make it even more of a PITA. The biggest difference is the rollers. They don't flip up sideways on this deck. And the rear right wheel has a trailing mount which makes it impossible to slide the deck out from under the machine unless the wheel is removed completely. That and add another 30 lbs (whole thing weighs about 100), and no matter how much grease I keep on the J pins, they dirty up and get uncooperative, takes me 30 minutes of nonstop action to de-belly my deck.

I can't think of an improvement, but try getting a grease fitting over the center zirc on the 48C without removing the deck. That means I have to remove the SOB to properly grease it.

This I don't like.

 

[Gatorboy]

4) Don't bag your grass at all. Why are you throwing away all those FREE nutrients?

 

[AndyM]

I never have bagged my clippings. I also mow over my leaves!
If the grass is too high or there are a lot of leaves in the fall, I cut my grass twice, in opposite directions. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[JackIL]

Dave,

Well you are right that the cut grass can provide "free" nutirients, but that is not the end of the story. I have been using vacuums since the early 80s, but I vacuum under only 2 circumstances: (1) gathering up large volumns of leaves in the fall and (2) gathering up the grass clippings when I have had to mow the lawn when it was too tall.

The recommendation from turf specialists is that you cut no more than 1/3 of the length of the grass. So if you want the final height to be 3 inches, you need to mow when the average height is no more than 4.5 inches. When I can mow at this height, I do not consider vacuuming.

However, life is filled with lots of things to do besides mowing grass unless you are a golf course superintendent. During the past 2 months in my part of the country, we have had so much rain that the grass needs to be mowed about every 4 days. Many times I cannot mow for several days beyond that and when I do, the grass is maybe 6 inches or more in height.

If you just go ahead and mow this long grass without vacuuming, the long clippings lie up on top of the cut grass and do not settle in. Within a few days the lawn is covered with blankets of dried greyish or browinsh clippings. If you just wait a few more days and mow again, the mower simply blows these dried clippings all over the place. I see it happen with others all of the time. They spend the entire mowing season blowing old clippings from one side of the yard to the other.

The dried long clippings just don't "go away." The mower blades don't get a chance to cut the dried clippings up much because the air stream immediately propells them out the chute where they resettle on the top of the cut grass again.

This is the Major reason for me to vacuum---when I have to mow longer than ideal length grass. I transport the vacuumed clippings to a large compost heap on my property and dump them. Later I take material from this heap for flower pots, containers, and as mulch for the flower beds. Thus I am retaining some of the "free" fertilizer even though not as much as I would if I could simply mow no more than 1.5 inches off the top each time.

As others have stated, vacuums do not work well with wet grass. They don't work well in extremely long grass (say 12 inches), but they do work in 6-12 inch grass if you simply drive slowly enough.

Then you just hope that the next time the grass needs to be mowed will coincide with the time you have available to do it, and you won't have to vacuum.

JackIL

 

[AndyM]

<font color="blue"> The dried long clippings just don't "go away." The mower blades don't get a chance to cut the dried clippings up much because the air stream immediately propells them out the chute where they resettle on the top of the cut grass again.

This is the Major reason for me to vacuum... </font>

This is why I mow in two directions with my rear discharge mower. Not only does it give it another chance to cut the clippings further, but it also helps spread the leftover clipping more evenly. I don't see the need to bag the clippings when this seems to work quite well for me.
To each their own though! /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif