King kutter bush hog not performing like I need it to. Help.

[Zebrafive]

Wish I could find the blade speed specs on this king kutter. I would be willing to bet they’re not up to par with higher priced cutters. I’ve done a lot of bush hogging in my life and never had one leave grass standing like this. As mentioned in my opening statement my 35hp tractor and 5’ cutter was way better. Never had to cut half back or circle back to clip stragglers.

If you can determine the gear ratio of the gear box, you should be able to calculate blade speed.
Best would be pull top cover (if it has one) from the gear box and count the gear teeth, drive and driven.

 

[ruffdog]

I looked at the part numbers for 5',6',and 7' gearboxes and they are the same. That mean a bigger deck has more tip speed.

I also noticed clumping of grass with my 5' KK but I was cutting 4' of grass. It seemed to cut cleaner in reverse too.

 

[WranglerX]

I looked at the part numbers for 5',6',and 7' gearboxes and they are the same. That mean a bigger deck has more tip speed.

I also noticed clumping of grass with my 5' KK but I was cutting 4' of grass. It seemed to cut cleaner in reverse too.

Odd you mention that but even seems to be true with my little (48 inch) riding mower....

 

[CobyRupert]

I’ll throw 2 cents in:
Regarding the blades sucking the grass back up after tires mat it down: Isn’t this a function of air flow, effected by:
- Blade speed (definitely).
- Shape of the blade. My understanding is the more curvature the blade has on it back side (non-cutting edge) the more suction it will have at a given speed. Are other blade shapes available?
- Air path: Did putting conveyor belt on change the air flow and cut down blade suction ?

I notice most lawn mowers decks have holes on their top surface that I make sure to keep unblock. Can’t say for sure if they make a difference.

 

[CobyRupert]

1:1.47 gear box.
At 540 rpm (pto) is a blade revolution of 793.8 rpm.
A 6 foot blade diameter is 18.85’ circumference traveled every revolution.
18.85’ distance traveled 793.8 times per minute= 14,962.8 ft/min.
Or 2.83 miles/min, or 170 mph blade tip speed.

 

[Jburks2]

I’ll throw 2 cents in:
Regarding the blades sucking the grass back up after tires mat it down: Isn’t this a function of air flow, effected by:
- Blade speed (definitely).
- Shape of the blade. My understanding is the more curvature the blade has on it back side (non-cutting edge) the more suction it will have at a given speed. Are other blade shapes available?
- Air path: Did putting conveyor belt on change the air flow and cut down blade suction ?

I notice most lawn mowers decks have holes on their top surface that I make sure to keep unblock. Can’t say for sure if they make a difference.

If anything the conveyer belt helped suction! Almost want to close the whole back up and weld it solid metal. Like a bunch of the higher priced hogs have.

 

[Jburks2]

1:1.47 gear box.
At 540 rpm (pto) is a blade revolution of 793.8 rpm.
A 6 foot blade diameter is 18.85’ circumference traveled every revolution.
18.85’ distance traveled 793.8 times per minute= 14,962.8 ft/min.
Or 2.83 miles/min, or 170 mph blade tip speed.

Is this the blade speed on my king cutter? 14,962.8?

 

[CobyRupert]

Is this the blade speed on my king cutter? 14,962.8?

Yeah, that would be the tip speed. I’m pretty sure the math is right.

 

[bmaverick]

Is this the blade speed on my king cutter? 14,962.8?

I have the more commercial KK model with the stump-jumper feature. The thing can grind 2 inch logs to shreds or bangs them around if harder wood. In the beginning I had straggler grass sticking up. After a few adjustments, it was the top-link positioning that had to be tweaked. I did sharpen the blades too. Right from the factory, they have a dull performance. I run the PTO about 480 to 500 rpm speed too.

Previously, I had a 6ft JD261 rear 3PT finish mower. It worked like a brush hog and made the lawn look professional. The only trouble was finding replacement pullies and it liked to eat belts too much. Of course my JD261 was used and already worn by the time I got it. Deere used a version of it as a belly mower on some of the CUT models too.

Oh, BTW, my KK rear trailing wheel kept binding up. Had to polish ream the hole the post went into, find a really nice lube, and clear some of the manufacturing gunk for the wheel to spin right. Like others mention here, the KK products are your lower end equipment. Even when buying the new, they already have rusty marks on them. KK doesn't at all prime paint prior either. I bought mostly on price and then it's ability.

 

[Midniteoyl]

After a few adjustments, it was the top-link positioning that had to be tweaked

What were the adjustments and tweaks?