Level Your Mower Deck

[bdhsfz6]

This may be second nature to most here but to me, I never really thought much about it. Last season, I replaced a Befco 72" 3pt finish mower with an 84" LandPride. I noticed the LandPride cut was nowhere near as smooth as the Befco. I just thought it was due to the wider deck design.

When it was delivered, the LandPride had the same number of spacers on each of the 4 gauge wheels. The deck was set at the height I wanted and looked level so I used it with no adjustment. This spring, just for the heck of it, I put a level on the deck and discovered it was 3/4" low in front. I didn't think that was excessive but I adjusted the spacers and made it dead level. The difference is amazing! The cut is now better than the Befco ever was. For all I know, that wasn't lever either.

I've been mowing grass for over 60 years and I never realized how much difference a perfectly level mower deck can make. Live and learn.

 

[KennyG]

Most deck recommendations I have seen are to be level side to side but be slightly lower in front. 3/4 might be excessive, but a little front bias is supposed to be good. When leveling, you should level the blades, not the deck surface. The deck surface might work but the blades are what matters.

 

[BackRoad]

Interestingly, I just dealt with this over the last two weeks on both my 60" riding mower and my 8' finish mower.

The riding mower needed leveling front to back, plus side to side...you could see low and high troughs from every pass previously.

Did the same on the 3 spindle Rhino FM100 finish mower. Leveled front to back, and it visibly improved the results.

My lawn and surrounding 8 acre field now look like one big pool table.

For me at least, the finish mower generally works best cutting low to moderate height grass (<10-12 inches high).

Under those conditions, I agree with Mr. BDHSFZ6...level is the way to go for the smoothest result using a finish mower.


For anything taller, I use the 8' Woods rotary cutter, which seems to work best with the back raised higher than the front to clear clippings, but I primarily use that for rough cutting high grass in the outer fields...and while it gets the job done, it would never pass for a smooth finish.

...//TJ