Mold and grass buildup on mower deck underside

[Too many Kubotas]

And what bad happens if leaving the crud in place? On my mowers it tends to eventually fall off by itself.

 

[WinterDeere]

I had to mow up north. It was tall and wet, no choice. It’s been raining so much there this year, I had to cut on a day that there was a break in rain. Looks like my next trip will be cleaning the crap stuck under the deck. I probably should have used the finish mower behind the T25 instead of the JD. It was slow going.

Other than mid to late summer, our grass is always wet. I mowed today, it hasn't rained since last week, and it was still wet and sticky. It clumps in every crevace under the deck like concrete, over time.

 

[5030]

I've been doing the same off and on for years, not as religiously as I should, but there are only so many hours in each week. I've taken to jamming a big wood block (LVL section) under the rig after lifting, ever since having had a hose failure on my loader while lifting a brush hog / rotary mower deck to clean under it.

You'd think a loader probably bleeds down relatively slowly when a hose fails, but nope... mine came crashing down like a sack of bricks dropped from a window. Even relatively young and athletic, I was maybe 40 when that happened, there's not a snowball's chance in hell that I'd have been able to get out from under that rig as fast as it came crashing down. Thankfully I was 20 feet away, turning on the hose, when it happened.

Made a stop out of rectangular tubing I slip over one of the lift cylinder rods as I'm also wary of the FEL coming down. That eliminates it.

 

[5030]

The issue with cud under the deck is, it turns acidic so if left there like over the winter, it promotes corrosion. Not a big deal with a fabricated deck as you have some meat under there but a stamped deck, certainly.

My wife's ZTR has the washout things I've never used. My diesel Kubota's is really thick and heavy, but I still clean it. The guy down the road has a Hustler and never cleaned the deck and it rusted out and he had to buy a new deck.

 

[hslogger]

I have a John Deere D140 with a bagger that I use for the first few mows of the season to prevent all the dandelion seed distribution. I know it's not ideal to mow wet grass, but sometimes that isn't an option, and the grass has to get done (even though it means stopping every few laps and unclogging the chute to the bags).

I went out to the garage yesterday after mowing the lawn and could smell the wet grass under the mower deck. I took it off and spent the next two hours with a putty knife and wire brush scraping the grass off. It varied in depth from almost a thin wax like coating, to about three inches in some spots.

I have scraped most of it off I do believe, but would like to do something to it to prevent this from becoming an every time I mow thing. And yes, I will attempt to get the lawn mowed late afternoon, early evening when it is at its driest, but again, not always an option, and I will be ordering some new high lift blades to hopefully help with moving the cut grass across the deck and up the shoot.

Not sure if I will have to remove the blades and then pulleys to do a proper sanding, priming and painting/treating, or if there is some magic trick I can just apply now?

Thanks in advance folks.

Back in the eighties, I took a seasonal job with the local county parks department maintaining mostly rural parks, out of town, some on gravel roads. Each day, coming in we douched out every mower. Period. All klnds of mowers, tractor flails, ZTR, conventional, walk behinds, riders, all of them. My ol 'man was a stickler on keeping his gear cleaned and lubed, tractors, trailers, and I have it in my blood to do the same. I have gone through three used JD riders, and still have one, plus a x370 now with 110 hours on it. It looks like new.true story.

I once had a low end HF mower jack that was a little shaky but made for real easy and quick cleaning of the lighter mowers like yours. When you step up the stairs to more heavier units, a heavier mower jack is the way to go unless you wanna lift with a tractor. Those garden hose clean out assemblies on decks may help you clean out the deck but they are hell on the bearings if you do the cleaning while the towers are hot. If you cool your deck down, hose out the deck after each use, your mower will mower better, which is easier on all components. I do have a tractor and prefer to use... The heavy duty HF red colored mower lift that sells for 250 plus or minus. It is a real good lift. Clean your deck all the time and you won't need to be messing with putty knives. Spray the deck with WD40 for winter storage with the zerks full of grease and you will be good to go next season.

 

[ultrarunner]

Grandpa always mowed with the Cub and Sickle Bar Mower… no grass to green up.

When I was looking to buy a mower he said aluminum deck and now I believe some are composite.

I don’t mow wet.

 

[WinterDeere]

The issue with cud under the deck is, it turns acidic so if left there like over the winter, it promotes corrosion. Not a big deal with a fabricated deck as you have some meat under there but a stamped deck, certainly.

My wife's ZTR has the washout things I've never used. My diesel Kubota's is really thick and heavy, but I still clean it. The guy down the road has a Hustler and never cleaned the deck and it rusted out and he had to buy a new deck.

All true, but really depends as much on deck material and thickness, as fab'd versus stamped. You're equating fab'd decks with thicker steel, which is usually true, but some stamped decks are also a lot heavier than others.

Deere's "7-iron" decks come to mind, stamped out of 7-gauge steel. Nearly as heavy as any fab'd deck, but with the advantage of no weld seams or corners to hold acidic cud.

 

[Bronco82]

And what bad happens if leaving the crud in place? On my mowers it tends to eventually fall off by itself.

Well, if it's in the garage, can't open the door and not be overtaken by the molding grass smell. It grows large white fuzzy mold all over it.

Over any time, it does seem to harden up. So much so that it needs the putty knife and a wire brush to get it off the underside.

I do believe with the excess grass and mold growth on there, the bagger will be extremely inefficient because the grass won't travel as smoothly under the deck and up the chute. Had to stop at least half a dozen times if not more and clean the chute out the other day.

 

[skipmarcy]

Fortunately for me my Country Clipper has the stand-up design and I clean under the deck after every mow, wet or "dry". Even in the hot, dry summer the grass will stick and it's worse to scrape off than when wet, more like a tar. I can stand the deck up manually in about 2 minutes and I use a stiff putty knife to scrape. I NEVER use water to clean the deck, I'm removing the build-up to keep moisture OUT, don't want to add to the problem.

I always use my blowgun to clean the whole mower after every cutting too, I never wash the mower until end of season before putting in the open shed for the winter and that last deck cleaning includes a brushing of my used engine oil on it (underside only). For the past 10 seasons I've been cutting about 5.5 acres, this year cut it back to about 3 acres. I let my grass get about 6" or better before I cut and only cut down to about 3 or so inches. The 60" fabricated deck will surely outlive me maintaining it like this.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

I used to store the mowers on containers over the winter, but these days they are parked on the grass year around.