mower blade problems

[Eric_Phillips]

I have a 6' finish mower I bought used. It had Gator blades on it that worked OK but they were beat and one was bent. I purchased new blades but got the gator 3-in-1 blades. Supposedly the 3-in-1 blades are for mulching, bagging or side dischage. I side discharge. My problem is I now get stipes of uncut grass. I did raise the blades to give me about a 4" cut instead of aobut 2". I also noticed the new blades had a cutting edge only on the outer quarter of the blade. The cutting edge on the old blades was from the tip to the center of the blade. Third thing was I didn't pay attention to the blade orientation when I removed the old blades. When I put the new ones on I set them about 90 degrees from eachother so they wouldn't hit. Any suggestions on fixing the stiping problem?

 

[Tororider]

My guess is that you aren't getting enough lift out of your blades. The gator blades provide less lift because of the broken "wing" on the blade. The orientation that you installed the blades at shouldn't matter because the deck itself should only allow you put them on in a manner so that they can't hit. Technically the amount of blade that is sharpened shouldn't matter because the blade should be moving at such a speed that everything should be cut anyways. Having more blade cutting can't hurt, but technically it shouldn't matter. I would try getting a non gator set. I suppose before you do that try and make sure that all grass is scraped out from underneath the deck so you are getting as much lift as you possibly can. Also make sure you are running it at the right speed(rpms). Good luck.

 

[JerryK]

I know this sounds stupid....but...I used to live next to a big church that used an old tractor to cut it's 10 acres. They removed the blades, sharpened, then reinstalled them. Afterwards, it wouldn't cut for &)*&^$, they had installed the blades upside down. **** happens....

 

[daBear]

Ditto to what Tororider said, especially cleaning out under the deck. I had a significant win row problem with my rear discharge and the safety chains were raking the clippings up and dropping them. I had to remove the safety chains and all is well.

I will bet your problem is that one blade is flying higher or lower than the other two. I had streaks of skipped grass happen also on a 6' finish mower is used to own and found the mower's previous owner hit something so hard it bent the deck which caused the spindle to sit crooked, then of course the blade tip path plane was out of line with the others, hence skipped grass. Measure the blade height above ground on a level area maybe concrete and make sure each blade is at the same height and the same point.

 

[Tororider]

Definitely measure like daBear suggested. My guess is that they are ok if they were cutting fine before the change.

We used to run into this all the time, especially with the gator blades which is why I stopped using them. Mostly in the spring when the grass was growing so fast and specifically during turns. I really bet it has to do with a lack of lift. Really make sure that the underside of the deck is clean because if the airflow can't get through it loses a ton of lift created by the engineering in the deck.

 

[have_blue]

Any suggestions on fixing the stiping problem?

In my experience, that's always blade length. Either the blades are worn down on the ends, or they were short to begin with. You only have about 1/8" overlap, so it doesn't take much wear to cause a missed strip of grass.

 

[Tororider]

In my experience, that's always blade length. Either the blades are worn down on the ends, or they were short to begin with. You only have about 1/8" overlap, so it doesn't take much wear to cause a missed strip of grass.

I guess that is the first thing you should do, check to make sure you got the right blades for your mower deck. Don't assume that your dealer/salesperson got it right.

 

[Eric_Phillips]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I did check the blades before I put them on and they are the correct blades and they are the same length as the ones that I took off. This deck stays very clean probably since my grass is so thin it can't stay wet enough to clog up the deck. I will check the height but nothing seemed bent other than one of the old blades. In terms of blade orientation there is nothing to keep you from putting the blades on so they don't hit. I was glad I turned the blades after I installed them since two were just barely missing eachother.

In terms of lift. The blades I took off were just about even with the bottom of the deck. When I put the new ones on I wanted the cut a little higher so now they are inside the deck about 1-2". With the low lift could the grass just be getting pushed over and not standing up high enough to get cut?

 

[Tororider]

In terms of blade orientation there is nothing to keep you from putting the blades on so they don't hit. I was glad I turned the blades after I installed them since two were just barely missing eachother.

In terms of lift. The blades I took off were just about even with the bottom of the deck. When I put the new ones on I wanted the cut a little higher so now they are inside the deck about 1-2". With the low lift could the grass just be getting pushed over and not standing up high enough to get cut?

Which blade was bent? I am wondering if there is something wrong with the spindle that is making the blade slip. When you turn one blade all of the blades should turn. You really shouldn't be able to make the blades hit even if you wanted to, obviously that would be really dangerous. So I am wondering if there is another problem other than the blades like a slipping spindle.

If it is just the blades then yes it could be with the low lift blade and your grass being so thin that the grass isn't being lifted enough to be cut by the new blades. What is the method of adjustment for your blades. It is my experience that the blades are always at the same spot with regards to height of the deck, you just adjust the deck up and down by moving wheels, pins, gauge wheels, etc. If you could post pictures that would help greatly.

 

[aczlan]

In terms of blade orientation there is nothing to keep you from putting the blades on so they don't hit. I was glad I turned the blades after I installed them since two were just barely missing each other.

all of the mowers I have worked on have had blades that were spaced so that they just miss each other, that way they cut everything, but dont have to be synchronized, it is impossible to synchronize 2 blades with a belt driving them.

In terms of lift. The blades I took off were just about even with the bottom of the deck. When I put the new ones on I wanted the cut a little higher so now they are inside the deck about 1-2". With the low lift could the grass just be getting pushed over and not standing up high enough to get cut?

probably, most finish mowers have the blades within 1" of the height of the sides of the deck, any more and the grass gets pushed under, not cut.

so I would say that your new blades are causing your problrms...

Aaron Z

 

[Eric_Phillips]

This is actually a Ferris Pro Cut 32. The cut height is adjusted several ways. The deck height is adjusted by three slots where the deck attaches to the frame. The guage wheels on the front then have spacers on the spindles. The blade height is then adjusted but moving spacers from the top to bottom of the blade spindle. There is a chart in the manual to tell you what settings give you what cutting height. The deck has always been as high as it can go I just moved the blades up a couple spacers when I changed the blades.

There are no keyways or pins to hold the blades in a specific orientation. So when tightening the nut the blades can move until everything is sufficiently tight. Also the spindles are turned with a simple pulley and V-belt. Now it is not the easiest thing to do but it is possible to grab one of the blades and turn it in relation to the other blades if there is something like a pair of locking pliers keeping the other blades from turning.

I think I will take another look just to make sure I didn't put a blade on upside down and measure the height of the blade tips to ensure nothing is bent then maybe split the difference of where they were previously and where they are now. See if that helps. Thanks for all the help.

 

[Eric_Phillips]

For some strange reason I feel compelled to up date people on what has been going on with my mower. Several weeks ago I was out mowing again and it just seemed like one blade was just not cutting. So when I was done I raised the deck to take a look. Sure enough that blade had magically flipped over. Of course I would have never but it on upside down That helped a lot but I still do notice that it is missing things between the blades. I will look into lowering the blades and possibly trying another brand to get more lift. Thanks for the help.