OP
Jeff59Va
Member
- Joined
- Aug 28, 2015
- Messages
- 45
- Location
- Centreville, VA
- Tractor
- Kubota L3240HST, Kubota RTV1120D, Kubota BX2380
Just an update on the deck. I tried to flatten it some over the weekend without much success. It's a little better now (probably 5/16 inch low on the outer edge), and I guess I will try mowing with it to see how the cut looks. But I have a feeling it's going to bother me regardless of the cut 
And to clarify - this is the lower end deck, not a Velocity deck. I didn't think I needed a Velocity for homeowner use since this was advertised a "commercial" deck.
As far as what happened, let me try to explain a little more. There is an area that I cleared out some trees by cutting them close to the ground and I don't mow it all the time. The ground in that area is not level, so when I was mowing the last time, the right-most blade came down on top of a cedar stump due to a low spot in the ground. I heard it start hitting and immediately backed off. The mower did not stall. Planed some of the top of the stump and I thought it was no big deal. So what appears to have happened is that the one blade came down on the stump on the inside and the outer 2 bolt holes that hold the spindle seemed to want to pull through the deck. They didn't pull all the way through of course, but a straightedge put across the opening shows the 2 outer bolt holes lower than the rest of the deck. The other side of the deck is dead-flat in the same area. I would rather have had the blades bend, but they did not - maybe a downside of such stout blades?
The other issue is depth of cut. I know how low to mow that rougher area based on the JD D170 I used to have. When mucking with the deck on the Scag I realized the factory settings on the depth of cut was way off - using 3 1/2" blocks I cut, the blades would not clear even when set on the 3 3/4" setting. So while I did raise the deck for that rougher area, the depth setting was off by about 3/8" (too low) and I ended up hitting the stump.
And to clarify - this is the lower end deck, not a Velocity deck. I didn't think I needed a Velocity for homeowner use since this was advertised a "commercial" deck.
As far as what happened, let me try to explain a little more. There is an area that I cleared out some trees by cutting them close to the ground and I don't mow it all the time. The ground in that area is not level, so when I was mowing the last time, the right-most blade came down on top of a cedar stump due to a low spot in the ground. I heard it start hitting and immediately backed off. The mower did not stall. Planed some of the top of the stump and I thought it was no big deal. So what appears to have happened is that the one blade came down on the stump on the inside and the outer 2 bolt holes that hold the spindle seemed to want to pull through the deck. They didn't pull all the way through of course, but a straightedge put across the opening shows the 2 outer bolt holes lower than the rest of the deck. The other side of the deck is dead-flat in the same area. I would rather have had the blades bend, but they did not - maybe a downside of such stout blades?
The other issue is depth of cut. I know how low to mow that rougher area based on the JD D170 I used to have. When mucking with the deck on the Scag I realized the factory settings on the depth of cut was way off - using 3 1/2" blocks I cut, the blades would not clear even when set on the 3 3/4" setting. So while I did raise the deck for that rougher area, the depth setting was off by about 3/8" (too low) and I ended up hitting the stump.
