Hey Rusty iron....didnyou ever get yours cutting better.
Found this post in a search, cause since day one I have had the same issue and am constantly looking to improve cut quality.
My cutter is the woods equal Ds96. Spyderlk nailed the issue that I believe is the problem.
These newer cutters and the emphasis on smooth top decks....puts all the supports underneath. On my Ds96, there is like a 3" square tube that runs across the entire front...but UNDER the deck. Tall stemmy stuff gets laid down, and the nature of the shorter deck of the twin spindle cutters....by the time the tall stemmy stuff clears that front support and stands up under the deck to be cut, the stalk is already a foot or two past the blades and stands up. With HST I can go infinitely slow. When cutting goldenrod or ragweed or similar, 0.5mph quality is just as terrible as 6 mph.
I have resorted to double cutting. Which nearly doubles my time and makes it inefficient and less profitable. As I cut for hire, and cut 400-500 acres a year, I need a solution.
I am thinking about cutting that 3" or so support off the bottom, and rewelding on the TOP side of the deck. I am also trying to find some blades with MORE offset. Then I can ring the cutter "frame" higher for the same effective cut height as to try an not lay the vegetation over.
Another issue I have is in real thick dense grass. It cuts great but with uplift blades, it don't seem to expell the clippings fast enough unless you go at a snail's pace. It's like the clippings keep getting flung up into the underside of the deck, falling back down into the blades, then flung back up again, over and over. The blade rotation direction throws the grass outward in the front toward the sideskirt, but it cannot discharge through the sideskirt. Kinda like running a block off plate on a ZTR and high lift blades. The grass has nowhere to go. And the main structural supports being UNDER the deck, where air flow and material flow is important, makes matters worse.
I'm thinking of trying flat blades for this issue and ditch the lift/suction type.
Short of all of that, I am seriously considering just dropping back to a single spindle, in the 7' variety. Giving up a foot of cut width isn't what I want, but if I am constantly fighting cut quality and having to double cut, I'd be ahead in the long run.
I really wish they would make a cutter that looks more like the ones that go on the front of a skid loader. With a HIGH opening that funnels material into the cutter without mashing it down. On these twin spindles, three areas are the worst, right at the edges, and dead center. Because that's where the vegetation has to travel the farthest under the deck before it has a chance to be cut.
Curious on your thoughts, or anyone else's?
If the grass isn't super thick (like a lawn neglected.for a year) or the stalk stuff not more than 3' tall, it cuts amazingly. And will flat out fly. I shave a ton of time off my jobs that I do regularly. But I'm giving that time back on other jobs where conditions are less than optimal.
All of my past BH's have mowed better with worse blades.