Mowing RCK60B-23BX 60" mmm deck cut quality

thirdroc17 · Sep 8, 2014

Only had this mower a year, but have been less than enthralled with it's cutting quality from the start. It just doesn't compare to what I've been using for years. Now I'll admit, my previous mower deck was less than stock, but I'd like to bring the Kubota up to the standard I'm used to. I was planning on trying Gater blades from Oregon products, but recently found out Kubota offers a high lift blade to replace the stock blades. My question is, has anyone tried either or both as substitutes, and how did they work?

Thanks in advance for any helpful advice on these blades.

dodge man · Sep 8, 2014

I bought a mulch kit for my 60" deck and I'm pretty sure it has the high lift blades. I don't think you will see a huge improvement with them. I like the mulch deck since you can get rid of the chute and it dumps the grass out a little more even. Compared to a dedicated high quality mower, the BX's are just O.K. It depends on what you are used to.

shillingcl · Sep 10, 2014

I have the same deck with stock blades and I regularly get comments from friends and neighbors about how nice the lawn looks after it is cut. 1.5 acres. Might be worth checking your setup thoroughly on level pavement if you havent. Be sure to measure from the blade (not the height of the deck edge) to ground front to back and then side to side. Set the anti scalp wheels to be 1/4 to 1/2 inch up, any higher gives a really uneven cut. Lastly, i run mine about 3300 rpm. Hope something helps, good luck.

shillingcl · Sep 10, 2014

I have the same deck with stock blades and I regularly get comments from friends and neighbors about how nice the lawn looks after it is cut. 1.5 acres. Might be worth checking your setup thoroughly on level pavement if you havent. Be sure to measure from the blade (not the height of the deck edge) to ground front to back and then side to side. Set the anti scalp wheels to be 1/4 to 1/2 inch up, any higher gives a really uneven cut. Lastly, i run mine about 3300 rpm. Hope something helps, good luck

thirdroc17 · Oct 16, 2014

Went with the Gator blades because of affordability. WOW, are these babies different than OEM!!!! Can't wait for spring to try them out. Gad I hate winter.

BX23D · Oct 17, 2014

dodge man said:
I bought a mulch kit for my 60" deck and I'm pretty sure it has the high lift blades. I don't think you will see a huge improvement with them. I like the mulch deck since you can get rid of the chute and it dumps the grass out a little more even. Compared to a dedicated high quality mower, the BX's are just O.K. It depends on what you are used to.

I have the 60" deck on my BX23. The original blades are what we're then called high lift. The blades in the mulch kit are mulching blades with much less lift. They are designed to repeatedly cut the clippings and have them fall where they we're cut rather than through them out of the deck. I have an Oregon style blade on my torro trim mower and it's cut is far better than what I get with my BX23. Will be trying Oregon blades in my deck next.

thirdroc17 · Oct 20, 2014

Well these bad boys certainly SHOULD make a difference:

Jay4200 · Oct 21, 2014

thirdroc17 said:
Only had this mower a year, but have been less than enthralled with it's cutting quality from the start. It just doesn't compare to what I've been using for years. Now I'll admit, my previous mower deck was less than stock, but I'd like to bring the Kubota up to the standard I'm used to. I was planning on trying Gater blades from Oregon products, but recently found out Kubota offers a high lift blade to replace the stock blades. My question is, has anyone tried either or both as substitutes, and how did they work?

Thanks in advance for any helpful advice on these blades.

I've found the cut quality to be pretty good with my 60" BX2200 deck. Do you have the engine at full blast while mowing? Need that. Are you running WFO in high-range? Can't do that.

I have found that the grass gets squished down by the tires, especially when still slightly damp (which is just about always in the fall) which makes it look uneven. I don't think there's much you can do about that, with the machine weighing close to a ton and all...

thirdroc17 · Oct 21, 2014

Jay4200 said:
I've found the cut quality to be pretty good with my 60" BX2200 deck. Do you have the engine at full blast while mowing? Need that. Are you running WFO in high-range? Can't do that.

Yup! Always, and nope, far far from it.

Mowbizz · Oct 21, 2014

Jay4200 said:
I've found the cut quality to be pretty good with my 60" BX2200 deck. Do you have the engine at full blast while mowing? Need that. Are you running WFO in high-range? Can't do that.

I have found that the grass gets squished down by the tires, especially when still slightly damp (which is just about always in the fall) which makes it look uneven. I don't think there's much you can do about that, with the machine weighing close to a ton and all...

I mow my flatter areas in high range...otherwise i'd never get done! On the hills, 4wd and low range is a must. And additionally, the cut quality is very good (had a landscaping business and mowed with Exmark mowers which had excellent cut quality) and while the Kubota 60" deck does not match the Exmark, it is still very good in my experience.