Mowing What is causing my BX2200 mmm to cut like this?

[Grandad4]

Thanks everyone. I've figured it out or at least I hope. The bracket that connects the front of the deck to the tractor has a slightly bent arm. I think what's happening is that the front of the deck is being supported by mostly one link instead of both. With the deck lifted, there is about an inch of up and down movement. I'll attempt to square it up today and report back. I'll also post pictures of the bent arm

That front bracket on mine has also been bent slightly since almost new without ill effects. Will be interested to see pic of yours. Mine got bent when I forgot to snug the pin at the front and ithe bracket assembly came off while mowing. Mower ate the whole thing and spit it out without bogging down and without damage. Learned a big lesson that day and gained a huge amount of respect for those blades.

That deck weighs a couple hundred pounds so it seems odd it would bounce up and down enough to do that. Hope you are correct though as that would be a simple fix.

 

[walter boatwright]

Your spring washers have collapsed is a suggestion. or belt slippage

 

[Gary Fowler]

I was thinking that perhaps you have an out of round tire or something. It looks like the tractor is going up and down about 1/2-1" since the low cuts seem to be very regular. This could happen if the tires were a bit under pressured and it sat for a long time, like all winter.
I noticed my Kubota hopping like that once when travelling on blacktop and upon jacking up the rear with the backhoe stabs I could see that the tires were a bit out of round. They eventually levelled back up after I increased the tire pressure to Max rating.

 

[dieselbeef]

hyd drifting up and down? try setting the hieght and then tightening the drop speed knob

 

[5.0 Hatch]

Your spring washers have collapsed is a suggestion. or belt slippage

Can you point me to what you are referring to? I'll check everything while I have it apart.

 

[ENC]

When I stop the mower from moving forward but leave the blades engaged I get patterns like that giving that area more time to let the vacuum effect work on the grass. Do all your blades match. Are they high-vac models?

 

[JWR]

Thanks everyone. I've figured it out or at least I hope. The bracket that connects the front of the deck to the tractor has a slightly bent arm. I think what's happening is that the front of the deck is being supported by mostly one link instead of both. With the deck lifted, there is about an inch of up and down movement. I'll attempt to square it up today and report back. I'll also post pictures of the bent arm

Certainly you need to fix the bent arm. However, I doubt that is going to completely fix the issue. First, these Kubota decks on the BX series are designed to be supported by the tractor, NOT "ground riders." For that reason there can be a LOT of bouncing around on rough surfaces. In my view, these decks are made for smooth lawns, not rough soil. That said, take a look at your deck manual. There are spring-loaded adjustments on each side for coping with the "bounce" issue. Read that section of your manual and proceed with that info in hand. By the way, I have 2 -- 60" Kubota decks -- one is on a BX2200 and thus is the "suspension type" rather than "ground rider" design. My other 60" deck is a "ground rider" on a B2150 slightly larger tractor. In my experience the ground rider is superior but there are definitely pros and cons favoring each of the two designs. It would be interesting to know if the neighbor's Deere is a ground rider or a suspension type. You can make yours a "ground rider" by lowering your anti-scalp wheels some and then lowering your hydraulic lift to where the anti-scalp wheels always contact the earth. It may please you more that way (??) but that is not the way it was designed.