Woods Finish Mower Issue

[tagslg]

Thank you all for looking at this and offering so much input. Sandman/Smokey - attaching the spindle assembly diagram in case it helps. Is there something I would look for externally or would it be wobbly or making a sound if there was an internal issue with the spindle? I'll try to get the belt off at some point this week and see if everything is still spinning smoothly; it is a spring tensioner so I can't adjust the tension. I can move the belt quite a bit (see pictures) but not sure what is normal - I know the tensioner is tight enough to make it a pain to get the belt back on!

Sixdogs - I think the blades are on correct - the spindles spin clockwise and I attached another picture showing which way the blade spins. Let me know if I'm wrong though.

Eco - I think everything looks pretty straight - attached another picture of the mower for reference and nothing looks too far off to me?

Jaygyver - I'll clean the spindle and see if anything looks out of sorts under there and will get some more blade measurements and report back. Will also check blade bolt tightness. And I agree, I've spent many hours trying to figure out how the mower is managing to cut like this and it has me stumped.

 

[careyo63]

NAPA B116 2 YRs old. Knew I had a problem and found after I removed it. My guess is what your find. On the inside and until you pull it won't know it!

 

[Halftrack]

I vote for a slipping drive belt. Either the belt is shot, or the tensioner is weak, or both. Get a can of Belt Grip and apply liberally. Go mow and see if there is a difference. The pitch (whine) of the deck at 540 should remain the same at no load and under load.

 

[sandman2234]

I vote for a slipping drive belt. Either the belt is shot, or the tensioner is weak, or both. Get a can of Belt Grip and apply liberally. Go mow and see if there is a difference. The pitch (whine) of the deck at 540 should remain the same at no load and under load.

Lol, we used to use belt dressing at a place I worked at if we wanted some down time. Spray on Belt Dressing and an hour later you would loose a belt or two out of the 8 being driven. Became common knowledge, so if you went to the storeroom and checked out a can of belt dressing, they were supposed to call the shift foreman who would come to your machine to watch what you did with it. Not sure if Belt Grip is supposed to do the same thing, but I tend to never put anything on my belts. Adding anything between the belt and pulley is asking for issues in my mind.
David from jax

 

[sandman2234]

Tagslg,
When you pull the belt off to inspect its condition, note the exact position of the idler pulley that is spring loaded. Make sure that pulley with spring isn't at its maximum travel point. Consider adding another spring to help the original pull the belt tight (and keep it tight!!) just to see if belt loosening during mowing is the issue.
If the belt looks good, consider changing it out anyway. Keep the old one as a spare. Just a cheap and easy way to double check a worn belt, to see if that makes a difference. Belts are good at hiding their shortcomings.
David from jax

 

[Runner]

A friend of mine was using a piece of sandpaper to quiet down a squeeky belt by holding it on the inside of the belt with the engine running. Predictable result, got his pinky caught in the belt and it was torn off. Miraculously, Dr's were able to re-attach it and it actually still works fairly well.

 

[Engineer42]

My first thought when seeing the picture of your mower was it's put together backwards, lol. Most woods mowers ive seen, and my 990, the flat side is the front which makes the angled or v side of the deck the back. 550s seem to be the opposite tho, from pics I found.

 

[tagslg]

Thank you for all the advice! I will not be messing with the belt with the PTO engaged! With rain in the forecast, I should have some time this weekend to dig into this a bit more.

Took additional height measurements of the right blade with it positioned side-to-side instead of front-to-back and the outside height was 3.75" and the inside height was 3.25" - is that a concern? Attached are some pictures of the spindle housing underneath the mower - I didn't see anything alarming.

I guess we've determined there is some slipping based on the 'mark the spindle' test but the question I have is if the belt is slipping and that is what is causing this issue, why would it only be missing grass on half the width of the blade? If slipping was the issue, it seems like it would miss grass the entire width of the blade.

I put a brand new Woods belt on it a while back and it did not fix the issue so if it is in fact slipping, I'm thinking it is likely a tension issue. I can check where the tensioner pulley travel is. Sandman, are you suggesting adding another full-size spring to the tensioner or hooking a smaller spring onto the existing spring to help it out. For what it's worth, I did have two tractor repair guys look at this thing and neither said the belt tension seemed loose.

Is there a decent aftermarket belt out there? Hoping not to have to drop a hundred bucks on another Woods belt.

Trying to think outside the box here - if I go through heavy grass, it will miss on the left side of the right blade and also the left side of the left blade (the forward swipe of the blade). The section it misses looks to be in line with the left side of each rear tire. Could the weight distribution on the rear tires be off somehow, applying excess weight to the left side of the tire and mashing down the grass? Nothing looks off and, as I said, high suction blades didn't help the issue so I'm thinking this is not the problem - just throwing it out there.

 

[sixdogs]

At this point, it wouldn't hurt to call Woods and talk with a tech guy or engineer for ideas. I occasionally have called companies when I have a problem or can't figure out something on their product and they have been overly helpful to me.

 

[Smokeydog]

With gauge wheel spindles spacers easy enough to lower the front or raise back about an inch and evaluate the cut. Do the easy stuff first.