54" BAD BOY MZ Magnum (zero turn) Blade Replacement OEM Blades - Blades Slipping

[Dionne Thacker]

I think I just figured out a piece of the puzzle. The blade on one side was broken because of a stump encounter. I think I may have damaged the spindle as it feels like it might be scraping a little. Checking it out now.

 

[MParr]

I suspected this might be the issue. I changed to blades originally because I hit a stump and literally one whole piece of a blade was missing on both sides of the blade (about 2" chunk)

There’s your problem.
I don’t know if that would be covered under warranty.
Besides, you should have contacted your Bad Boy dealer about the warranty.

 

[MParr]

I think I just figured out a piece of the puzzle. The blade on one side was broken because of a stump encounter. I think I may have damaged the spindle as it feels like it might be scraping a little. Checking it out now.

There’s a good chance that you have more damage than that.

 

[hlw49]

Did you check to see if you bent a spindle. Something had to give to break 2 inches off the end of the blades. Could have bent the deck. Is one of the blades hitting the deck? But that should make a noise. But a bent shaft or a busted bearing might not. From the smart ass that suggested you buy a new mower. All in fun. LOL

 

[Dionne Thacker]

Update: With the mower lifted, I slowly spun the blades by hand. I can feel and hear a spot it's catching.
I suspect I may have damaged the bottom spindle bearing or possibly both spindle bearings.
I am ordering a new bearing loaded spindle and some extra bearings for my original spindle.
Also since I'll have the belt off I am going to replace the belt as well just in case.

Also I am buying some yard flags to mark off all of the stump locations.

All of this problem is my fault. I cut down some small trees recently and tried to cut them as close the the ground as I could get them with the chainsaw. My idea was that I would not hit them if I cut them low. That was dumb because all I did is hide them from view so I could damage my brand new mower! I will be picking up some yard flags to mark the location until I can get them all ground down.

 

[Bertrrr]

If your belt is in good condition and tight , might take a closer look at your clutch , you never know
Also look at the spindles and make sure there's no binding on any of them.

 

[MParr]

Yep, a tree stump can mess up a mower big time.

 

[Dionne Thacker]

Bought new bearings and removed the spindle. Tested the spindle bearings to see if I could detect any grinding. None detected. Dry fit all of the parts back on the spindle while off the deck and spun the blade counterclockwise to simulate running the blade and see if I could detect any grinding or balance issues. None detected. Reinstalled the spindle and tested the mower blades, squealing gone and the blades ran fine at full speed.

Like I said when I started this voyage. There was nothing wrong with the mower when I ran it the last time. The only difference was new blades and I lost function of the blades after 5 min of mowing during the first test drive. This whole thing has been interesting.

Just completed the two acre mowing after placing bright orange yard flags on the stumps and painting them with fluorescent orange paint.

Thank you to all who responded.

 

[Bertrrr]

It's all good now , glad you're going again

 

[Peva]

Why do you engage the blades at “low speed”?
It sounds as if the belt is glazed. Check all of your pulleys, idlers, and spindles. The belt may be on the wrong side of a keeper.

A side comment on engaging the blades at low engine speed:
I had a 42" 16 (or 18?) hp 2009 Western Auto Wizard mower (I forget which of the 2 mower manufacturers of those days it was made by) - bought it used and used it for many, many years on a couple of rough acres.

Anyway - I was having to replace the very long blade drive belt 2 or 3 times a season. I would always engage the blade with engine running at relatively low speed and then speed it up to full speed to start mowing simply because I figure that's less stress on everything - it's just my habit of thinking that way in general.

I noticed that my wife always put the engine at full speed before engaging the blades. I got to thinking that that high-load shock was possibly killing the belt - the way the belts were failing (short sections were separating) supported the theory.

So I mansplained my theory to my wife (can be dangerous, but I took the risk ) and asked her to drop the engine speed before engaging the blades. She'd forget every once in a while, and I'd remind her (). Telling y'all all this to say that the belt started lasting well over 3 years between changes once we got the slow speed blade engagement thing established. Saved money and maintenance time.