Ariens Zoom 42 mulching problem

[sebastien32]

Hi everybody,

I have a brand new 2013 Zoom 42 with the mulching kit installed by the dealer. From the beginning, i new that there was something wrong. Every time I use it, there's grass clipping is flying in the air and falling on the deck, the leg rest and all over my legs. The grass is coming mainly from the front right side of the deck just behind the front right tire. First I ask my dealer if it was normal and they says to slow down while mowing and to not cut to much grass at the same time. All of this make sense and I tried it without much success. I then contact ariens client support and we manage to find that the dealer forgot to remove the rear baffle (the one that have a "3" shape) when installing the kit. I removed it and now it's better but still far from perfect. I'm wondering if the dealer can have reinstalled something on the wrong side (blade, strap, other).

The other thing is that it also leave grass clipping chunck everywhere on my grass and the clipping is not that small. I read other post where people tell that the grass clipping is so small that it's kind of magically disappearing. This is really not my case.

Can somebody with the mulching kit installed tell if it's normal to have to always clean the mower (and myself) after each use?

Thank you.

 

[sebastien32]

Did another mow in sunday (last time was on thursday). It hasn't rain since 2 days and the grass was not that long but still the same problem occurs. Something that I forgot the say is that I need to clean the underside of the deck after each use because it gets insanely clogged. There's almost 2 inches of grass clogged all over the surrounding of the dech and 1/2 inch in the center. I don't have to tell that it's a pain to clean it after each use...

 

[KennyV]

WELCOME to these Forums...
Your dealer likely did attach or Fail to attach something, other than the baffles... I am sure what you are experiencing is Not normal... there should be a mulching kit instillation guide... try to get a copy, then you can compare the instructions to what has been done. Post back with what you discover... :smile:KennyV

 

[sebastien32]

I have the installation guide at home and that's from there that I found that they forgot to remove the rear baffle. Everything else seem's to be good. I didn't clean the underside of the deck after my yesterday mow. I could probably take some picture of it the next time I will clean it.

What else can affect the mulching performance?

 

[KennyV]

...
What else can affect the mulching performance?

Wrong blades...or Blades installed upside down...

 

[sebastien32]

The blades seem to be to one that came originaly and they are installed on the right side. I will take pictures tonight. Maybe it will help.

 

[sebastien32]

Here are the pictures of the underside of the deck. These pictures were taken yesterday before I mow my grass. The deck was cleaned before I mow the last time so it's the accumulation of only 1 run and the grass was not wet at all.

img_0575 is before I clean it. I was not able to get a good shot at the front wall of the deck but it's were the most of the clugging is located.
img_0576 is what have been removed
img_0577 is a place where the paint have been blasted. I'm wondering if it's normal.

My yesterday mowing remove only half an inch of grass and everything was dry (no rain since 4 days). Even then, chunk of grass have been left all over my grass and everything was flying in the air. I almost needed to rake my grass so it looks good.

 

[sebastien32]

I cleaned my deck once again... It was packed to death again after only one mow. This time, I clean it with pressure water. I upload some more pictures since the deck is more cleaned. You can see from the picture how much grass was removed. I also noticed that there's a gap of 1/2 inch between the deck and the mulching plate that let the grass go out when mowing (IMG_0584.JPG). I don't think that's the cause of flying grass because it get blocked really quickly but maybe that's where the clogging starts...

And what about the blades? are they mulching blades?

I'm pretty f***ing tired of cleaning this deck. I purchase this mower to get a nicer cut and to save some time and none of this is happening.

Please help!!!

 

[sebastien32]

I pointed this thread to an Ariens support guy. He told me that they have some ideas of what the problem could be but they want me to send it to the dealer for inspection. So I will probably sent it to the dealer during my vacation later in july. In the meantime, can somebody with a Zoom 42 (with the mulching kit installed) can confirm me if they get similar result as me or not? What are you experience with the mulching kit?

Thanks,
Sebas

 

[sebastien32]

Here are some updates...

I Checked the deck levelling and found that the deck was higher by a 1/4 inch in the front instead of being 1/4 inch higher in the back. The deck was also higher on the right side. I made the changes and now to cut quality is really better and I get no more grass clogging laying on the grass. However, the grass flying from the right front side is still there. The buildup under the deck is also still an issue and I suspect that the 2 are related. The front wall of the deck is the worst part. It can have easily 1 to 2 inches of grass packed there after only 1 mow. The other problematic area is behind the center blade.

Also, what about the space between the deck and the mulching baffle that I talk about on 07-08-2013? Is it normal.