Bad Boy Rouge grass strips from wheels

[BigBlueEdge]

I bought a Bad Boy Rogue this spring and have used it to mow my 7 acres multiple times now. I'm experiencing a persistent problem with it that is maddening and I cannot find a resolution to it. The front wheels knock the grass down and it doesn't spring back fast enough to get mowed so everywhere I go I have two 5" strips of grass sticking up. I've tried going slower and going faster and it doesn't seem to help. My dealer did some adjustments to the deck height & leveling and also made sure the belt tension was correct but that didn't change anything. I've been mowing at about 3.5 - 3.75" cut height, but I did try mowing lower and that didn't seem to help either... it just made scalping and 'cutouts' worse when the mower goes over bumps and ruts in the lawn. Also, this happens when the lawn is somewhat wet (mowing in the evening after a rain in the morning) and when it is dry.

As consistent as this is for me this must be a common problem for others who mow in the northern states and have similar grass types to mine. Would some type of high-lift blades help by pulling the grass up better?

Thanks,
Rob

 

[hlw49]

Do they have a high lift blade option and hate to ask but are the blades on right?

 

[BigBlueEdge]

The stock blades on a Rogue are the Bad Boy OEMs of Oregon Gator G6 high lift blades. So not much option to improve upon them.

The blades are on correctly. Wish it was that easy.

My dealer just mowed for the first time in quite a while (we've been in a near-drought situation here in central MN) and his BB did the same thing as mine. Apparently the grass we have in MN is often thinner than a lot of other parts of the country and that contributes to the lift issue. That said, I've mowed with a lot of other mowers in my life - mainly garden tractors with slower blade speeds - and this is not a common issue here.

 

[MParr]

You aren’t going to get the required lift out of the Gator type blades. Is this a 60” or 72” mower?

 

[BigBlueEdge]

72" deck. Is there a better set of high lift blades out there?

 

[MParr]

Any 24” blade with a 5/8” Center hole will work. Here are a few. The Dixie Chopper has a longer cutting edge. The Hustler is offset about 5/16”. That means that your actual cutting height will be around 1/4” lower than the straight blade styles.

O.E. Replacement Blades

O.E. Replacement Blades

www.rotarycorp.com

 

[MParr]

Make sure that you have the deck level from left to right.
You need anywhere from 1/8” to 1/4” pitch from front to back. Most of the time, decks are not properly set when they leave the dealer.
Set your tire pressure before checking you deck’s level and pitch. 13-15 psi front and rear.

 

[BigBlueEdge]

OK, but the Bad Boy Rogue's stock blades are their "high lift fusion" blades, which are re-branded Gator G6. These are already high lift. Without knowing that some other brand or maker's blades are notably better it doesn't make much sense to just randomly swap blades looking for changes. That would get expensive.

Does anyone know of high lift blades that have better performance than the Gator G6?

 

[BigBlueEdge]

Make sure that you have the deck level from left to right.
You need anywhere from 1/8” to 1/4” pitch from front to back. Most of the time, decks are not properly set when they leave the dealer.
Set your tire pressure before checking you deck’s level and pitch. 13-15 psi front and rear.

I've had my Rogue back to the dealer for them to explicitly make sure things are adjusted correctly for deck leveling to try to resolve this issue and another I had. I trust that they did have a competent tech work on it. I checked the settings after and it does rake like it is meant to (1/4"). They also checked belt tension at the time it was back.

 

[MParr]

Is this the blade that you are talking about?

038-5400-00 - Bad Boy Mowers 72'' Gator Mulching Blade or Bad Boy Parts number 038540000

Bad Boy Mowers Parts for sale at www.badboylawnmowerparts.com. Get your 038-5400-00 - Bad Boy Mowers 72' Gator Mulching Blade here! Find your Bad Boy Blade using our colored parts diagrams or simply search online by the Bad Boy Part Number 038540000

www.badboylawnmowerparts.com

If so, those are Gator mulching blades and they do not develop the lift that standard high lifts do. On top of that, they will pack your deck with wet grass.