Both the hi-lift blade and ninja blade that came with it were pretty worn, so I bought a new one of each, and will have the old ones sharpened and ready to change out when needed.
Put blade setting at highest position (6) and was amazed at how short it cut my grass!
Darn near scalped it in some spots.
I had been cutting it by hand at the second highest setting on a self-propelled, and just cut it 3 days prior.
So, here's what I tried:
-aired up tires to max 12 psi front, 22 psi rear
-checked to make sure blade was not upside down:smile: (not really possible with the channel built in to blade)
-adjusted blade level bracket by loosening the 3 bolts and pulling up to top setting
-put the 3 deck wheels to bottom hole. (although the wheels don't touch the ground at high setting, except on extreme dips or irregular spots)
Is it because of the design of the hi-lift blade?
Should I use the standard blade, and if so, will it have enough lift to bag clippings?
It looks like the ninja blade will cut higher, but haven't tried it yet.
Grass is mostly tall fescue, with a little Bermuda that snuck in somehow.
how does the blade mount to the bottom .does it have a seperate boss piece that the blade mounts to that maybe shouldn't be there, causing the blade to be down further than it should.
I'm pretty sure the blade is mounted correctly. It really can only mount one way, with the channel in the blade over the blade bar, and the cutting edge of the blade pointing up to deck.
I think what I'm experiencing is a combination of several factors:
-soft ground (not wet)
-air-filled tires that give, as opposed to the hard rubber tires on hand mower
-had been cutting it pretty high anyway
-It is extremely thick grass with a lot of thatch that was sucked up in to bag. That also made it seem like it was cutting too much. I filled the bag 5 times in a small area of about 3500 sf.
When I get back down there this weekend, I will double-check the psi in tires,the blade lever adjustment handle settings and will measure the distance from floor to cutting edge on a flat concrete floor.
If you are going by the amount of grass in the bag don't, Snapper hi vac decks are like vacuums, they pick up much more than other brands and you will get more in it than expected for a few cuts.
-max psi in tires 12-rear, 22 front
-loosened the 3 bolts on blade height adjustment bracketand pushed down on mounting bolt to set for max height
-Hi-vac blade is properly installed (it will only install one way, and of course you want the cutting edge to cut on a clock-wise rotation)
I did level the deck a bit with the leveler brackets, but I still can only get 3" clearance from floor to cutting edge.
The manual says it will go to 4", but maybe that's with the standard blade?
There is no difference between the high vac blade and the reg blade except the holes in the back of the blade for the lifts and the lifts themselves, The only thing I can think of possibly is the leveler bolts on the blade bar, they are on the top of the blade bar and screw into the blade bar from the top side and push down on the blade. I don't think they would make that much difference but you may want to check that they are not screwd all the way in to the bar if they are they could deflect the blade enough to make a difference. You say the blade is turning clockwise I assume you are referring to as it would look from the operators seat and not from underneath. Also don't say the blade can only be put on one way, as I worked and ran a snapper dealership and saw countless blades on riders installed upside down, not easy to do but possible.
I loosened the the 2 bolts and turned the accentric bolt. So, it is now set so that the bracket is pushed down to it's lowest possible position, which in turn, should make #6 setting pull the deck up to max height? then I adjusted the hanger chains so that deck was level.
distance from bottom of cutting edge on blade to top of lip inside cutting deck is about 5/8".
I tried adusting the bracket with the lever at #6 instead of at #1 like the manual says.
I pulled bracket up as high as I could and held the deck up with a wood block and then tightened both mounting bolts. Then I tightened the eccentric bolt and re-tighened mounting bolts.
I think we got it! The blade is now about 3 3/4" off floor!
Not at the 4" the manual says, but it'll do the trick.
When it was at #1 setting, it wasn't allowing bracket to come up high enough, I guess?
Also noticed that the brackets that the chain hangers are on were not even. One was bent down slightly, which was screwing up my leveling efforts.
