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Here is a question for whoever.....Say you have a Tiger Cat.......Well......Let's say you run over something that you should not....like concrete! What part of the mower do you think would break down first? I think I might have the answer.

I don't know....what part broke on yours?

Spindle housing

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Ya probably that! How did u hit concrete?

The Answer Is..........NOTHING!.......Not one thing broke as far as I can tell. ...well....It did put a little scratch on the tip of one blade. The blade is not in the exact position that it was, but all seems to be working fine as far as I can tell. A chunk of concrete is missing though. I hope this does not end up biting me in the *** later.:confused2:

Wow! U are lucky!! How did you hit concrete??

Well.....It was sort of half buried in the ground & covered up by the tall grass. It was something I missed. S**T happens! :smile:

Billblake said:

The Answer Is..........NOTHING!.......Not one thing broke as far as I can tell. ...well....It did put a little scratch on the tip of one blade. The blade is not in the exact position that it was, but all seems to be working fine as far as I can tell. A chunk of concrete is missing though. I hope this does not end up biting me in the *** later.:confused2:

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I'd check to see if your blade is bent. I've done alot worse over the years. But then again I've got alot of hours on the machines. I got a brand new toro groundsmaster and rode it til it was retired at 3500 hrs and the repairs out valued the machine.

Yeah, I know the feeling of running things over....I ran over a dead bird that was hidden by tall grass and it smelled horrible!! Its head got chopped off and it's legs got stuck to the deck and wheel of my mower.

Scag ZTRs have a blade spacer that some other makes don't have. This places the blade further down and away from the spindle housing. When a blade strikes the harder, heavier, less movable object, the radial force felt by the spindle housing is greater than spindles with the blade closer.
Scag spindles also require 40 hour lube with a particular type grease and when not lubed regularly can get excessively hot and more vulnerable to cracking.

So.....With this spacer between the blade & spindle .....well.....Is this a good thing?.....or a bad thing? Please forgive me, I am not quite understanding ....but I want to learn......Trust me....I want to learn! How would one tell if any damage was done to a spindle?

Utilizing the spacer is the way that Scag designed their decks. This provides more space above the blade without needing to make a longer or taller spindle housing depending on how one views it. Airflow is a key factor in the evacuation of the grass clippings and increasing the distance from the top of the blades to the underside of the deck using a blade bolt and spacer is how Scag set it up.
Nothing wrong with this setup, several other manufacturers use the same.
These machines are lawn mowers and not brush hogs, look at the underside of a brush cutting type rotary machine and you will see the difference. Brush cutting machines turn at a much slower speed utilizing a much heavier blade.
Most modern lawnmower blades turn at a blade tip speed around 18,000 Feet per Minute with the max alowable of 19,000 Feet per Minute by federal safety regulations. When a blade turning at these speeds strikes a hard object nasty stuff can happen!!:confused2:
Spindles and housings need to be inspected from the underside of the deck. Blade bolts also need to be inspected and a bent one may indicate that more damage has occured. In a spindle assembly there is the part that turns and thru which the blade bolt passes. With the blade bolt removed, the lower part can be inspected where the blade spacer makes contact. With the deck drive belt removed, the spindle can be turned to check it for running in the center, this usually takes two people to accomplish.

Thank you for the info.:wink: