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I have a Hustler Sport that is about 10 years old. It clogs with grass often which. The PTO clutch burnt out recently and I replaced it. The first time I used it, it clogged after about 10 minutes of cutting, but I didn't notice immediately. The belt kept turning, because the electric clutch was still engaged. This meant that the belt heated up and started to melt on of the plastic idler wheels, and smoke started pouring out of the mowing deck.

My question is, what is supposed to happen if the blades get jammed with grass? Is there supposed to be something that automatically disengages the clutch if the blades jam, and if so, what is this mechanism? What seemed to happen before I replaced the clutch was that the blades would jam, the sound of the motor would change slightly, and I would disengage the clutch, but there was no smoking or burning of the belt, because it seemed to have stopped being driven. I don't see how the PTO clutch is supposed to disengage automatically, because if the coil is energised (the switch is on) the drive pulley is engaged.

Any help is appreciated.

No
You are supposed to notice that no grass is coming out of the chute
Either you have a build up under the deck that is choking the discharge or you are using blades with too high lift .

bertsmobile1 said:

No
You are supposed to notice that no grass is coming out of the chute
Either you have a build up under the deck that is choking the discharge or you are using blades with too high lift .

Click to expand...

Thanks for the quick reply. Just to clarify, for the time it takes from when the blades jam, until when I notice no grass is coming out of the chute, will either the belt be slipping on the drive pulley, or slipping around the three drive pulleys on the blades?

Then you should be a lot more attention to your mowing. Maybe some stay alert pills or installing an automatic hammer device that grabs you and smack you on the head.

Like in this Duffy Duck Clip
https://thumbs.gfycat.com/NewSlightDotterel-mobile.mp4

You need to be mowing slower in tall grass or not trying to cut the full width of the deck in areas where the grass is extremely heavy.

And putting on a sensor for this type clogging would be quite feat.

Mow higher and slower.

Thanks for all the suggestions, guys. So I've slowed down, reduced the width of cut, I don't try to cut grass that is too long, and I've got Daffy Duck feeding me stay alert pills with a hammer. Unbelievably, the blades still jam. I quickly notice that no more grass is coming from the chute, (thanks, Daffy) but there is a period of a few seconds while I respond and push the button to disengage the clutch. What is supposed to happen during this time? Is the belt supposed to slip on the PTO drive pulley, or on the pulleys on the blades? I'm trying to find out if there is an adjustment I need to make, such as reducing the spring tension on the third idler wheel on the mowing deck, which would mean that belt slip could occur more easily.

In the time between the blades jambing & you turning off the PTO the tension spring should stretch fully and then the belt start to burn on the PTO pulley .
You can fit a slightly longer belt which will slip more readily but it is a fine balance between slipping when the blades are jambed and slipping when the blades are under heavy load .
I put some high lift blades on one of my rough cut mowers expecting them to toss the grass for yards but all they did was to pack grass tight between the blades & the top of the deck.
Went to all low lift blades & it works a treat
I have found that Gators do not work on Husqvarna fabricated decks , with or without the mulching plate.
IT is a bit of an art to find the right combination of blades & decks for individual lawns ( or paddocks ).
Not every blade will work on every grass even if they are genuine mower branded blades .
So the next question is what blades are you running ?
Way back you could get sand blades ( almost no lift ) , standard blades, throwing blades , bagging blades & mulching blades for most mowers but now days it seems to be a choice between high lift & low lift or mulching & plain for most mowers .
Some decks also require a modification to suit the grass they are used to cut .

bertsmobile1 said:

In the time between the blades jambing & you turning off the PTO the tension spring should stretch fully and then the belt start to burn on the PTO pulley .
You can fit a slightly longer belt which will slip more readily but it is a fine balance between slipping when the blades are jambed and slipping when the blades are under heavy load .
I put some high lift blades on one of my rough cut mowers expecting them to toss the grass for yards but all they did was to pack grass tight between the blades & the top of the deck.
Went to all low lift blades & it works a treat
I have found that Gators do not work on Husqvarna fabricated decks , with or without the mulching plate.
IT is a bit of an art to find the right combination of blades & decks for individual lawns ( or paddocks ).
Not every blade will work on every grass even if they are genuine mower branded blades .
So the next question is what blades are you running ?
Way back you could get sand blades ( almost no lift ) , standard blades, throwing blades , bagging blades & mulching blades for most mowers but now days it seems to be a choice between high lift & low lift or mulching & plain for most mowers .
Some decks also require a modification to suit the grass they are used to cut .

Click to expand...

Thanks very much for a good answer that explains the process. I bought the mower with the property, so I am getting to know how to use it and what it is fitted with.

The blades are mulching ones and look like this.


so I don't know if they qualify as high lift or not. I have certainly been seeing lots of compacting of grass under the deck building up very quickly. The last time I looked, I saw that the deck was rusting quite badly, so I have just done a complete descale, prime, and paint so hopefully it will last somewhat longer.

Yes they are Gator style mulching blades
They work very well on vented decks ( holes around the spindle mounts ) but not so good with fabricated decks
Every aftermarket mower parts company makes blades for your mower.
I suggest you buy a set of each type from each supplier and try all of them to find which works best for your mower & grass.
The ones that are not particularly good can be sold on evilpay or craigs list or face ache .
Because those blades recut the clippings into smaller bits they do not have the momentum to throw out of the deck, in fact they are designed not to throw very far
The plain notched blades , both high lift & low lift will throw the clippings out further and be less likely to build up under the deck.
All of the aftermarket suppliers list their blades by length, width, thickness, & mounting hole.
Any blade the same size can be used regardless of what they are officially designed for.
One of my customers runs a fleet of Z Masters using Great Dane blades .
Thicker ( heavier ) blades work best on tall grass and thinner blades leave a finner cut with thin grass.
Then there is Autumn leaves .
More than one customer has several sets of blades to use at different times of the year,
Down here we get very lush wet grass in spring that burns off in summer then the stringy winter grasses take over.
Each requires a different blade to give a professional quality cut .
In any case any of the notched blades should end your build up problem
This is the Stens Chart
You will have to look up your mower in the catelogues by make & model to find out the actual lengths of your blades .
Blade length is measured like TV's as the diaognal length cutting tip to cutting tip

Headbo100 said:

Thanks for all the suggestions, guys. So I've slowed down, reduced the width of cut, I don't try to cut grass that is too long, and I've got Daffy Duck feeding me stay alert pills with a hammer. Unbelievably, the blades still jam. I quickly notice that no more grass is coming from the chute, (thanks, Daffy) but there is a period of a few seconds while I respond and push the button to disengage the clutch. What is supposed to happen during this time? Is the belt supposed to slip on the PTO drive pulley, or on the pulleys on the blades? I'm trying to find out if there is an adjustment I need to make, such as reducing the spring tension on the third idler wheel on the mowing deck, which would mean that belt slip could occur more easily.

Click to expand...

Are you mulching? If so, let it discharge! If not, then check the bearings for each blade and each idler pully. Remove the belt and feel the bearings as you slowly rotate the blade or idler. Third, check the belt routing. Forth, if the clutch is the adjustable kind, an air gap is usually recommended to be .010, some say .012. Fifth, blade type and condition, use high lift blades and let it discharge. If a bagger, try without it. If all this doe3s not solve it, sell it or repeat the diagnostics or replace parts most suspected, starting with the bearings and the blades without further information. Oh, I forgot one, insure the idler system puts adequate belt tension on the belt.

Hi Headbo100,
in answer to your question: there is no auto cut out.

I’m a commercial operator and run a hustler raptor with a mulch plug. As already stated, gator blades chop up the grass several more times before dropping down instead of discharging out the shoot. It takes a lot of power to hold the grass in the deck to do this blades will stall a lot easier when pushed to hard. When I first started I smoked a few belts. If using a mulch plug stick with gator blades. They leave better fines which is the whole point of mulching.

As already stated, pay attention to revs and listen to the deck. Yours will make a particular rattle when it’s loaded and not. It will go silent when the blades stall but you should know its starting to loa up.

My tip, the second you realise you have stalled the deck, pull back on a sticks and move back from the grass at the same time as lifting the deck (I always mow with my foot resting on the deck lift). 90% of the time this will get the baldes turning again if you catch it quick enough. A split second later disengage the blades if it hasn’t freed up.

I avoid immediately disengaging the blades because it leaves a big mess of mulched grass dumped on the customers lawn that I need to deal with and it also loads the belt up again when you rengage the pto again.

The gator blades you are using work well and I use them whether mulching or not. They just chew up the clippings better. Just can’t push the mower as fast when mulching.

Hope that helps.