mower deck up......or down?

[slomo]

If you are mulching then healing the deck, ( back lower ) will give you a better cut.
If you are throwing then a normal attack angle ( front down ) will throw the grass further & help bag.

Heeled decks are more prone to getting hung up on obstacles like tree roots and stumps .

What the?

slomo

 

[keakar]

So, does it really matter?

yes it does, its for safety

you have a spinning guillotine under there and if the front was higher then the back the first contact with an object is the blade and not the deck

 

[cruzenmike]

I would have to imagine that you would be getting some blowout from the front edge of the deck with it angled slightly upward. Any manual that I have seen recommends that the back of the deck be 3/16-3/8" higher in the back than the front. If you can see it this way, it might make sense.... the deck is tipped to the front slightly, so as the pass is made, the grass it cut first at the edge nearest the front of the deck and then anything missed is picked up by the tip of the blade near the back of the deck. While all of this is going on, the airflow in the deck is moving the clippings around, drawing up air from the space at the back of the deck where there is less clippings to process while also standing the freshly cut blades up nice and tall. This works best with high lift blades. When you say Oregon mulching blades, I assume that you mean Gator G3, G5 or G6 blades which are also high lift based on the height of the sail. Your machine and turf will vary. All commercial landscapers that I know use either Exmarks, Gravelys or Ferris mowers, with notched foil or G5/G6 Gators and the deck pitched with the back end up higher than the front. These machines all stripe well at the 3-4" heights that they are cutting at.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Mike.
Nothing is universal
There are lot of variables
However remember that the blades are creating an updraft
With a heeled deck the blades cut at both the front & the back
It is a similar effect to using a twin blade razor
So if you are cutting 1" off the grass , the front of the blade will cut the 1" off then the back lops off another 1/8" to 1/2" depending upon how much you heel .
The result is a cleaner cut.
The downside is you have to mow SLOWER

 

[bullet bob]

So far my set-up seems to produce decent-looking results. Gator G5 blades, front slightly higher, and I don't have to mow 5-6 yards/day so I'm not in any hurry. Still 'speriminting with DIY striping ideas. The heavy door mat ripped after ~ 6 hrs.

 

[cruzenmike]

So far my set-up seems to produce decent-looking results. Gator G5 blades, front slightly higher, and I don't have to mow 5-6 yards/day so I'm not in any hurry. Still 'speriminting with DIY striping ideas. The heavy door mat ripped after ~ 6 hrs.

I made my own striping kit using a piece of unistrut and an old rubber door mat. I was able to clamp it on the bottom of the engine guard using some c-clamps. It only needs to be as wide as the wheels so it worked out decent. Old door mat had ripped and took some metal from the scrap pile at work. Only cost me an hour of time and some spray paint.