new guy with new Bad Boy Outlaw 810

[RetiredGuns]

I'm sure you can buy or make a striping kit. Looking at Bad Boy accessories they sure have plenty of "stuff" Couldn't help but chuckle at the airfoil & chrome wheel covers!

Where's the flame decals? :wink:

 

[Carscw]

This mower should stripe just fine with out a kit.
Not sure how you are mowing. Are you going back and forth.
Making one pass then turning around making next pass next to the first pass.

One other thing your not going to get nice stripes cutting too short as you do.
Inch and a half is to short to be cutting with a rotary mower.

If the grass is not as green after you mow as it was before you mow then you are cutting way to short.

 

[Shughes717]

Good advice
Thanks guys ...
I always let it cool before power washing .
And i use the nozzle that has the least amount of pressure.
I've only sprayed the hydro motors (I'm guessing the ones under mower next to
Each rear wheel ) lightly, just to get the heavy stuff off
I'd like to keep it looks as good as I can
But of course I don't want to damage anything. ...
Question. .....
Is there a specific type blade I should be using ?
Like a mulching blade or something to obtain these definitive stripes
I'm seeing all over ?
To me I like the way it mows
Wife wants stripes .......
Uhg......
Wife wants stripes
Wife gets stripes ...

Striping isn't difficult. The earlier post about cutting too low is accurate. Try cutting 2.5 to 3. Grass will green up and look more like a carpet. Mow back and forth instead of mowing outside in. Be careful though when turning around at the ends or you will make divets in your lawn. When you get to the end start backwards just a little before turning around to get both tires moving. This will prevent turf damage. If you just push one lever at the end to turn around it will drag the inside tire and make the divet. High lift blades are what usually come on commercial mowers and they should be fine. It doesn't hurt to have an extra set, but why don't you just take those off and sharpen them? Some manufacturers offer a stripping kit. It can be a roller mounted on the back of the deck, or a rubber flab bolted to the back of the deck (what I have on my snapper pro). Have no experience with the roller, but the rubber flap works ok.

 

[samot]

I totally agree with you guys on 1.5 being to low ...
But at 2 in its like it hasn't even been cut
It does not look good to me at all. .....
I'll cut this evening on 2 in a spot and throw a tape measure on it to see just how tall the
Grass is .......
It is not to my liking at 2in
My grass isn't dying at 1.5
In fact I thought it looked pretty good? ?

 

[Shughes717]

I totally agree with you guys on 1.5 being to low ...
But at 2 in its like it hasn't even been cut
It does not look good to me at all. .....
I'll cut this evening on 2 in a spot and throw a tape measure on it to see just how tall the
Grass is .......
It is not to my liking at 2in
My grass isn't dying at 1.5
In fact I thought it looked pretty good? ?

Putting a tape measure on your lawn is a good idea. The deck may not have been properly set when it was assembled which would make the setting wrong, but you should not be having a problem with scalping unless it's cutting that low or the lawn is rough. Let us know if you are able to get your lawn striped. I didn't think of this earlier, but you mentioned you didn't know what type of grass you have. It's difficult to tell from the photos, but you can check with your local ag extension office or co-op and get some info. It may be that you have a type of grass that needs to be cut at around 2". As mentioned earlier though it's hard to stripe grass cut under 2".

 

[samot]

Please understand that my yard ( I'm sure everyone's was at one time)
8 yrs ago was woods .
This is not a sod yard
It has never been aerated or rolled........
So it is not perfectly level
I'm surrounded by corn fields so some run offs kind of deform the ground in
Areas ....
Or and obviously Unlevel area
These farmers love to run drain tile
Which effects where water can run depending on the amount of rain .
Mower only scalps when a rear wheel hits one of those sunken in spots in the
Yard ......
Or
On the level areas ......
It is the perfect cut for me .
take a look at some of the pics in the first post

 

[Shughes717]

Please understand that my yard ( I'm sure everyone's was at one time)
8 yrs ago was woods .
This is not a sod yard
It has never been aerated or rolled........
So it is not perfectly level
I'm surrounded by corn fields so some run offs kind of deform the ground in
Areas ....
Or and obviously Unlevel area
These farmers love to run drain tile
Which effects where water can run depending on the amount of rain .
Mower only scalps when a rear wheel hits one of those sunken in spots in the
Yard ......
Or
On the level areas ......
It is the perfect cut for me .
take a look at some of the pics in the first post

I saw those photos. You have a great looking homestead. I too am surrounded by farm land, but I have a deep ditch surrounding my property that prevents the water run off from the farm land. Try mowing back and forth with the mower set as you have it and see if you get stripes.

 

[djdicetn]

Good advice
Thanks guys ...
I always let it cool before power washing .
And i use the nozzle that has the least amount of pressure.
I've only sprayed the hydro motors (I'm guessing the ones under mower next to
Each rear wheel ) lightly, just to get the heavy stuff off
I'd like to keep it looks as good as I can
But of course I don't want to damage anything. ...
Question. .....
Is there a specific type blade I should be using ?
Like a mulching blade or something to obtain these definitive stripes
I'm seeing all over ?
To me I like the way it mows
Wife wants stripes .......
Uhg......
Wife wants stripes
Wife gets stripes ...

I hear ya...I've got 56 hours on my Gravely and I've probably spent 200 hours cleaning it:0)

Some owners install mulch blades or Gator blades and continue to utilize the side discharge(or sometimes just add a plate to cover the discharge outlet. Personally, I recommend installing a complete mulch kit that usually includes vacuum baffles, discharge cover plate and mulch blades. I added the Gravely OEM mulch kit to my ZTR and grass clippings are non-exixtent after I'm finished mowing. The mulch kit is designed just for that and does not give any stripes.

Yipes.....stripes....everyone wants stripes!!!!! Tell the wife that to get those stripes...it's gonna cost her!! The 2012 Bad Boy catalog that I have shows a Striping Kit(appears to be a metal bar mounted behind the rear tires to the engine guard & frame that gets dragged behind the rear wheels). I don't see it listed under Accessories on the BB website so you may need to contact your dealer. I too am beginning to get into that(striping) and I have added a complete Gravely striping kit to my Pro-Turn 100 XDZ. This consists of a rubber flap that attaches to the rear of the deck and an hex-shaped roller that attaches to the frame underneath the engine behind the rear tires. I just spoke with Ariens Customer Support this morning because I was still not getting stripes that were as pronounced as I wanted. I had already tried something I had read about on the forums(and was described in my Owner Manual) called "heeling the deck". If you read your Owner Manual section on leveling the deck you will find that it gives instructions to measure the blade tips to a level surface on the outside of the deck(with the blades facing East/West) and adjust until they are identical(or within 1/16"). Then you position the blades North/South and set the front blade tip 1/8" - 1/4" lower than the rear blade tip(then recheck sides to make sure they are still "level". This "normal" deck setting gives a balance between cut quality and engine power required to cut the grass. When you "heel the deck" you change the last step(referred to as pitch) to where the rear blade tip is 1/8" to 1/4" lower than the front blade tip. This gives a slightly better quality cut, but requires a little more engine power to cut the grass. Also, since this procedure makes the rear edge of the deck slightly lower than the rear blade tip's cutting height it also produces a very slight striping effect. After discussing with Arien's CSR this morning, I will be changing my deck's pitch back to the normal forward pitch because they recommend that if you have a mulch kit installed. Striping is accomplished by "bending" the remaining grass blades after cutting, behind the deck in the direction you are travelling. When you change direction it will bend them the opposite direction. The "dark" and "light" strips you see when done are actually the sun's light reflecting off of the grass and depending on whether they are bent away from you or towards you determines whether they look "dark" or "light". Pretty scientific, huh:0)

 

[djdicetn]

Putting a tape measure on your lawn is a good idea. The deck may not have been properly set when it was assembled which would make the setting wrong, but you should not be having a problem with scalping unless it's cutting that low or the lawn is rough. Let us know if you are able to get your lawn striped. I didn't think of this earlier, but you mentioned you didn't know what type of grass you have. It's difficult to tell from the photos, but you can check with your local ag extension office or co-op and get some info. It may be that you have a type of grass that needs to be cut at around 2". As mentioned earlier though it's hard to stripe grass cut under 2".

samot,

The advice you're getting on cutting height to get good stripes is spot on!! I have mostly fescue with clover and some crabgrass:0( for my lawn. Even with a complete striping kit, I had been cutting at 2.5" with my deck heeled and not getting real "pronounced" stripes. Gravely recommended that I reset my deck pitch to the normal "forward pitch"(because I'm using a mulch kit) and to cut at 3" to get more pronounced stripes(the remaining grass blades have to be "tall enough" to bend...and stay bent... to reflect the sunlight properly for the dark/light striping look).

I too thought that cutting my lawn higher than 2" would make it look "uncut", but my father-in-law mows his at 4" with a Kubota ZTR and I must admit....it looks like a carpet!!! Ariens told me too many people cut their grass too short and for most grass types 2"-3" is the recommended minimum. It'll take a little getting used to cutting t a higher cutting height, but your grass will be healthier and if you continue cutting weekly it will "grow on you":0)

As an aside, you may want to find out what "type" grass you have. St. Augustine and other varieties are different than fescue or rye and user Ric posted a "chart" that showed recommended height ranges based upon grass type. I can't seem to find that thread right now:0(

Again, to get striping you would want to cut at the maximum recommended height for that grass type.

 

[Carscw]

If you like how it cuts with the deck heeled why not just leave it and use the kit ?

The lighter stripes are the ones going away from you the darker ones are coming towards you.

As far as it having anything to do with the sun can not say yes or no. But stripes look good at night with no sun.

When you are looking at the lighter ones you are seeing the sides of the blades of grass.

Looking at the darker ones you see the blade tips.

If you want to keep the grass at a inch and half or shorter. A roller behind the rear wheels will give you the best stripes with no ugly tire lines. The roller should be on spring loaded arms.

On my own yard I use a toro greens master with a single front roller and double back rollers. I keep it at a half inch and cut every 3 or 4 days.