Raptor SD cut quality - any recommendations?

[1striper1]

What type of blade your using doesn't matter, it can be a gator blade or what ever. You measure blade tip. In most conditions the back blade tip should be adjusted 1/4" higher than the front for the correct pitch on the deck. If your a 1/4" higher in the front you may end up getting a face full of grass because it will blow out the front of the deck because you wont be creating enough lift.

Not debating...just asking......so why are most lawn tractor decks set high in front for most any type of cutting? Blade tip speed?

Mowed for the first time yesterday with the deck raised 1/4" in front and the front baffles all the way down. So far so good and no grass blowing out the front.

All one can do it TRY it I suppose. See how it works for them.

 

[Ric]

Spent a frustrating Friday cutting 5 days worth of dry growth from my lawn at about 3" high. It had not rained during the previous 5 days but the night before we got a bit of drizzle, leaving the lawn damp when I had to cut it that morning. Had to TRIPLE cut to get this:

Cleaned this mess from under the deck:

Went to see my local dealer. When I told him I was using the Gator G5s, he told me he's not surprised that I'm having discharge and clumping issues, saying the blades are better suited to mulching. He also recommended pitching the deck 1/4" forward.

He gave me a set of the high lift blades and asked that I try them with the deck pitched forward.

Installed them yesterday. Will try a cut today (though only two days of dry growth). I also installed a both adjacent to the discharge chute to level it out a bit so it's not pointing downward (raises it about 1").

The Gator blades are High lift as well as mulching blades. I'll bet if you pitch your deck forward and leave the Gator blades on you wont have that mess. If you triple cut that and you have that left there's something else wrong. I mow wet grass all the time and I never have discharge problems with Gator blades and never leave anything like that, if I did I wouldn't have many clients .

 

[mooch91]

The Gator blades are High lift as well as mulching blades. I'll bet if you pitch your deck forward and leave the Gator blades on you wont have that mess. If you triple cut that and you have that left there's something else wrong. I mow wet grass all the time and I never have discharge problems with Gator blades and never leave anything like that, if I did I wouldn't have many clients .

My deck had at least a 1/8" pitch with the gator blades.

So I'll try the new setup and see how it works.

What else could be the issue? Belt/spindles slipping?

Or, again, a fundamental design issue with this mower creating the problem?

The engine never bogs down, always runs strong.

 

[1striper1]

Spent a frustrating Friday cutting 5 days worth of dry growth from my lawn at about 3" high. It had not rained during the previous 5 days but the night before we got a bit of drizzle, leaving the lawn damp when I had to cut it that morning. Had to TRIPLE cut to get this:

Cleaned this mess from under the deck:

Went to see my local dealer. When I told him I was using the Gator G5s, he told me he's not surprised that I'm having discharge and clumping issues, saying the blades are better suited to mulching. He also recommended pitching the deck 1/4" forward.

He gave me a set of the high lift blades and asked that I try them with the deck pitched forward.

Installed them yesterday. Will try a cut today (though only two days of dry growth). I also installed a both adjacent to the discharge chute to level it out a bit so it's not pointing downward (raises it about 1").

That's what my lawn looked like last year right after I got my 60" XOne but it is a rear discharge. Deck was down 1/4" when I bought it.

 

[mooch91]

If any day should have been a day to get a good quality cut, today was it. Only two days since the last cut, very dry the past couple of days, and lawn was dry this morning.

Again, trying with the high lift blades, a completely clean deck, pitched 1/4" forward, and chute raised up about an inch.

The results:

The stripes were awesome today, and the mower cleaned up the last of the small clumps left over from Friday. Not a windrow anywhere.

But I'll need to give it a few days and mow again to see if the results can be sustained.

The mod I made to the discharge chute, for those interested - very simply, 5/16" bolt in through the hole to space the chute "up":

 

[ffk_pennywise]

I like your chute mod. I'll have to try that this week.

When you pitch the deck, are you dropping the front or raising the rear? Does it even matter?

 

[mooch91]

When you pitch the deck, are you dropping the front or raising the rear? Does it even matter?

I dropped the front.

It does kind of matter. If you follow the procedure in the manual (put 3" blocks under the deck, set deck to 3.25" with the pin and raise the deck with the nuts until it just lifts off the blocks) and then raise the rear of the deck another 1/4", you can get it to a point where the foot pedal becomes ineffective at getting the deck to unlatch. The foot pedal has a stop against the mower frame that prevents it from lifting high enough to unlatch when you add that extra 1/4". So my suggestion would be to follow the procedure and use a 2.75" block at the front, or drop the front 1/4" once it's set.

 

[ffk_pennywise]

Got it!

Thanks.

 

[mooch91]

I like your chute mod. I'll have to try that this week.

I'm still debating cutting off the chute square to the deck right at the edge of the deck to really open it up. I have another chute on order to tinker with it if I choose. Though this seemed to work much better (in combination with the blades and mowing conditions) for now.

 

[1striper1]

Mowed 5 days worth of very dry growth today. It was long. Probably took off over an inch, at least. No clumping, but definitely some clippings left behind on the lawn. Deck stayed reasonably clean. Since I have a new chute on order, I'm going to try to cut the chute off square with the end of the deck to see if it helps at all.

Definitely better, but not perfect.

I think the only way you're going to get the "perfect" that you want is by bagging the clippings. I'd be giddy if I got the results you're getting.