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Hello,

I have a John Deere S130 Riding Mower. My problem is that when I mow, the grass is cutting unevenly. I have checked the tire pressures and they are all good and even. I also checked the deck and it seems pretty balanced. You can see the weird cutting patter in the picture below. Please help!

To me it looks like you have three possible causes to this problem. 1. Dull blades. 2. Deck is not level. 3. Not cutting at full throttle. 4. Cutting at more than trying to remove more than 1/3 of the grass height. I would start at sharpening the blades and make sure then deck is properly leveled, at the blade tip, not the deck housing.

One of the blades might be on upside down.
There could be a spindle problem.
The deck could be packed with clippings.
There are many things to be checked.

Rivets said:

To me it looks like you have three possible causes to this problem. 1. Dull blades. 2. Deck is not level. 3. Not cutting at full throttle. 4. Cutting at more than trying to remove more than 1/3 of the grass height. I would start at sharpening the blades and make sure then deck is properly leveled, at the blade tip, not the deck housing.

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I agree. If the blades are sharp, the deck is leveled correctly, and running at full throttle, there should be visible wind rows.

MParr said:

I agree. If the blades are sharp, the deck is leveled correctly, and running at full throttle, there should be visible wind rows.

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Bent blade(s), loose spindle(s) also check.

Tiger Small Engine said:

Bent blade(s), loose spindle(s) also check.

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Upside down blade or blades.

lewk said:

Hello,

I have a John Deere S130 Riding Mower. My problem is that when I mow, the grass is cutting unevenly. I have checked the tire pressures and they are all good and even. I also checked the deck and it seems pretty balanced. You can see the weird cutting patter in the picture below. Please help!

View attachment 66941

Click to expand...

I had a similar issue. I found that the belt was beginning to stretch. Replaced belt and grass cut once again SMOOTH!

If the mower is new to you be sure you have the correct spindles. I bought a used Cub Cadet mower with 54” deck. One spindle was replaced with a generic spindle about an inch shorter than the other two.

I don’t see unevenness in the cut. I see tracks from the tires. I find that if I cut grass that is too long/wet the front tires flatten it but the blades can’t lift it up for a clean cut. Going over it again at a right angle seems to help but who wants to mow twice!

lewk said:

Hello,

I have a John Deere S130 Riding Mower. My problem is that when I mow, the grass is cutting unevenly. I have checked the tire pressures and they are all good and even. I also checked the deck and it seems pretty balanced. You can see the weird cutting patter in the picture below. Please help!

View attachment 66941

Click to expand...

Had same problem on my D105. Deck was bent where one of the spindles mounts holding the blade. Grandson must have hit something. (Make sure one blade is not bent first.). Remove the deck and turn it over. Rotate the blades by hand and see where they meet in the middle. They should match each others height where they almost touch in middle of deck. Even a 1/4 inch off will be noticed in your cut if one is off.

Look at outer edge of the deck as you rotate the blades and try to determine which blade is off. Remove the blade and spindle. Use a wood block and heavy hammer to straighten the deck. Will need to hammer both sides until deck is no longer bent. Install blade and recheck. Adjust as necessary.

I, too, can't see any uneven cut. What I do see in the pic is the grass that must be a foot tall (bottom right in pic). Correct me if I'm wrong, you've got a newer model rider, 42" deck with 2-blade arrangement. Are you cutting or mulching? Given that your mower checks out as far as proper adjustment / maintenance, wear and tear, etc. I think that you're just pushing it too much...making it work harder than it can handle.

My BIL who owns that same model had a weld break up inside the deck adjustment mechanism. Made his grass look the same way. You couldn't spot the issue with casual observation, but careful measurements proved it was there. His mower repair guy was able to repair the broken weld.

Jack17 said:

I, too, can't see any uneven cut. What I do see in the pic is the grass that must be a foot tall (bottom right in pic). Correct me if I'm wrong, you've got a newer model rider, 42" deck with 2-blade arrangement. Are you cutting or mulching? Given that your mower checks out as far as proper adjustment / maintenance, wear and tear, etc. I think that you're just pushing it too much...making it work harder than it can handle.

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I noticed the same thing you did. I suggest cutting the same area again while pushing the clippings to one side to clear the surface of excess loose grass, then inspect the area afterward to reassess the evenness of the cut.

lewk said:

Hello,

I have a John Deere S130 Riding Mower. My problem is that when I mow, the grass is cutting unevenly. I have checked the tire pressures and they are all good and even. I also checked the deck and it seems pretty balanced. You can see the weird cutting patter in the picture below. Please help!

View attachment 66941

Click to expand...

I'd say check blade level get a blade level device amazon has also.measure tip blade front and rear 3," and 2 and quarter up front.then should be good check that blades are tight at spindle to.and blades on correct. I use gator blades..hope help

Cutting wet grass on clay soil.

Make a wood level gauge shaped like an L . Place a strip of Styrofoam on the long portion . While on a flat surface ( no need to be level ) check where blades touch on each side , L and R at the cutting tip . If it's the same height there will only be 1 mark on the Styrofoam .

a styrafoam cup works just as well

Blades can un-level two ways. Side to Side and Front to Back. Here I use a four foot level across the deck side to side first. Making sure blade meet even in the middle are at the same height as the middle point on both sides. Then I do a check front to back of each blade. Usually it is either a bent blade or spindle mount and sometime even a twisted deck.

I use a three pound hand sledge hammer to adjust the spindle mounts if bent. Not much can be done with a twisted deck here. Broken welds are easily fixed.

lewk said:

Hello,

I have a John Deere S130 Riding Mower. My problem is that when I mow, the grass is cutting unevenly. I have checked the tire pressures and they are all good and even. I also checked the deck and it seems pretty balanced. You can see the weird cutting patter in the picture below. Please help!

View attachment 66941

Click to expand...

You have a 2-blade deck with the wrong length blades ot they are upside down somehow.

Kinda hard to get the wrong blades since these are seven point star mount blades; unless they just on round hole version. Blades are 21-3/8 x 2-3/4.

Now upside down is possible but even is a little hard to do.

Or the OP might be operating in mulch mode and simple going too fast as mulching decks takes longer to cut properly due to self clogging.