Another lawn mower question????

[msinc]

This is a dumb one but...I have two zero turn mowers that I use. One is a Deere 925a that I use for my yard. It cuts very nice as long as you keep the blades good and sharp. If not it will leave the lawn looking cut, but looking a little "fuzzy", which I believe is pretty typical.
The second mower is a Dixie Chopper. It has a bigger motor and wider deck. I cannot get this thing to cut clean and flat no matter what...I can remove all three blades and sharpen them to the point that they should not be leaving any blades of grass uncut, bt it will. And not just "fuzzy" either, it always leaves some blades of grass uncut. The deck is not slipping and it turns up very fast.
The question is, should the deck be level??? That is to say "adjusted" so that I can a take a measurement from the cutting edge to the ground with the machine on level ground from any point on any blade and get the same dimension. It seems like this should be right, but I have checked several others including my Deere and they all have the rear of the deck a little lower than the front. Not by much, and I don't know what this would do over level. Any experience with this??? Thanks in advance for reading this and/or any replies!!!!

 

[Targets Guy]

I had a JD zero turn mower and the deck was level.

But my driver was pretty particular.

 

[dswancutt]

If I remember correctly, most of the older JD recommended that the front o the deck be about 1/8" lower than the rear. The reason being that the cut grass would be pulped if the front of the deck is higher than the rear and you get a lot of buildup on the underside of the deck. Are you using high lift blades and is the underside of the deck clean. It sounds like you aren't getting enough lift.

 

[Grayfox]

I can't speak for the Deere, But I've worked on a bunch of Dixie Choppers over the years.
Dixie Choppers slogan is "The World's Fastest lawn Mower". They're built to be fast, not graceful. They're basically commercial type bulk cutters intended to do large areas in the shortest amount of time.
If you want a neat, trim and pretty yard you neat a finishing mower and a Dixie ain't it.
Possibly the missed grass is just being pushed down by the turbulence of the blades. Three blades running to high speed kick up a lot of wind. So the first thing to try is pulling back the throttle and cutting at a lower speed.
As far as deck adjustment, a little height difference front to rear is not important. Some mowers are purposely set up this way to make cutting and grass discharge easier. Also bear in mind that just because the deck is level, it doesn't necessarily mean the blades are.
Side to side adjustment is far more important. Differences here definitely will cause uneven cutting. Worn deck rollers or low tire pressure can also make the deck uneven.
Because Dixies run at such high speeds, they are notoriously hard on the decks and all its components. One or more of the blades could be slipping a little and you might not even notice it. Take a good look at the belts. A glazed appearance on the drive surfaces is a sure sign of slippage. Worn or stretched belts can also cause this.
Take the deck drive belt loose. Rotate every idler pulley by hand. Check for looseness or roughness in the bearings or mounts. Check the blade spindles the same way, but also check to make sure the pulleys are tight on the shafts and there is no up & down play. Take a close look at the deck where the spindles, pulleys and levers mount. Is it bent? The mounting bolt for the belt tensioner arm is particularly bad about bending the deck at its base. Check the tensioner spring. Is it stretched? Loose? Worn?
Excessive wear in any of these components can cause belt slippage.

If all this is good, jack the mower up and measure the distance from the underside of the deck to the blade.(clean out the grass first) Do this with the blade facing front to rear and side to side. All these measurements should be pretty close to the same. If not, something is bent. Also compare measurements from one blade to the others. They should be about equal.

Hope this helps.

 

[doublesharp]

I owned a Dixie Chopper for 10 years and loved it. A grass cutting machine and it's made to run wide open. I like the front to be 1/4" lower than the rear. What kind of blades are you using? I've switched to Oregon G5 gatorblades full time on both my Bob-Cat Predator Pro 61" and my Big Dog 48".

Dixie Chopper Gator Blades - Jacks Small Engines

 

[msinc]

I have checked everything Grayfox suggested and all is correct. In fact, I will say this about the Dixie Chopper mowers...they are the "Apache" helicopter of the lawn mower world...yeah, it's fast, but for every hour it cuts grass there is 13 hours of maintenance!!! At least it seems like it. Had a lot of trouble with the drive belt and idlers, the brand new factory engine leaked out of the bottom main shaft seal, that ridiculous cover on the discharge with all the holes in it...just take it off.
It does not have the high lift blades, but what I have must not be too bad because the grass where the front wheel rolls down is getting cut fine. The deck is clean and I guess the best way to describe it is that if the grass isn't too long it cuts fine and leaves the lawn with a very nice flat "finished" look. But, as soon as the grass gets any length to it at all then the mower leaves uncut blades of grass sticking up. Now, in all fairness, the deck was never adjusted "front down", it has either been rear down by like a good half inch or dead level as it is now. I will try it today with 1/4 inch down in the front. The blades are bone stock form Dixie as it came new but they are in near perfect shape. I will try the gator blades soon. Thanks again fellas for all the info!!!!

Edit: forgot to add that I have varied my speed over ground and unless I am really crawling to point of "why bother to mow with this thing" it leaves grass uncut.

 

[ky wonder]

I have had a Dixie chopper for over 8 years love the thing, but the next time I upgrade I will go to a grasshopper front mount smoother ride and nicer cut seems to me and I like the ease of mowing under stuff that I cant do with my chooper

 

[dswancutt]

Just thought of this, it might be the grass. I have patches of really fine grass on our lot that you can literally stop the mower on and it looks uncut.

 

[msinc]

I agree, I have definitely noticed that some grass {actually real grass, not some type of green weed} mows nicely. But the Deere mower will cut in one pass what the Dixie Chopper always takes two. I have readjusted the deck with some front down but haven't had a chance to try it out yet.