Rear Finish Mower Finish mower not cutting right

[goatherderbo]

I was mowing a field yesterday, and my finish mower kept leaving a 2-3 inch wide path of grass in between the right side and center blade. The field was fairly high, maybe a foot or more in some areas, but the other side did completely fine. I checked underneath the mower to see if the blades just didn't overlap on the right side, but everything looked the same on both sides. Is there something I should tighten or adjust, or is the problem in the blades? The belts are adjusted to the same tightness for both sides too.

I have a Kioti KRM03-72

Thanks

 

[crusty 1]

I was mowing a field yesterday, and my finish mower kept leaving a 2-3 inch wide path of grass in between the right side and center blade. The field was fairly high, maybe a foot or more in some areas, but the other side did completely fine. I checked underneath the mower to see if the blades just didn't overlap on the right side, but everything looked the same on both sides. Is there something I should tighten or adjust, or is the problem in the blades? The belts are adjusted to the same tightness for both sides too.

I have a Kioti KRM03-72

Thanks

were you mowing too fast?Given you said grass was a foot or so tall, thats very long grass for a finish mower to handle.Try at a lower ground speed and see if that helps,it,s usually something simple.:thumbsupave

 

[RoyJackson]

Is it possible your tractor tire may be compressing the grass? If that strip of grass is inline with one of your tractor tires, then slow down a bit (so the grass can recover and spring back up). Also, will it leave the same strip when reversing?
If the tractor tire isn't compressing the grass, and reversing doesn't cut the grass, I'd guess you may have one standard and one high lift blade.

Let us know how you make out!

 

[TripleR]

Can't beat the advice given so far.

Did you check the blade bolts? I had this happen to me once. It mowed fine in short grass, but slipped in the taller stuff.

Might want to check belts too.

 

[LaVoie Equipment]

You are going to think this is absolutely crazy, but we experience this with zero turns from time to time. Typically what we find is the belt pulleys are worn along with the belt (belt slippage). A quick change of pulleys and a tension spring and you are usually good as NEW. Depending on how new your mower is, you may just need a belt change. Approx $30.00 to $40.00 I think. I didn't look up.

Now for cutting the grass and it being a foot tall, you are going to have to go slower than normal to keep the "blade tip" speed up. Your belt could still slip though.

The blade bolt 'loose' is a very good possibilty too. Remove and reinstall with locktite.

Tony

 

[CharlieS]

to approach it from a different perspective, its also quite possible that in such tall grass the left and center blades are moving so much grass under the deck that its overloading the center/right blade ability to discharge cleanly. Think in terms of when mowing grass thats a little tall and wet, how a mower sometimes doesnt discharge cleanly.
I'm thinking its possible its nothing more than a grass volume issue.

Does it mow and discharge without problems in shorter grass?

 

[DK35vince]

Finish mowers are not really meant to mow 1 foot deep grass.
You are trying to mow to much grass to fast and slipping the belts.

 

[RoyJackson]

Finish mowers are not really meant to mow 1 foot deep grass.
You are trying to mow to much grass to fast and slipping the belts.

Good point!!
I'd missed the height of the grass before my first response.
Goatherderbo should raise his mower to the maximum height for the first cut (maybe he did), then cut it agan at his desired height.

My Befco manual does not recommend cutting grases higher the 10".

 

[savageactor7]

Finish mowers are not really meant to mow 1 foot deep grass.

That's very true but most of us our guilty of doing that at one time or another.

With all the other likely suspects mentioned there is one other thing. Modern decks are designed with cowlings to help lift the grass to cut. If they are plugged full ...well the deck just can't do the job it was designed to do. So try scraping the grass from the underside of the deck and note any improvement.

Very surprising to hear that even running slow enough with the proper rpm's this problem could happen even with a plugged deck...but it's worth a shot.

 

[djradz]

At only 2-3 inches uncut, I don't think the problem is blade slippage, as there'd probably be other symptoms such as very rough/eradict cut over the entire blade. Probably more likely with the grass so tall, the 2-3 inch area is getting pressed down or blown over and slipping between the blades or not getting adequately picked up.

The solutions proposed so far, slow down or cut in two passes are your best bet, unless you wish to keep the area cut lower all the time.

 

[IslandTractor]

I saw a neighbor having the same problem with a JD riding mower. All the belts seemed tight and the blades were OK but the grass was very tall (12-18 inches) and I think he was just mowing too fast.

Another reason to get a flail mower! (You can bog a flail down but you don't get these uncut areas even if the grass is too tall).

 

[zzvyb6]

When my finish mower does this, it means I've picked up a piece of plastic bale twine and its wrapped arround one of the spindles. Its comes and goes as it winds around and can get ejected.

 

[goatherderbo]

I did some tests on it in a field we have. It did the same backwards or forwards. I was inspecting the blades, and I can push them in separate ways slipping the belts fairly easy. I don't know if that's right or not. Also could blade sharpness be an issue.

I'll try it on normal lawn height grass today. It did cut a lot better when I mowed at about .2 miles an hour or less. It's just unbearably slow when there's 6 acres

 

[goatherderbo]

Just finished mowing on a lwan. the grass was pretty short, and it mowed better, but some parts on that right side it still leaves a little strip. And when the grass was a little higher in an area it left a strip. I went slower and that helped. I think something like the belt might be loose, from my previous post. But I don't know enough to make a final judgement

 

[Transit]

I did some tests on it in a field we have. It did the same backwards or forwards. I was inspecting the blades, and I can push them in separate ways slipping the belts fairly easy. I don't know if that's right or not. Also could blade sharpness be an issue.

I'll try it on normal lawn height grass today. It did cut a lot better when I mowed at about .2 miles an hour or less. It's just unbearably slow when there's 6 acres

You found the problem, belt slip. You will need to adjust or replace the belt if badly worn. If the belt slips it will ware faster than normal.

 

[djradz]

Just finished mowing on a lwan. the grass was pretty short, and it mowed better, but some parts on that right side it still leaves a little strip. And when the grass was a little higher in an area it left a strip. I went slower and that helped. I think something like the belt might be loose, from my previous post. But I don't know enough to make a final judgement

If you're leaning toward blade slippage, why not just tighten it up (or tighten the tension, assuming there is a spring) and try some more?