Mowing BX 60" mower

[redharley]

My bx2230 with 60 " mower not letting as nice of job as it used to. Bought tractor and deck new,tractor has about 1,000 hr on it. Mow a fair amount on a side hill seems like there's always a stripe in grass no mater which way I mow. Have checked side to side balance when sitting on shop floor seems ok. Any thoughts that those springs that you adjust could be getting week. Thanks for your thoughts,

 

[BoylermanCT]

Worn spindles could cause striping. Are the spindles greasable, and have you greased them regularly? If they are sealed units and not greasable, it may be time for new ones.

Can you post pics of the striping?

 

[RickB]

Original blades? Are they worn on the corners?

 

[skipperbrown]

I had this issue in heavy grass and discovered one of the bolts holding the blade on was loose and the blade was slipping. With a 1000 hrs, you have some wear and tear. You might try putting your on a flat surface and make sure the deck is level and the front/aft pitch is correct for your cutting height. A new set of sharp blades wouldn't hurt either. I think if the spindles were going bad, you'd feel it or hear it.

 

[iwlf]

If the cone washers on the blades are worn (compressed flat) it will be difficult to tighten the bolt enough to hold the blade tight enough to prevent slipping. Is the stripe narrow or almost a full blade width? If narrow, I'd guess worn blades, if wide then a slipping blade.

 

[redharley]

Yes they are worn on corners could that be the issue

 

[redharley]

Stripe is narrow, spindles are greaseable cone washers appear to not be flat,I grease regularly sounds like new blades might be the answer..thanks

 

[RickB]

Yes they are worn on corners could that be the issue

Easily.

 

[dodge man]

I just put new blades on my BX, when compared to the old one the amount of wear was shocking. Get new blades.

 

[JWR]

First, I think all the comments in the last 8 posts are very good to check/consider. One not mentioned was bent shrouds and other metal underneath the deck. I run 2 differing model decks on 2 different Kubotas and cannot remember for sure which one has the semicircular shrouds and "guides" underneath and which one does not. Bent, misaligned sheet metal under there can cause striping for sure.

Is your striping ALWAYS there?, just frequently?, only when mowing heavier deeper grass? My BX2200 has around 830hrs on it and probably 95% of that is mowing grass with the 60 inch belly mower. I get striping only when mowing grass that has gotten too tall (happened to me less than 10 hours ago matter of fact.) Well sharpened blades tends to minimize many problems including this one.

 

[4570Man]

First, I think all the comments in the last 8 posts are very good to check/consider. One not mentioned was bent shrouds and other metal underneath the deck. I run 2 differing model decks on 2 different Kubotas and cannot remember for sure which one has the semicircular shrouds and "guides" underneath and which one does not. Bent, misaligned sheet metal under there can cause striping for sure.

Is your striping ALWAYS there?, just frequently?, only when mowing heavier deeper grass? My BX2200 has around 830hrs on it and probably 95% of that is mowing grass with the 60 inch belly mower. I get striping only when mowing grass that has gotten too tall (happened to me less than 10 hours ago matter of fact.) Well sharpened blades tends to minimize many problems including this one.

Well sharpened blades aren’t the end of it. I see plenty of people running sharp, but severely worn blades. Once the blades loose the straight cutting edge and square tip the cut quality decreases.

 

[diesel85]

That's very true. I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but I was told to have the blades oriented like - | - configuration when I bolt them on.

 

[JWR]

That's very true. I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but I was told to have the blades oriented like - | - configuration when I bolt them on.

That won't really matter (blade orientation) because it will change over time with small amounts of belt slippage. There will always be small amounts of belt slippage on the pulleys for each blade & that will vary with load on each blade, etc. For all practical purposes random (even when everything is et up perfect with ideal tightness, etc.) These decks (thank goodness) do not depend on blade orientation to either miss each other or to cut well.

 

[redharley]

Under deck all looks well, going to get a set of new blades Saturday if time allows. Striping happens weekly mostly when on side hills it is most noticeable.

 

[JWR]

Under deck all looks well, going to get a set of new blades Saturday if time allows. Striping happens weekly mostly when on side hills it is most noticeable.

Don't mean to insult your intel at all, but the striping is not a slight lack of overlap in your mowing passes is it !? With larger mowers going laterally along fairly steep hillsides it is quite easy to misjudge and fail to overlap the passes a tiny bit(which of course leaves stripes.) Seems to happen more on slopes than on flatter places. Seems more of a nuisance on hillsides even on BX size machines.

Some of that with larger machines is sideways looseness of the hitch allowing the deck to ride "downhill", etc. That part is of course not related to your situation with a belly mower.