F Series Bagger / Grass catcher?

[toy1]

stopped by the dealer to check on the status, it appears that the bagger arrived missing parts they are on order hope to get parts in tomorrow so it looks like it will be delayed a few more days.

 

[toy1]

I was on my way to AT&T Store so I stopped by the dealer again to see the progress they have everything on the Bagger looks OK they are still waiting for a missing pulley on the blower, however it was revealed today that it looks like the frame on the bagger unit is damaged. this is causing a miss alignment. So some time early next week I will get a call from the dealer on how we move forward. the thinking is I will get the unit back they will order a complete new bagging unit ( they say there is not another unit in the USA) when it comes in they will install it when I do not need the mower anymore this season.

 

[toy1]

well finally the mower is back with the bagger installed, It arrived at 5:00pm today so I am hopping to give it a whirl tomorrow, hope things dry out so I give it a good test.
I understand they ended up getting a replacement pulley from a local machine/tool supplier so I hope all is well.

 

[cold1313]

looking forward to hearing how it works....and then have you try to just blow grass out of the blower:thumbsup:

 

[toy1]

well I gave it a whirl and I have mixed feeling, I started out trying to pick up leaves and the results where not good. The leaves tended to be blown out and not sucked in to the mower, while if I look back at the path it is void of leaves so you would say good job. however if I turn around and do a path right next to the one just cleared, the machine will leave a row of leaves it that row, the unit seems to blow leaves under the mower boot which I found disappointing. the blower got clogged 3 times from the hose from the boot to the blower motor the cause was a stick was picked up and caused a blockage.I talked to the dealer today and he think the pulley they put on was not the proper size they did not have any spec on the size of the pulley when they tried to match it up.so the thinking is it is not being driven at the proper speed.
also there are three vent slots in the front of the boot and leaves tend to blow out of these slots, why they are there have no idea?
I was able to mulch up around 14 bagged loads then the mower just died, it just cut out; tried to start it and just got a click from the solenoid
I tried on and off to get it to start and no go it was stuck out in the middle of the field. So I let it sit for about 5 houses and walked out to it around 8:00pm and sure enough it fired up I drove it back to the Barn and tried it again today and it started up fine. I texted my dealer and they are picking it up tomorrow .to see what is going on, they had to remove the floor to put the cruise control in so the thinking is some interlock switch is not aligned properly. the nicest part is the hydraulic dump it is fast and empties completely.
all in all I think when the right pull is on I think it will be a winner.
My dealer is working hard to correct the situation he told me they are going to get a complete new bagger unit and will install when it comes in.
The dealer I work with, I have been doing business for 45 years, and I would not trade them for anyone they are the most honest and sincere
people I have every meet.

 

[cold1313]

Incorrect size pulley could make a huge difference. Sounds like the dealership is going to make things right, but you paid good money for OEM, so make sure you get OEM everything.

When I do my last mow of the year, I get a lot of leaves pushed around, like you are experiencing. What height is your deck set to? Might have to raise it so you can get more vacuum instead of blowing the leaves away.

 

[toy1]

the mower is set to 3.5 inches, my Exmark is set to 3.5 (60inch) and it does a great job limited bagger size so I end up making a lot of runs to the dump area.
the belt is also only 1/2 inch and should be 3/4 inch so that is due in soon, I have tried to lift the mower deck up a little when mowing the leaves up, does not seem to help.
they called me today and said there is a bigger boot for the pickup so they got one coming in.
right now it is 7:30 at night and it is snowing out, we are at 1300 feet the change over is around 700 feet does not seem to be sticking, so it looks like the mowing season is coming to an end.

 

[toy1]

I just received a picture of the Kubota pulley and it is smaller in Dia. this will help a lot and might solve the issues I experianced, I should get it back next week.

 

[J H Musser]

Last year was my first fall with my 72 inch front deck Kubota with the GC-30FA which had regular blades and when I was mowing and collecting leaves during the fall, I noticed when I dumped the leaves in my tree line, that many of the leaf pieces were pretty large. I ordered for this last spring, the "Gator" style blades that really chopped up both grass and leaves into very small pieces. I had fewer clogs in the boot area and small twigs were pulverized and did not clog the boot nearly as often. It also does a great job with acorns and even hickory shells/nuts. You might want to consider that gator style blades after your first mowing season.

 

[toy1]

well I just got the F3990 back from the dealer on Friday, it was 18 degrees with snow flurries, anyway everything looks good they replaced many of the parts. so into the carriage house until spring.

 

[toy1]

well I just got the F3990 back on Friday, it was 18 degrees out and a good 6 inch of snow on the ground with flurries in the air.
all new parts on the bagger, so into the carriage barn until spring.

 

[cold1313]

I'm still interested to see if I can run a similar setup, but just with the boot and blower...but now I'm worried that it would clog up when I get into taller grass or if it was damp.

 

[toy1]

Well I can tell you that when I did use it with the undersize pulley it did a ok job, based on the new pulley size I thing it will make a big difference, come spring I will let you know how it runs.

 

[Gkk20011]

sorry, I am joining in late but thought a reply might be helpful. yes, I have the grass catcher on a 2012 model F3680. I added it after the fact buying a used but good condition unit.
It works well but the concerns of many replies are valid. yes, it can clog if the grass is tall and/or wet. I would say forget it if wet. If tall, to an extent, you can compensate with a slower speed but I have been in such tall grass (knee high) where even very slow would not work. With regularly cut grass and dead fall leaves, it works quite well.
I wanted to mulch the clippings and dump the bagged grass or leaves in one area that becomes several truckloads eventually. It composts well and leaves great soil conditioner or for weed control.
I also used a mulching deck before, that serves the same purpose but leaves it on your grass.

 

[Gkk20011]

Don't forget, you really need hi lift blades as well. They create the suction needed. They are not perfect, you will not get every single dead leaf but you will get 99.8% of them.

 

[toy1]

Well it is that time of year my grass is growing fast and will need cutting in the next few day, I did take the F3990 out on a trial run to pick up some leaves left over from last fall and to my disappointment it did more to blow them and did a poor job sucking up the leaves, the first pass on the lawn it was very clean on the path I just made the second pass all it did was blow the leave into the first path I made and this just continued and I got concerned that this machine is a poor choice for a mower. I have a call into the dealer and have asked him if I have the proper blades for a bagging unit, he will be picking the machine up in the next day or so and will try different blade I will make sure he tries high lift blades if no I am thinking about telling him to take it back. I will say I have a very good dealer we go back 40 years, from the international Harvesters days.I will keep you posted, look like I will be using the exmark for now it does a supper job put does not do well in the blueberry field when I need to get close to the bush the F3990 does that very well.

 

[J H Musser]

Early in the spring I have been known to double cut an area. The FIRST TIMEI cut pretty low, maybe 2.5 inches without the boot connected to the deck. This produces LOTS of finely cut leaves and grass clippings and it also chops the twigs and smaller branches up into pretty small pieces and then I let them dry. A day or two later, I then put the boot on and go SLOW to pick up the overwinter trash. I dump everything on my fence line for my neighbors cattle or in my
tree line as mulch. The first time is a pain in the a**, but so is getting out of the cab and unclogging the suction line. Do not try and mow wet grass or you will clog constantly. Once you have raised the deck a few times, it is easy to get your lawn up to the height you want. I mow at 4.5 inches to keep dandylions from getting the chance to germinate. My front yard is 5 acres and a mix of cool season and warm season fescue grasses. Go slow and maybe don't even cut a full deck width. It took me about 30 hours of mowing until I figured out my machine. I hope you get your machine tweeked for your mowing purposes.

 

[toy1]

the latest update on my F3990 as I stated in my prior post, my dealer took the unit back to see if they could figure out what was going on with the cut, it appeared that the machine was blowing out more clipping then it was collecting in the bagger it was worthless on picking up leaves. So they put a new collector boot on the discharge and it helped but even with high lift blades it was not great, they then installed Gator
blades and what a difference, it made the machine in my opinion top of the line, if I compare it to my Exmark with bagger which I consider a great machine, the F3990 I would rate as good if not a notch above with theses change, I took it thru foot high grass cut and bagged without a hitch, no clogging and a perfect cut.So my advise if you are buying a F series with bagger do not settle for the boot that comes with it and get gator blades.
this has been a long journey however in the end it worked out fine, this is a good reason to make sure you have a good dealer and will stand by you when there is a long road ahead. My dealer is a family business where I purchased my first tractor in 1975 and would recommend them to everyone.

 

[J H Musser]

Do you happen to have a part number for that newer upgraded boot? Gator blades chomp!!!!

 

[toy1]

the booth is from a trac vac it is a metal boot the thing about it it extends 1/2 inch lower then the bottom of the mower where the Kubota one was flush to the bottom and the kubota had 3 vents in the front which I would tape up.in the next day or so I will take a picture of it os you can see the actual set up.