Mold and grass buildup on mower deck underside

[skramer360]

I have a 2007 Gravely commercial zero turn. I use my blower to blow off the top of the deck after every mowing, but I have never needed to clean the underside of the deck. I mow wet grass all the time. The statement above about not all decks are created equal is certainly true. The underside of mine is always clean bare metal.

 

[alpha&omega]

The most ingenious thing a saw was a guy's deck that he inherited from his dad or gramps when they passed. He had meticulously done a bed liner under a rider deck. Prepped down to the shiny steel. I dunno that it did much for the sticking issue, but was done to preserve the housing.

I did this to my grooming mower. It worked well for preserving the deck and made it easier for cleaning it off with a hose/pressure washer. Scraping it can be easier if I remember not to scrape down past the liner. So far I’ve done good and haven’t had to recoat it after five years.

 

[deserteagle71]

Do you have a pond on your property? Saw a YouTube video not long ago of a guy who back his rotary mower into a pond and engaged the PTO...seemed to clean everything underneath the mower pretty good!

 

[Gem99ultra]

I try to avoid mowing wet grass, but sometimes that just happens. Regardless, wet or dry, after mowing I pull up over a small pile of wood chips from my wood chipper, and let the mower clean itself for a minute or so. The wood chips are small enough to not damage the mower nor blades, but good enough to knock off any clumps of mud, grass, etc. from the mower underside. YMMV

 

[Bronco82]

No pond or wood chips, but I do have a bunch of rubber mulch, which would have the same effect as the wood chips, hard enough to do the job, but soft enough to not damage the brand new blades. Finally got the deck back together, now just need to wait for the grass to dry up before I mow it again. And once finished mowing, put up on the lift and scrape it off.

I borrowed a friends mower while mine was down and his deck had a lot of stuck grass on the underside too, made me feel a little better about mine.