Mowing mower deck cleaning

[varmint]

I am looking at Club Cadet garden tractors, and I wonder if their hose coupling fitting on their mower decks actually works to clean them. If it did, that would be great, since I have yet to find an easy way to clean out the matted grass after mowing. Scraping seems to be the only way. I tried graphite paint, no good. Hosing sort of worked, but who wants to crawl around under a deck?

 

[RoadHogg]

I know this is a really old thread and I can't believe nobody has replied but, I'll reply in order to share my experience with the so called "Deck Clean Deckwash System" among other shortcomings of our new Cub Cadet GTX2100.

A couple of months ago we were in the market for a very good lawn and garden tractor so my wife could mow our 3 to 4 acres of grass. We did not trifle and bought the top model our Cub Cadet dealer had in stock, the GTX2100 with 54" manufactured deck, power steering and electric deck lift. In short, we are VERY disappointed in this tractor overall.

Specifically, staying relevant to this thread, the deck wash system is pretty useless. It does do some cleaning but we find we have to spend 5 to 10 minutes sitting there with the water connected, running the tractor wide open, deck engaged, to make any sort of difference at all, and even then, the deck is far from clean. No amount of deck washing will get, and keep, this deck clean. We have cut our grass about four times now and we've had the deck off the tractor three times for cleaning. The deck is impossible to keep clean. I've been cutting large areas of grass for 30 years with a variety of mowers and I've never seen a mower plug up as fast or as completely as this deck plugs up. After cutting about three acres, the deck is so plugged that the 23 HP engine boggs down in just a medium heavy cut...very poor performance for such a tractor.

I see no remedy for this obvious design flaw. I believe this issue may be caused by the depth of this manufactured deck. The deck seems to be so deep, especially at the left end, that there is not enough air movement to push the grass clippings out.

In summary, No, I am not a believer in Deck Wash and I am not a believer in Cub Cadet. I'll be selling this unit asap in favour of something else, that hopefully performs better. (this isn't the only problem we've had with this very expensive tractor)

 

[CompactTractorFan]

RoadHogg,

Don't mess with another lawn "tractor", and just get a mower for your BX25. :thumbsup:

 

[RoadHogg]

Hi Kyle. Long time to talk. You have that RIGHT! We wrestled with that option. The determining factor was that I use the BX so much (250 hours in just over 18 months) that my wife would never get any mowing time in. I am seriously considering getting another BX with a deck only. That way, my FEL would work on both etc. I have to sell this Cub Cadet first though.

I meant to ask you about your deck. Does it plug up so much that you need to take it off for cleaning? I've never had a tractor that required that, they all seemed to be mostly "self cleaning".

How'z everything else with your BX?

 

[METinPA]

I have the Cub Cadet SLT 1554, not anywhere near the machine you have, but here is what I did to keep the deck from plugging up. I'm not sure if your deck is like mine or not...but in the discharge chute area there is a bracket where the deck plug rests against or hooks on. In this area whenever the grass was wet it would collect against this piece and block. Finding the mulch function nearly useless, I took the sawzall to this metal picece improving the discharge flow greatly and much less blockage. I never used the deck clean function, I figured it was probably useless. If you want to clean the deck without having to remove it, maybe get a Mojack to lift the front of the mower and pressure wash the deck from the bottom. That's what I saw my local service shop doing.

I know this is a really old thread and I can't believe nobody has replied but, I'll reply in order to share my experience with the so called "Deck Clean Deckwash System" among other shortcomings of our new Cub Cadet GTX2100.

A couple of months ago we were in the market for a very good lawn and garden tractor so my wife could mow our 3 to 4 acres of grass. We did not trifle and bought the top model our Cub Cadet dealer had in stock, the GTX2100 with 54" manufactured deck, power steering and electric deck lift. In short, we are VERY disappointed in this tractor overall.

Specifically, staying relevant to this thread, the deck wash system is pretty useless. It does do some cleaning but we find we have to spend 5 to 10 minutes sitting there with the water connected, running the tractor wide open, deck engaged, to make any sort of difference at all, and even then, the deck is far from clean. No amount of deck washing will get, and keep, this deck clean. We have cut our grass about four times now and we've had the deck off the tractor three times for cleaning. The deck is impossible to keep clean. I've been cutting large areas of grass for 30 years with a variety of mowers and I've never seen a mower plug up as fast or as completely as this deck plugs up. After cutting about three acres, the deck is so plugged that the 23 HP engine boggs down in just a medium heavy cut...very poor performance for such a tractor.

I see no remedy for this obvious design flaw. I believe this issue may be caused by the depth of this manufactured deck. The deck seems to be so deep, especially at the left end, that there is not enough air movement to push the grass clippings out.

In summary, No, I am not a believer in Deck Wash and I am not a believer in Cub Cadet. I'll be selling this unit asap in favour of something else, that hopefully performs better. (this isn't the only problem we've had with this very expensive tractor)

 

[RoadHogg]

Thanks for the reply. That MoJack is really cool! That's the sort if thing we need in order to clean out our deck. I'll look for what you describe but it's not just the outlet that plugs up. In fact, the outlet doesn't really plug up at all. The deck just collects all the grass etc on the under side of the deck, throughout the whole deck.

Thanks again!

 

[Garybake]

When using the deck wash feature you need to have an area where the deck can be set to the very bottom or lowest setting to create less air and more water turbulance. I found this works great after a minute or two to soften clippings but must be done before clippings have any time to harden (overnight).
Gary

 

[RoadHogg]

You're right, lowering the deck all the way makes it work better. We've found it's still not appreciably effective even at that however. We can wash it after every couple acres of mowing and it still doesn't keep up.

 

[CompactTractorFan]

Hi Kyle. Long time to talk. You have that RIGHT! We wrestled with that option. The determining factor was that I use the BX so much (250 hours in just over 18 months) that my wife would never get any mowing time in. I am seriously considering getting another BX with a deck only. That way, my FEL would work on both etc. I have to sell this Cub Cadet first though.

I meant to ask you about your deck. Does it plug up so much that you need to take it off for cleaning? I've never had a tractor that required that, they all seemed to be mostly "self cleaning".

How'z everything else with your BX?

Getting another BX sounds like a good idea (doesn't it always). :thumbsup:

Regarding interchanging the loader, the loader on the BX25 has a different model number than the others. I don't know if the loader is constructed different or if it just has a different number, but that is something to think about. I have never had a problem with the deck plugging or getting clogged. I only cleaned it ONCE since we bought the BX, and it did not even really NEED to be cleaned then.

 

[Chilly807]

I think the deck wash feature is designed to ensure the grass that gets trapped under the deck stays nice and wet to rot the deck out more quickly, then they can sell you a new one.. seriously. I tried the wash port on our Craftsman, even though I was skeptical it would work at all. Turns out I was right, it just soaks the clippings into a green mush. Now we only mow under dry conditions, then remove the deck a few times every season to clean it thoroughly. No problems with clogging, however.

I blow off whatever I can get at with compressed air when we're done mowing, a long wand might work well for you.

Sean

 

[glc24]

I think the deck wash feature is designed to ensure the grass that gets trapped under the deck stays nice and wet to rot the deck out more quickly, then they can sell you a new one.. seriously.

I really don't think they have that intention,(at least I wouldn't think so)but the other part of what you said is exactly how I feel about this so called deck cleaning idea. Why in the world would you want whatever is left under there any wetter than it already is. I can't figure it out. The worst thing is wet grass under your deck. It's bad enough to get it while cutting grass,but to do it on purpose. Oh well:confused3:

I'm sure everyone that uses this little feature,turns their deck upside down and dries it.

Greg

 

[Fossil Farm]

Cold water and warm to hot metal is not a good mix. As said, it can shorten the deck's life. Maybe not much, but a good mower is worth taking care of. Putty knife works just fine to clean out the stuck grass after things cool down. Yes, you get dirty, but nothing wrong with that. Of course if you have kids .... they could do it for you.

 

[phiferpharm]

I have two mowers that I have to get under occasionally to work on (like today when I found two inches missing from each of my blades, but thats another story), and I just attach a pair of clamp on Pallet forks to my loader and take it up. I have one of the manual mower lifts, but frankly, it seems more stable on the forks.

 

[Squeak n Itch]

We received a load (5 or 6 yds) of wood chips from the local power company tree trimming operation. I run the deck over the wood chips and it does a great job of scrubbing the underside. Probably dulls the blades a little though.

 

[LBrown59]

Getting another BX sounds like a good idea (doesn't it always.

That's exactly what i did.
:cool2:

Bought this BX1500 with mower and later sold the CC GT2554.

 

[yelbike]

Cold water and warm to hot metal is not a good mix. As said, it can shorten the deck's life. Maybe not much, but a good mower is worth taking care of. Putty knife works just fine to clean out the stuck grass after things cool down. Yes, you get dirty, but nothing wrong with that. Of course if you have kids .... they could do it for you.

I agree. I don't like the idea of heating up the spindles with three hours of mowing, than washing off the deck with cold water. Thats just like towing your boat out to the lake and splashing the bearings with cold lake water. Not a great idea.

I just clean my JD decks once or twice per year, they never plug up. I did notice my rfms (farm king) never have ANY pasted grass clippings.

 

[jenkinsph]

RoadHogg,
Have you tried a set of high lift (collection/bagger) blades? The increased air flow might help with your problem.

 

[jenkinsph]

Cold water and warm to hot metal is not a good mix. As said, it can shorten the deck's life. Maybe not much, but a good mower is worth taking care of. Putty knife works just fine to clean out the stuck grass after things cool down. Yes, you get dirty, but nothing wrong with that. Of course if you have kids .... they could do it for you.

I don't ever wash out my decks. I scrape them off when I sharpen or change out blades. I do use my blower to clean off the top of the deck. Haven't bought any belts or spindle bearings in the 276 hours on the riding mower either.

 

[RoadHogg]

RoadHogg,
Have you tried a set of high lift (collection/bagger) blades? The increased air flow might help with your problem.

No. We just got the tractor so we haven't tried any equipment changes. I am not sure where to reference what options there are for this machine. The Cub Cadet site seems to be no help at all. I was wondering if mulching blades might help. My 66" Swisher has mulching blades and it doesn't plug up like this Cub Cadet...it actually never NEEDS manual cleaning at all, but I do clean it on occasion.

I'll see if I can get those bagger blades. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Jim Shooz]

While I don't have a Club Cadet I do have a similar problem with cleaning off the grass after mowing. After having a previous mower rust out from underneath because of being put away wet over a number of years I now take the hose, get down on my hands and knees and wash out the underside of the replacement mower. (bearings get greased after 4 or 5 uses) One effective alternative after mowing, is to come around through the orchard with its twigs, dead small branches, pine needles, etc. Cleans it up a treat. :thumbsup: