Mowing mowing over sandy soil

[windfall]

i live in the sandhills of south caroliona. we keep about 7 acres of area cut with a finish mower.over the last 20 years i have been through a number of different types of mowers and mowing decks(small ford lgt,bush hog finish mowers etc). every time we mow it is like sand blasting the blades and the under side of the deck.has anyone had this experience ,dose any one know of something that will help extend the life of the decks in this situation. we have tried low lift blades,but it dose not help much.

 

[gotrocks]

Don't have suggestion re: blades,

But if you had a HEAVY coat of "undercoating" sprayed under the deck it would act some what like sandblast resist and might help.

 

[TwinWillows]

What about coating the underside of the deck w/one of those spray on bedliner type materials? That stuff is pretty durable. Might save/delay the deck wearing out....

 

[VABlue]

There was a thread similar to this a few weeks back. Try searching for deck coating, or undercoating, something like that. There is some product made specifically for mowing decks that is supposed to not foul the deck outflow. Spray-on bedliner will probably cause a lot of clogging of the outflow.

 

[602466]

I think the undercoat was Lubriplate Graphite Paint. He painted the underside and also the blades. Try a search on it.

Hope I got it right!

Wally

 

[windfall]

thanks for the info .i had some tnoughts about the bedliner spray , but i had never heard of that paint i will reseach it

 

[J_J]

thanks for the info .i had some tnoughts about the bed liner spray , but i had never heard of that paint i will research it

Dixie Chopper has already tried many coatings, but the sand eats just about anything, except tire rubber. If you can some how bolt strips of tire rubber to the underside of the deck, it will not sandblast the deck. I repaired some sandblast spots in front of my right rear tire, where the blades sling the most sand. It is still there after three years. Now , about the blades, they are the culprit, I use the Gator blades, and it eats the front edge and the trailing edge. Hard surfacing might help a little bit. but is not cost effective. Best bet is a low profile cheap blade. I used a vacuum system also, and the sand would eat the impeller tips, and the housing. We beefed up theunit, by welding 1/4 steel around the vacuum housing and that gave more longevity. Here in Florida, sand is a big problem also.

 

[bigdad]

I think the undercoat was Lubriplate Graphite Paint. He painted the underside and also the blades. Try a search on it.

Hope I got it right!

Wally

Big Dad here..... Deck graphite guy. I'm afraid that the sand would clean that graphite right off. I knew a guy that had a cabin on the Miss and he Stellited (sp) the leading and trailing edges of his blades. The cutting edge was a bugger to get sharp after that, but it saved him replacing blades all the time.

Good luck!

 

[BTDT]

I guess it's just part of the operation of that type mower. To get away from sand eating up decks or blades, you have to get away from that type mower. If you do that, like say a reel type mower, then you have the problem of adjusting, sharpening, etc. all the time, and having to mow more to keep the grass short, or they don't work well. Good luck with finding a solution. Maybe mow a smaller area and put livestock on the rest.

 

[john_bud]

You can get blades that are hard coated for wear resistance. They cost 4x a normal blade.

jb