Mowing Owner /operator

Raul5452 · Nov 7, 2018

Hello TBN friends, I've been doing tractor mowing for 18 years for customers and my 20 acre place. At first with a 970 johndeere 30 hp , 60" two 60 rhino later a 260 rhino shredder. Never had much of a problem with leaving strips of uncut vegetation except Johnson grass ( Tough **** grass to cut clean). Now I've running my 17 month old Kubota M7060 HST with a rhino Turbo 96 shredder. To those that are not familiar with rhino shredder it is a twin spindle 8' shredder capable of cutting up to 2.5" brush. Great combo , has cut my job times in half. But as of late I'm leaving those darn strips of uncut vegetation and areas of uneven clean cut. My normal speed is 5th gear @2200/2300 rpm. Heavy growth 3rd/4th gear same rpm's. Sharpened blade's not much change. Our area has alot of gophers which equals to alot of gopher mounds . Sandy terrain, any input ?

oosik · Nov 7, 2018

I don't have a rotary cutter on my tractor. However - my riding mower is 25 hp triple bladed. The times when I will leave strips of uncut grass, uneven cutting - I waited too long to cut(grass too tall) - I'm going too fast - the grass is not bone dry.

Pocket gophers - - GRRRRRRRRR my big 'ol side lawn looks like a practice field for the Armies Infantry 1st Mortar Brigade.

diesel85 · Nov 7, 2018

You may want to go with a flail mower.

RayfromTX · Nov 7, 2018

When my zero turn slowly started doing that I discovered it was because the deck needed to to be angled down slightly in the front. It had slowly gone out of adjustment. I reset it and the darn thing cut like new at full speed without skipping a blade. Your issue may be totally different. Good luck.

Bigpuddie · Nov 8, 2018

Love my Turbo 96 also. May want to check you blade synchronization

SDT · Nov 8, 2018

Raul5452 said:
Hello TBN friends, I've been doing tractor mowing for 18 years for customers and my 20 acre place. At first with a 970 johndeere 30 hp , 60" two 60 rhino later a 260 rhino shredder. Never had much of a problem with leaving strips of uncut vegetation except Johnson grass ( Tough **** grass to cut clean). Now I've running my 17 month old Kubota M7060 HST with a rhino Turbo 96 shredder. To those that are not familiar with rhino shredder it is a twin spindle 8' shredder capable of cutting up to 2.5" brush. Great combo , has cut my job times in half. But as of late I'm leaving those darn strips of uncut vegetation and areas of uneven clean cut. My normal speed is 5th gear @2200/2300 rpm. Heavy growth 3rd/4th gear same rpm's. Sharpened blade's not much change. Our area has alot of gophers which equals to alot of gopher mounds . Sandy terrain, any input ?

Aside from mower design (some are better than others) the most common reason that a rough cut mower (or finish mower) does not cut cleanly is excessive ground speed in heavy cover and/or low spindle speed.

Regarding mower design, inexpensive mowers usually do not have sufficient grass clearance (the space between the blades and the deck) to clear properly in heavy cover. Well designed mowers, e.g., Bush Hog, Woods, and, no doubt, some others (at least the more expensive models), have deep decks, providing more grass clearance. This allows the mower to clear better in heavy cover, usually allowing higher ground speed (assuming sufficient HP).

I do not own a 7060 but do own an M9960HDC12. I assume you are in low range 5th gear? I usually mow in low 6th or high 1st, but I'm currently using a HD 7' single spindle mower with the tractor in EPTO (about 600 RPM PTO speed), and the cover is usually not too heavy. When the cover is heavy, I need to slow down to produce acceptable cutting results.

Does your mower leave clumps of cut grass in heavy spots or after lifting? If so, try removing the rear shielding (steel or chains) to allow better clearing. If things improve you have a grass clearance and/or ground speed issue.

SDT

newbury · Nov 8, 2018

SDT said:
Aside from mower design (some are better than others) the most common reason that a rough cut mower (or finish mower) does not cut cleanly is excessive ground speed in heavy cover and/or low spindle speed.
<snip>

Another factor that has occurred is that the dealer/maintainer is DUMB. Over on the Good Morning thread Daugen recently discussed how he had bought a new rotary cutter. It was leaving strips. The dealer sent out a "repairman" who replaced the blades. To make a long story short the blades were to short. He got the correct blades and was a happy camper.

Raul5452 · Nov 8, 2018

Thank you ,Oosik, Ray, diesel, bigpuddle, sdt, and Newbury. New rhino's as mine are now coming out with taller domedecks so that is out, blade sync is good , one turns clock wise the other counter clock wise so they have to be set 90 degrees apart. Height adjustments I've tried high in front low in back and it got worse, low in front high in back better but problem is there. Speed, yes I run in low , 4th gear at 2300 rpm's gives me 560/565 PTO rpm and 3 mph speed . 5 th gear at 2300 rpm , 560/565 PTO rpm and at 4 mph made problem worse. Best results 3 rd gear same rpm's PTO and engine , at speed of 2.3/2.4 mph. But that really cuts into time and fuel consumption. I'm always trying to give my customers thier best bang for thier dollar. As I mentioned on first posting "as of late " machine was cutting real good on bormal growth , fairly good on heavy growth. My observation --- September and October we had heavy rains in South Texas. Vegetation is a bit taller and thicker. Moist ground and vegetation is damp. Often the blades hit the moist gopher mounds (sand mounds) ... Blades look like they are getting sand blasted . The curled up blade that acts as a draft up fan has also gotten worn down about 50%. Do you all think this conditions could be the culprit ? Thank you in advance for any input.

SDT · Nov 8, 2018

newbury said:
Another factor that has occurred is that the dealer/maintainer is DUMB. Over on the Good Morning thread Daugen recently discussed how he had bought a new rotary cutter. It was leaving strips. The dealer sent out a "repairman" who replaced the blades. To make a long story short the blades were to short. He got the correct blades and was a happy camper.

Odd, because blades are factory installed.

That said, I once bought a new Woods MDS 1260 HD 10.5' cutter that had the wrong spindle gearboxes factory installed. The blades turned both much too slow and backward.

SDT

SDT · Nov 8, 2018

Raul5452 said:
Thank you ,Oosik, Ray, diesel, bigpuddle, sdt, and Newbury. New rhino's as mine are now coming out with taller domedecks so that is out, blade sync is good , one turns clock wise the other counter clock wise so they have to be set 90 degrees apart. Height adjustments I've tried high in front low in back and it got worse, low in front high in back better but problem is there. Speed, yes I run in low , 4th gear at 2300 rpm's gives me 560/565 PTO rpm and 3 mph speed . 5 th gear at 2300 rpm , 560/565 PTO rpm and at 4 mph made problem worse. Best results 3 rd gear same rpm's PTO and engine , at speed of 2.3/2.4 mph. But that really cuts into time and fuel consumption. I'm always trying to give my customers thier best bang for thier dollar. As I mentioned on first posting "as of late " machine was cutting real good on bormal growth , fairly good on heavy growth. My observation --- September and October we had heavy rains in South Texas. Vegetation is a bit taller and thicker. Moist ground and vegetation is damp. Often the blades hit the moist gopher mounds (sand mounds) ... Blades look like they are getting sand blasted . The curled up blade that acts as a draft up fan has also gotten worn down about 50%. Do you all think this conditions could be the culprit ? Thank you in advance for any input.

Yes, the wear will reduce lift and contribute to poor results.

Sounds like you need new blades.

SDT