X570 Cut Quality Issue

[Navvet]

Thanks everyone for all the replies. I apologize for not getting back sooner. I was traveling last week for work.

I have been running the throttle at full speed to ensure that the tip speed is up. I will plan on getting the gauge and checking the blade heights. I'm also going to look into the blowout kit to see if that helps.

I see a lot of people are running different blades than what comes in the John Deere Kit. Is there a recommendation for a better blade to be using?

I mowed yesterday and this time set the deck up a little higher. I was wondering if I was mowing too low and causing the deck to get bogged down. I didn't see much of a change.

I've attached pictures of my first pass as well as my second pass. The second pass is in the opposite direction of the first. I'm also battling the poplar tree fuzz right now too so that is making a huge mess.

View attachment 557786View attachment 557785View attachment 557787

I had a similar problem with my x495 with a 62c deck. I added a ganged reel mower as I am cutting the yard. Gives a great finish cut to the grass. Looks like a golf course fairway after the first pass.

 

[al3]

There must be thousands of these decks out there, if all of them were cutting grass like yours and mine you d think there would be more message traffic about it. That said, I ve never been able to totally eliminate what you re experiencing. Have minimized it by adding the blow out kit, dialing in the blades with gauge blocks, and cutting as low as you think the grass will take it. I prefer to cut at 2.5, but cut is better at 2.0.

I ve replaced the deck with a new one but that didn t improve things very much. So it must have something to do with the way the deck is suspended, the rpm an individual engine is turning, or something else? I haven t been able to figure it out.

BTW, what happens with yours if you mow while going in reverse? Better, worse, or no change?

 

[beenthere]

From what I see, I'd check and make sure that the blade tips pass each other at the same height. All too easy to get a bent blade and a lower tip of one blade will make strips that are similar to the strips (stripes) shown in the pics.

 

[Tractorable]

I have an X590 with a 48” deck and a mulching kit. I notice that the cut isn’t as nice with the mulching kit as it is with the side discharge. I’m not super picky about the quality of cut but I do notice it. I just chalked it up to the mulching kit not allowing space for the clippings to discharge. I remove the blades and sharpen them at the beginning of the season too.

The only reason I use the mulching kit is so that we don’t blow grass clippings into the flower beds. It gives me the freedom to mow wherever I want without worrying about where I’m blowing the clippings. I might remove the mulching kit and alter my mowing technique to avoid the clippings in the flower beds. Without the mulching kit it mows cleaner and blows the clippings far out from the deck.

 

[crazyal]

If your ground is smooth what I would do is set the 4 anti scalping wheels so low so the deck rides on them vs hanging from the mower. It's not the correct way to mow but it should tell you if it's a deck height problem or if it's something else, maybe a bent blade like Beenthere said. You only need to do a small section to see if the problem is still there. If I had to guess and if you are correct that it's happening in the center of the deck then I would guess that it's the front hanger for the deck that's out of adjustment. If not set correctly the middle blade could be tilted down. But it's just a guess.

 

[mercdv]

Thanks everyone for all the replies. I apologize for not getting back sooner. I was traveling last week for work.

I have been running the throttle at full speed to ensure that the tip speed is up. I will plan on getting the gauge and checking the blade heights. I'm also going to look into the blowout kit to see if that helps.

I see a lot of people are running different blades than what comes in the John Deere Kit. Is there a recommendation for a better blade to be using?

I mowed yesterday and this time set the deck up a little higher. I was wondering if I was mowing too low and causing the deck to get bogged down. I didn't see much of a change.

I've attached pictures of my first pass as well as my second pass. The second pass is in the opposite direction of the first. I'm also battling the poplar tree fuzz right now too so that is making a huge mess.

View attachment 557786View attachment 557785View attachment 557787

Well, you ruled out full throttle and you have the gauges. You know, it almost looks like one of the blades is mounted wrong or bent. What I would do is start cutting a strip then stop the mower mid cut and shut it off. Find exactly where the missed grass blades line up on the mower deck and put a little piece of tape to mark the spot on the deck where it lines up. Get the mower up on a flat surface to measure the blade height. The mark will let you see if it falls right at the edge where two blades come together or smack in the middle of a single blade. Check the height of the blades as they rotate through the area of trouble vs. other areas as you turn it by hand. If all that checks out, I'd pull the deck off the tractor and flip it over. Make sure all the blades are the correct length and that one of them isn't bent. You can also check the spindles while you have it off the tractor. Make sure the spindles aren't warped in the problem area and make sure the blades are mounted correctly (i.e. not upside down, not offset, not at a funny angle).

Now as far as the blades go, that kind of depends on what will fit in your deck. I found the best mulching results so far with mine was a set of Gator blades with the mulching baffle left in place. The cut quality is great but only at a very specific and small rpm window because I'm not using the blades in the system they were designed for. Any rpm's below/above that range and I have to remove the mulching baffle. The Gators are high lift blades designed for side discharge so the best way to use them is without the baffle. I get a fantastic cut without the baffle but the mulched clippings are larger. I just played around one day and put the baffle back in and they work well with my baffle in. Most decks with a mulching kit left in place won't work well with the Gator blades. They tend to bog down with the kit in and create lots of turbulence which leads to uneven cutting. For some reason they work pretty well in my deck with the baffle still in and they don't bog down at all even on really high grass. They even handle 7-8 inch tall grass without clogging my deck. I was worried they might but they don't and they absolutely pulverize the grass to leave very little visible clippings when I leave the baffle in place. Grass only gets that tall when we have weeks of daily rain because I can't mow in wet conditions with my heavy tractor or it makes ruts. Only reasons I leave the mulching kit in place with the Gators on my deck is that it allows me to cut my lawn in multiple directions without throwing discharge into my flowerbeds. I change the direction and pattern I mow every week so trying to not get discharge in the beds is a nightmare without the mulching plug in place. Keep in mind the Gator blades won't even work in some decks with the mulching kit in place because they physically contact the baffles and it would cause damage.

I personally wouldn't look into new blades until you figure out what the real problem is right now. The other issue you might have if looking for new blades is you could go through a couple of sets of blades to find out what works best for your deck and your grass. That isn't a cheap process. The JD blades you have should work fine if you can figure out the problem. I only went with higher lift blades because of my grass type. It just wasn't getting lifted well because it is a course blade grass that I cut pretty darn short so it is pretty stiff and hard to lift.

 

[66cuda]

Thanks for all the info and advice.

I went back and double checked the deck height, that turned out to be more a chore than I thought it would. I ended up having a very hard time finding a spot on my seemingly level drive way that actually was level. I did make a few minor adjustments however it didn't seem to make much of a difference in the cut quality. I would hope that I don't have any spindle issues or anything else like that, the mower is brand new and before cutting last night only had 11 hrs on it. I haven't had a chance to get to the dealer to get the gauge yet. I'm hoping to do that Friday. depending on what I find I may pull the deck off this weekend and take a look at everything.

After making a couple of passes I stopped midway on a pass took a picture of where the issue seems to be. it seems to be coming off the back right side almost in a perfect line with the edge of the right rear tire.

I also attached a couple of pictures from another midway pass stop I took, this one was on a side to side incline (last two pictures).

 

[mercdv]

Well, I'm going to say this. If it is brand new, your dealer should be fixing this. My dealer would be all over it. I was looking at a used GT one time and he let me take it out and mow the front grass of the dealership. He saw the deck needed adjusting and had them fix it then let me mow a second strip. This was on a used machine. When I decided to buy a new 2305 he delivered it to my place an hour away. One of the FEL hydraulic lines wasn't tightened down correctly from the factory so on first use it shot about 1/2 gallons of fluid all over the yard and tractor. While cleaning it I noticed some paint damage on the FEL. He drove back to my place the very next day and handed me 5 gallons of hydraulic fluid and a rattle can of JD paint all on his dime. I'd start pressing your dealer to look into it for you. It really is their job especially if it is a new GT and it isn't cutting properly.

 

[crazyal]

I have to agree, talk to your dealer. The steering wheel on my used x500 broke (still under warranty) and the dealer that I bought it from was further away than one close to my work. Even though I didn't buy it there they went above and beyond. Not only did they make an adjustment to stop a belt rubbing on the mower deck and replace the steering wheel he also said that they would replace the seat because there's a small tear in it. I told them it was there when I bought it but he didn't care. He said keep using it and then when the warranty is closer to being up call him up and he'll get one on order if they don't have it in stock so they can replace it.

 

[66cuda]

I'll stop back into the dealer and show them the pictures and see what they say. I mentioned this to them when I was in getting oil for the 8hr oil change and his response at the time was to just keep tweaking the settings a little. I wasn't thrilled about that answer but at the time I didn't have pictures to show him.