ZD326 blade stops turning when in high grass

[JJT]

My ZD21 has a round hole, no pins. Torque is 80#, the blades have never stopped spinning, no matter what height gets fed to it. 117# sounds a little high, but not drastically. I'd replace the hardware, as previously stated the bolts do stretch/wear out, as do the washers. I change or sharpen my blades annually, with about 50 hours of use a year.

 

[Eagle1]

virtually all? I have personally seen it once, I have worked on maybe 50 different riders over my years, and all of the ones I worked on had a star variant stamped blade which is what kept it in place on the on the spindle from slipping, that said I have not worked on more industrial machines, usually lower end consumer grade stuff.

I have multiple machines on a single belt at close to 1k hour with no wear, so not sure I agree there at all

Only seen the star pattern on consumer grade. I'd much rather have the blade slip on the shaft than destroy the spindle like the consumer grade stuff does. Had a couple lawn tractors and had to replace the spindles every couple of weeks and decks do not last when you hit stuff in a public space. Welded decks and blades that can slip work MUCH better. I may have to tighten a loose blade on occasion but have not replaced a spindle or bearings in many years now.

 

[LittleBill21]

Only seen the star pattern on consumer grade. I'd much rather have the blade slip on the shaft than destroy the spindle like the consumer grade stuff does. Had a couple lawn tractors and had to replace the spindles every couple of weeks and decks do not last when you hit stuff in a public space. Welded decks and blades that can slip work MUCH better. I may have to tighten a loose blade on occasion but have not replaced a spindle or bearings in many years now.

yea I replaced one, due a bearing seize, not sure what your doing where your replacing them weekly

 

[Eagle1]

Every try mowing 10+ acres with kids and adults throwing rocks, toys, tool, etc into the grass.... Worst thing I hit so far was 3 steel spitting wedges that were NOT mine and 30 feet of green heavy rope. The dozen railroad spikes and track bolts only gauged the crap out of new blades.
Joys of a campground..... we did break on the MTD mowers almost every other week, just snap an ear off the mount. The Yazoo, Grasshopper and Kubota do just fine.

I forgot dog tie outs.... just suck if you don't know someone drove a spike into the ground left the chain/cable attached when they leave....

 

[4570Man]

Never had a round hole blade that didnt also have pin holes. My ZT uses pin holes.

I have a front deck Kubota that uses round hole blades. My Grasshopper zero turn uses RHBs, my brother has a Kubota zero turn that uses RHBs, before the Kubota he had a Ferris zero turn and it used RHBs, I used to have a Kubota tractor with a belly mower and it used RHBs, I’ve had 2 different finish mowers and they both used RHBs, I’ve had a Dixie chopper zero turn and it used RHBs. None of them used pins in the blades.

 

[tallyho8]

98ft lbs on those small 10mm threads sure seems excessive

Is ZD326/331 the same setup as ZD1211 in the pic illustration in post #5 ?

Yes it is.

 

[tallyho8]

If you havent yet, try new bolts. Those may be too stretched.

I just ordered 3 new bolts to try out. I am still trying to figure out why it kept running when I turned the key off.

 

[Brown Dog]

Every try mowing 10+ acres with kids and adults throwing rocks, toys, tool, etc into the grass.... Worst thing I hit so far was 3 steel spitting wedges that were NOT mine and 30 feet of green heavy rope. The dozen railroad spikes and track bolts only gauged the crap out of new blades.
Joys of a campground......

I forgot dog tie outs.... just suck if you don't know someone drove a spike into the ground left the chain/cable attached when they leave....

You must have really let Grass get knee high to not see mentioned items

I’ve been in dozens of campgrounds from Florida to AlaskA & never seen any of that mess lol

 

[Brown Dog]

I just ordered 3 new bolts to try out ….

Is your washers still concave so they’ll flatten out to clamp blades ?

 

[tallyho8]

Is your washers still concave so they’ll flatten out to clamp blades ?

Yes, I just got 6 new ones.