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GRASS CLUMPING COMING OUT OF DISCHARGE CHUTE


RonHatch

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I'm wondering if anyone else has a problem with the grass clipping coming out of the discharge chute in small clumps? I'm mowing with a 42" deck under a B 10 AC. Years ago, I had a small frame Simplicity with a 36" 3 bladed deck that mowed beautifully. The grass clippings were well dispersed as they came flying out of the discharge chute. Not so with the B10. The deck is clean, the rear baffle is in good shape and the blades are brand new. The front is about 1/4" higher than the back and it is level side to side. I even cut the top of the deck up to the front spindle, bent out the front/lead edge and welded in a piece of wedged shaped metal to fill in the pie shaped gap. It helped a lot by letting the grass fly out without being forced back quite so much by the front angle of the deck. Please note the before and after picture of the modification I made. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the deck without the vacuum collector. Any other ideas/suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks, Ron

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Thanks for the suggestion Kent.

As soon as the grass starts to grow this spring, I'll raise the front per the manual and see if that does the trick.

The stone guard has been hanging on the shed wall since the get-go.

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HI you might try to make a anti blow out plate like the newer decks 14 gague 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 angle bloted to front of deck tu make a lip to increac air flow. make sure it clears bottom of blades Tuck{}[{

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Tuck, I tried that, but I used HD vinyl baseboard and backed it up with a piece of flat iron (see pictures). It worked great with the vacuum system but not without it. Maybe I should have bolted it to the outside of the deck so there wouldn't be a lip on the inside for the grass to catch on. ??? I try that this spring. Am I the only one with this problem?

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?Ron...the stone guard Kent refers to is clearly there in your 3rd and 4th pics. Also by the look of the pics that pickup for the blower was mounted too far forward to start with. Whoever modified the deck by moving part of the front panel forward to accomodate the chute changed the angle of the discharge airflow. By straightening out the front panel you have not put it back to the original angle but have just made it straight to the chute.That makes the clearance between deck wall and blade end too large for left blade to help push clippings out discharge opening. Also the pic from the underside; something seems wrong around the rear of the discharge opening.At least to my eyes but could be wrong. Do you have access to another deck to make side by side comparison and take measurements? My thought is total problem lies in how blower chute was installed initally. Hope this helps...Dave

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Dave, I didn't mean to confuse the issue with the pictures, but # 3 and #4 were taken right after I restored the unit a couple of years ago. I only mowed one time with the stone guard on. The last 2 pictures (3 & 4) were only meant to show the front air dam I made out of vinyl base board.

#2 picture shows the stock deck and collector. The collector is mounted correctly.

#1 picture shows the modifications I made to the deck and the collector. The collector is bolted on using the same stock holes as before. The collector's 'nose' was lengthen to match the modified deck.

Both the stock and the modified versions worked well with the vacuum collector and blower in place. That's not the problem.

The problem is when I'm mowing without the vacuum setup and just blowing the grass out on the lawn. With the stock deck the grass came out in a concentrated stream, first heavy and then light, every 3' or so when the grass was nice and thick. It was as if the grass was building up on something under the deck and then letting go. Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out where the grass could possibly build up on. My modification allows the clipping to blow out in a more dispersed or fan pattern thereby cutting down on the clumps. Like I said before, it helped but not completely.

I would like to get to the real problem without using the band-aid approach. I will raise the deck in the front so it's 1/2" higher then the back per the manual and hope that does the trick.

All I know is my Case, JD and CC decks all blow the clippings out evenly in a wide or fan pattern.

Thanks again, Ron

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Hi agin the base board looks good now you need to go 90 degrees under the blades to make a wind tunel for the blades to turn above yo increase lift. The new decks ll it a blowout baffle {}

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I have Big-10s and B-10s the only time I have a problem with

clumping is when the grass is damp or if I'm going to fast.

The rule of thumb is not to mow faster than a fast walk.

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Willy, I only mow in 2nd gear at about 3/4 throttle and when the grass is dry. I know it wouldn't clump if I mowed in 1st. As much as I like mowing, it would take me most of the afternoon to mow 1 1/2 acres.

My 102 Cub Cadet had a very fast 2nd gear and it never Clump, but then again it never mowed worth a darn either especially in the summer and fall when the grass tended to lay down. That's one of the reasons I sold it.

Maybe my grass is too thick and lush.....NOT. :D

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Hi Ron,

I'm new to this site but like most have mowed grass for a long time.

You mentioned throttle postion at 3/4. Have you tried it at full throttle. Normally all mowers, no matter what type, are designed to run at speed. You need full blade speed to move the grass out. The old decks never had the blade speed as the newer ones anyway and slowing the rpm down just compounds it.

Good Luck

Mike

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It was mentioned that air flow might be disrupted by front mods bolted INSIDE - I'm not altogether clear on wassup there.

Re rpm speed - does the problem stop at full throttle?

Also I thought, if you, like me, would prefer mowing at lower rpm - and I don't have this problem - but you might try "high lift blades" (bigger wings) to increase air flow, and that would also lift the grass more, to keep grass suspended above the blades (longer) thereby increasing chance of ejection of clippings (possibly caused by settling due to gravity or turbulence or blockage?).

High lift blades spray grass to the point where airborne particles and/or dust can become a problem - it depends - the thinking here is about increase airflow to fix what's causing clumping, which happens underdeck. But the source has to be in the changes made to the design, unless it's simply a speed issue. (?)

Thx for ruling out "wet" grass - that was first thought. (rain, dew, low ground, standing water)

just a thought on the dynamics.

Nice looking machine (and deck). Thx for sharing the "mods" ideas. You do nice work. sm01

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