Mowing tall grass with a 9020

[jlasater]

Is there anything wrong with not running the mower deck on the roller when cutting taller grass? I have a small pasture that needs to be mowed once to knock it down. Will keeping the deck up and supported by the lift cables cause issues?

[Rigger9020]

Have had to do that on occasion. Keep deck halfway up, so belt doesn’t rub. It can be hard on arbor shaft bearings if you get to aggressive. Keep checking beating temps. They will get hot pretty easy.

mike

[BenB]

Maybe raise the deck to see if the pto belt will be rubbing against the deck’s top surface?

[BenB]

Mike, you posted while I was still one finger typing. I could never get my deck to cut higher than 2-3/4” which was too low for grass in early spring. 

Ben

[jlasater]

Well the deck worked ok even in the fully raised position, but it's obviously a lawn deck, not a brush hog. After about an hour, I noticed the deck was struggling. Either the belt was getting worn or the clutch was getting hot. I used one of the Gates power belts, not a Simplicity belt, and I'm wondering if I would have better luck with the OEM belt.

[Brettw]

Although not correct, I can recall back in the day doing exactly that with our Sovereign series tractors, cutting new areas and clearing brush.  That being said, my Dad was never one for babying any of his tractors, and they worked for every nickle he paid for them.  I don't recall any failure due to this, but it had to be somewhat hard on the drive belt, I would think.  With all the work I do on these today, and the fact that I was probably the only one who ever put any real TLC into the service of our old mowers, I don't recall ever tearing a deck apart to replace bearings and rarely changing belts.  I think this may have something to do with the fact I am still working and using these tractors, 30, 40 and 50 years later.  

[Rigger9020]

Had a 2 acres lot I have cleared several times with decks up on both sovereigns and 9020. When the grass is almost as tall as hood of tractors. Looks like green sausage stuffer coming out discharge. Under those conditions you can very easily take out center arbor bearings. Would make one round and change to other tractor to let things cool down. Glad I sold that property.

[jlasater]

Turns out part of the issue I had was the spring tensioner on the PTO belt was way loose. I rarely mow anything deep so never had the issue before. Adjusted the collar as per the OM for proper spring tension and all is well again.