A BIG Scare The Other Day!

I was making haste cutting the yard the other day when I came up onto a piece of granite that has been laying at the edge of my yard for years. With all my other mowers I simply ran over the sawed rock as it was almost even with the top of the ground and have never had a problem. Well, dumb me, cutting the grass at a low setting ran over the slab rock and the deck caught the edge, standing the mower up on the back tires and all along the blades were grinding away at the rock. Well, quickly as I could I swung the mower around getting off the rock. I figured the blades were done for and wouldnt cut any more grass but to my surprise I finished cutting the yard leaving not a hair of grass standing after running over it.

I havent taken the time to jack up the mower yet to remove the blades (again this year) and inspect the damages but I aint looking to see all that much wrong especially after seeing how well the blades cut after that incident (although it did a good number cutting on that granite rock). Fellas, it was an eye opener for me and I saw how quickly an incident could quickly turn into an accident. I have since removed that rock from my property but I've learned to not take stuff for granted. You ALWAYS need to be thinking safety ANYTIME youre mowing.

Some of the lawns that I mow I need to keep my right foot on the deck raising pedal and do quick lifting of the deck as I'm traveling over rocky and rooty areas. I sometimes do these areas first and avoid them as I continue mowing the rest of the lawn.
My X-ONE needs a hard push on the deck pedal to get it to raise up, I have tightened the springs several times to reduce the force needed to lift the deck and I may tighten the springs more. When I go from using the Hustler to my Scag Tiger Cub which is easier, I sometimes slam it up to the locked position several times, have to reprogram!!! 60" rear discharge deck on the Hustler and 48" deck with collection blower on the Tiger Cub.
Mad Mackie in CT:laughing::biggrin::smile:

I also don't take things for granite (see what I did) while mowing ever...glad you didn't get hurt or destroy your mower.

I have some pavers that I have always mowed over with my previous Cub tractor. I am glad it is the last area I mow because the first time out with the new Raptor I realized I was cutting much lower than normal and may have clipped them. My lawn is super plush & thick and I was mowing lower because I now can!

Yikes on the close call. I was in tall grass behind the house and managed to catch a hidden fist sized piece of concrete. It flew out of the chute in several chunks, wow... there are a couple tiny blunts on the middle and right blades that I'll have to work out on the next sharpening.

If you somehow manage to get over a nice smooth rock just right you might actually be able to sharpen the blades.

I have come close to the same situation with some bricks but usually for me I don't see or am to lazy to pick up a plastic bag then i spend 10 minutes collecting all the pieces that I shot all over the lawn