Broadmoor deck baffle question.

[melmarkmower]

I recently bought a Simplicity Broadmoor 1693967 16 hp 44 inch deck for my daughter to use at her house. Overall it is in great shape but the deck is very loud when I engage the blades and it also throws cut grass out the front left side. So far I have done the following:

Checked deck level front to back and side to side (it was good)​

Removed the deck and checked all spindles and belt idlers (they all turned very smoothly and were not loud.
Checked condition of the 2 deck drive belts (also like new)
Checked balance of the blades (they were good)

I did notice that when I removed the deck the tips of the blades dug into the ground when I was pulling it out , I thought this was odd as I have 2 other simplicity mowers and have never had this happen. I looked up the online parts drawing for my mower and it shows deck baffles in the front that I suspect are intended to contain the clippings. On my machine these are missing. There are mounting holes on the deck but no baffles. I called the previous owner and he said that deck never had baffles (that he could recall) I also looked at a bunch of similar used machines online and it appears that some had the baffles and some did not. I believe that the increased noise is because the baffles may be missing as well. I am thinking of searching for a set from some of the local mower repair shops and hopefully I can run across some. I think they may still be available new but are quite pricey.

Do you guys have any advice or things I may be missing?

Thank-you
Mark

 

[Rivets]

If the blades stick out below the deck and contact the ground you’ve found your problem. Blades should never contact the ground, so I would concentrate on finding out why.

 

[melmarkmower]

If the blades stick out below the deck and contact the ground you’ve found your problem. Blades should never contact the ground, so I would concentrate on finding out why.

I have a newer Regent that has the baffles and if I take them off the blades stick down below the deck a bit. The baffles actually extend down a bit so the blades are protected more. But you can see in the picture that the deck has a cutout at the front. Just not sure why some of the 44 inch Simplicity decks show baffles and some don't. But I agree with you, I think it is very likely that this machine should have them.

Also I did check the blades for bends or defects and they are nice and straight

 

[vap0rtranz]

My new-to-me 44" also didn't come with the baffles, so when I look at the deck at ground level, the blades "stick out" below the deck bottom edge.

Checking pictures of used ones online, a lot of decks don't have the baffles but a few still do. My guess is an original owner or a dealer removed them. No idea why anyone would remove these. I get removing the discharge -- a lot of folks do that.

So it's not that blades are incorrectly sticking below the deck. It's that these deck look like they fully enclose the blades only when the baffles are attached.

P.S. thinking about this more ... a recent owner complained about grass blowing back at the tractor, and not just from the discharge chute -- because it throws the grass far from the tractor --, but from the front and getting everywhere. See https://www.lawnmowerforum.com/threads/simplicity-broadmoor-50-grass-coming-out-front.71092/. I have this problem too. One cause could be leveling the deck, but now I'm thinking that these baffles would prevent grass blowback. Sure enough, someone else posted to that thread and said removing the deck's baffles might cause this.

 

[melmarkmower]

Just to close the loop, I went to my local Simplicity dealer and he took me out back to their "junkyard" of spares. We found a similar deck and took the bafffles out. I took them home and installed them on my machine and it was like a whole different deck. Now all the clippings are contained under the deck and expelled out the chute as they should be.

 

[vap0rtranz]

Great!

I hope my local Simplicity dealer has a yunkyard too

Thx for updating.