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I just bought a 46" yard man mower and put new blades on it. Not sure if I put the deck on wrong or what but there are 5 settings for height, 5 is too low 4 is even lower, and 321 are pretty much just on the ground. Even cutting on 5 and I have got into the dirt in some areas! Any thoughts on how to fix this?

rhwimmers said:

I just bought a 46" yard man mower and put new blades on it. Not sure if I put the deck on wrong or what but there are 5 settings for height, 5 is too low 4 is even lower, and 321 are pretty much just on the ground. Even cutting on 5 and I have got into the dirt in some areas! Any thoughts on how to fix this?

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How old is the mower?
Did you take the deck off to replace blades?
Are the blades upside down...check and see.
We would need pictures to see if it is on wrong.

You can by anti-scalping wheel kits for those decks.

Here are some pictures

Also, I just now realized that the first pic there is a large bolt that I can adjust to move the deck up - I HAD moved that up to the top most option but looks like it fell down again. But even after adjusting that it was still very low.
Also, whats the "deck wash system"?

In the 2nd pic you can see 3 holes for hanger bars. You may need to use different holes.

You can enter your model number on the MTD website and get manual. They do a good job of explaining height adjustment.

Blades are upside down and your belt is rolled over too. Disregard the 'deck wash' system. It's a spindle killer.

How can you tell blades are upside down? They said "grass side" on them so those are pointed "up" when installing as when it turns over they are then facing the grass.
Not sure what you mean belt is rolled over? Everything seems to work very well aside the cut being uneven and way too short

Beowulf said:

In the 2nd pic you can see 3 holes for hanger bars. You may need to use different holes.

You can enter your model number on the MTD website and get manual. They do a good job of explaining height adjustment.

Click to expand...

I saw those holes but they are too small for the metal "L" rod to go in which I thought was odd.

OK guys thanks for the help so far. I got some more pictures of it. You can see how close it is to the ground and these are all taken with it in the highest position (5).

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ggK9vRKtYPDuw1yAA

Thanks for any assistance...the lawn looks terrible how short and uneven it is!

The belt does look like it has a twist in it. Those blades look weird to me but yeah the grass side should face the grass.

yes the blade is on upside down.
That will raise the cutting height a whopping 1.25" which on a mower with a max height of 4.5" is just under 30%.
When you adjust the deck height you do the rear then the front.
If you just raise the front you will end up cutting lower because the nose will dive down.
You could try moving the round rods with the R clips forward 1 hole.
This will both raise the deck and move it backwards.
Be careful doing this because the pulleys can end up fouling under the mower and the belt will be pulled tighter so the blades might not dissengage.
Even worse, they stop the just as you are going over something they start up again.

bertsmobile1 said:

You could try moving the round rods with the R clips forward 1 hole.
This will both raise the deck and move it backwards.

Click to expand...

It seems the other holes on this are smaller than the ones being used and those rods wouldn't fit in there?

Also, in regards to the belt being twisted- do I need to replace it or just untwist it? The blades engage just fine so wondering what the twisted belt would cause?

The V part needs to ride inside the drive and spindle pulleys with the flat part on the idler pulleys. Otherwise it can slip and not drive the blades properly. You can try just untwisting it but once they get like that theycan get a memory of sorts and want to revert back to being twisted.

Ok - took the deck off again and confirmed the blades are indeed on the right direction (unless they stamped grass side on the wrong side of the blade!!).
I took several more pictures showing it all in detail with the deck removed and flipped over.

Thanks for any advice - would love to get this working before I have to put it away for winter. Ha!

rhwimmers said:

Ok - took the deck off again and confirmed the blades are indeed on the right direction (unless they stamped grass side on the wrong side of the blade!!).
I took several more pictures showing it all in detail with the deck removed and flipped over.

Thanks for any advice - would love to get this working before I have to put it away for winter. Ha!

Click to expand...

forgot to link the pictures

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ggK9vRKtYPDuw1yAA

Any ideas for me guys?

Yours is an MTD product. There are different types of blades that will fit your spindles. Some are straight, with the turned up lifts on the end, some are bent downward, then go straight. It seems you need the ones that go straight off the spindle, and you probably have the type of blades that are bent down well over an inch, maybe up to two inches, then go straight out. It depends which spindles are on your deck. I would say the problem is you have the wrong blades.

"Down" refers to the direction of the blades when properly installed.

The same potential problem exists with the Cub Cadet (MTD also) mowers. There are blades with identical lengths and center holes that fit different models. The pre 2015 blades are bent downward and the 2015 plus blades are straight. They will make a difference of about 1.5 to 2 inches in the height of cut.

From that last batch of photos, which again are not the best.
You really need to shoot as square on as possible because oblique perspectives are very confusing.
If the front drag ling as shown in picture 5 is as high as it shows, the deck can not be run any higher.
Height of cut is measured from the ground to the outer tips of the blades.
On low end domestic ride ons this is around 3" to 4".
This might not translate to a 4" cut on your grass.

To work safely on your lawn, the deck needs to be able to rise around 1" higher than it's maximum height setting to prevent it scalping the grass.

If you want a higher cut then looks for a garden tractor which generally have a higher maximum cut or a rough cut ( bush hog etc ) mower which has a much higher cut .

You can go look for bigger wheels or fit taller tyres front & back.
People get confused with the numbers on the beck height lever.

Many are marked 1 to 4 with an unmarked notch between them and people instantly think it means 1" to 4" but that is a deliberate deception.
Mowers marked like that , regardless of brand, rarely cut any higher than 3"
Pumping the tyres up an extra 5 to 10 psi will also lift the cut but that also makes for a rough ride as all of the suspension action is in the soft tyres.
Tyres also wear and new a lot of them have 1/2" of thread depth so by the time they wear to just a flat pattern,you have lost 1/2" of cut height.

Bert,
He has to have the wrong blades on. I have seen two types of otherwise identical MTD blades. The bent ones will be about 1.5 to 2 inches lower at the tips when installed than the straight ones.

To me they look like the std mulching blades.
Never had them side by side to check despite having 79 different bar blades in stock, all of the MTD blades with the same mounting look like they cut at the same height.
However armed with what you have just said I will keep an eye out.

I have seen both types recently at our local Home Depot. The bent down ones are for the older mowers, and the straight ones fit 2015 and later, according to the packages.

Is this a new mower? Kind of looks like the deck is not the right one for the mower. I have a Ranch Kind that mows at about 2 1/2 at highest setting but not like what you're describing.

Now that mowing season is back, so is this thread - and my battle to get a nice looking cut!!!

Yeah this is a new mower (to me). I am wondering if you are on to something, maybe someone "made it work" with a different deck - how can I check?

I just bought new blades from lowes that had different year listings and not quite as large of a bend/curve at the end - its more flat so hopefully that means I can mow higher. I put them on and put the deck back on but must have done something wrong as I can't get it in the highest position (5) without extreme force on the lever (and lifting the deck manually).

Check all of the deck lifting points.
The holes flog out oval & the shafts wear grooves .
The net effect is the deck hangs lower & is harder to lift
Post the full model numbers so we can check which one you have.
There is generally a lift assist spring and if this is missing the deck will be harder to lift and will hang lower.