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So Im away on TDY but my wife and daughter say the cut quality on our brand new John Deere is horrible. We have a Z530M ZTrak w/Grass Mulching Attacment. It leaves uncut grass and grass mashed down. I have not been able to witness it myself but wife knows what she's talking about. She grew up on a farm. Her mom has a commercial zero turn that she uses on her pasture and makes it look like a carpet when she's done. She and my father-in-law (retired machinest) have tried it with the same results. Father-in-law looked the mower over and could not find anything wrong.

The dealer just picked up the mower. First thing the kid asked... "is it mowhawking the grass??" So it sounds like they are not new to this issue.

What could be causing this? Mulch kit? Grass too long when cut? Cut length too long/deck too high?

Thanks in advance.

This is my first zero turn. Owned a Cub Cadet riding mower for 15+ years and never had an issue with it.

Thanks

WE ALL APPRECIATE YOUR SERVICE - THANK YOU SIR. And welcome to the best mower forum online.

Are they cutting wet grass like most of us now? Tire pressure proper? Too tall grass trying to mulch it? Deck too low? Many factors here. Cutting speed too fast?

slomo said:

WE ALL APPRECIATE YOUR SERVICE - THANK YOU SIR. And welcome to the best mower forum online.

Are they cutting wet grass like most of us now? Tire pressure proper? Too tall grass trying to mulch it? Deck too low? Many factors here. Cutting speed too fast?

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Mower is brand new. Grass was long but not wet. They didn't try to cut it all at once but rather cut half the desired amount and then made a second pass. I have to assume that the tire pressure is correct and the cut speed is correct. Will finally be able to get a first hand experience to see for myself in a couple weeks. The dealer picked it up today and will look it over. It sounds like the guy who picked it up was familiar with our issue. My mother-in-law said she hated the mulch kit on her zt and removed it due to poor cut quality. We should hear something in a few days.

Did you mulch or throw on the old Cub ?
Mulching decks are very sensitive to the volume of grass that is being cut
Finally ZTR's go faster than tractor style mowers and the tendency is to mow too fast
To work properly mulching decks need a lot of blade overlap and the ones that work best have timed blades that over cut each other .
In order to cut costs decks now days are very short front to back and that severely restricts the amount of overlap the cutting circles can have on a deck that is not timed .
20 years ago most mower makers made dedicated mulching decks, dedicating throwing decks which work perfectly
Again to cut costs now days it is universal decks that throw , mulch & bag, universally poorly .
The silly misake that I come across regularly with the wavy mulching blades is they regularly get fitted upside town which makes a cut just like you are describing .

bertsmobile1 said:

Did you mulch or throw on the old Cub ?
Mulching decks are very sensitive to the volume of grass that is being cut
Finally ZTR's go faster than tractor style mowers and the tendency is to mow too fast
To work properly mulching decks need a lot of blade overlap and the ones that work best have timed blades that over cut each other .
In order to cut costs decks now days are very short front to back and that severely restricts the amount of overlap the cutting circles can have on a deck that is not timed .
20 years ago most mower makers made dedicated mulching decks, dedicating throwing decks which work perfectly
Again to cut costs now days it is universal decks that throw , mulch & bag, universally poorly .
The silly misake that I come across regularly with the wavy mulching blades is they regularly get fitted upside town which makes a cut just like you are describing .

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The old Cub was a bagger but came with a mulch plug. We didn't mulch all the time. I was wondering if the mulch kit they installed used special blades which I think it does. I was also wondering if they may have been installed upside down. One really odd thing is that my wife says that if she had the mower engaged and she went in reverse, it cut really nice. Strange.

You get a finner cut if you heal the deck ( have the front higher than the back ) or in farmer jargon have a negative attack angle
This is because nearly all of the blades of grass get cut twice, once by the back & again by the front

bertsmobile1 said:

You get a finner cut if you heal the deck ( have the front higher than the back ) or in farmer jargon have a negative attack angle
This is because nearly all of the blades of grass get cut twice, once by the back & again by the front

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The mulch kit, when combined with taller grass, a possibility packed underside of deck, and possibly borderline dull blades, makes for a bad cut quality. I would highly consider removing mulching baffles, let the grass exit the chute (with chute at 45 degree angle, make sure deck is clean and clear and blades are sharp. Also watch speed for good cut quality.

Sinc

Tiger Small Engine said:

The mulch kit, when combined with taller grass, a possibility packed underside of deck, and possibly borderline dull blades, makes for a bad cut quality. I would highly consider removing mulching baffles, let the grass exit the chute (with chute at 45 degree angle, make sure deck is clean and clear and blades are sharp. Also watch speed for good cut quali

Click to expand...

Tiger Small Engine said:

The mulch kit, when combined with taller grass, a possibility packed underside of deck, and possibly borderline dull blades, makes for a bad cut quality. I would highly consider removing mulching baffles, let the grass exit the chute (with chute at 45 degree angle, make sure deck is clean and clear and blades are sharp. Also watch speed for good cut quality.

Click to expand...

Since the mower is brand new one would assume the blades are good to go. Maybe not as sharp as I would get them with a draw file but sharp. It’s entirely possible the blades were installed upside down. It’s also possible the mulch kit along with some fairly long grass was a big part of the problem. I’ll be able to put hands on the unit by the middle of June.