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I'm hoping someone has seen this problem before, and knows the fix. I'm a pretty mechanically minded guy......and I've tried everything I can think of, but still can't fix the problem.

For some reason, I keep getting streaks of tall grass left behind from my new riding mower. I've leveled the deck/blades, made sure the tire pressure was equal on all of the tires, and even put a brand new set of carbide edged Gator Blades on the thing...and I still can't seem to get rid of the streaks. I usually mow on the highest setting the mower has....3.5". I mow once a week....and take off around 2"-3" every time I mow....my yard seems to grown crazy fast.

I've tried going faster, going slower...I've tried bumping the governor screw in to give the engine a little more RPMS.......nothing seems to help. The only thing that will get rid of the streaks is if I go over the same spot twice.....then it's nice and flat. But I don't want to have to mow my 1.5 acres twice every time.....once is bad enough.

I have a really old 16hp Murray with a 46" deck that mows great....nice and flat, and no streaks. So why does my new Husky with a 24hp Kohler and 48" deck mow so crappy an uneven?? The Murray actually seems like it has more power.....where as the Husky with the bigger motor seems to bog down all the time. I've got about 50hrs on the thing...and it's mowed pretty crappy since day one.

Any ideas??

You don't by chance have blades upside down do you?

Either the deck is overwhelmed with grass and can't discharge it fast enough. Another possible cause is there is a baffle under the deck that is riding the grass down, and then the blade can't pick it back up fast enough to cut it clean.

Your grass looks so limber that the wheels seem to just push it over and it does not spring back up.

It must really grow fast!

Very tall grass does not mow well...it just gets pushed over.

Ok, you leveled the deck, but did you check to make sure you have frontward slope between 1/16" to 5/16" on the deck. If you have NO Slope, you have the entire blades in the cut, which can extra load on the machine. Messing with the govenor is asking for trouble.

Also do you mow in different directions ?

Finally: do you clean out the deck after use, cutting 3" off at one cut can accumulate underneath, causing a bad cut as well.

I have a 1984 Murry that mowed better than a new John Deere. Then I looked at the two to determine the difference. AH HA, deere has baffels and Murray doesn't. Now JD doesn't have baffels, mows better and is 10 x easier to clean.

This 3 way BS is from manufacturers attempting to make a rider that will side discharge, mulch or bag all in one. Does none very well.

Are you sure that them Gator blades are of the correct size? Looks to be a little too short for the size of the deck.

with the belt off turn the blades so that the edges are at the closest point to each other. th gap needs to be no more than 1/8". less is good. also rotate next side of blade looking for one side possibly bent.

Are your blades upside down or not level?

Mohawking

My lawnmower "mohawks" also. Never used to, nor has the cause been found. Seems much less after the blades are sharpened.

That deck is blowing rather than sucking. Look at all the grass clippings on top of the deck and even as far up as on top of the running board.

jekjr said:

You don't by chance have blades upside down do you?

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May be too embarrassed to admit it.:laughing:

SeniorCitizen said:

May be too embarrassed to admit it.:laughing:

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We change blades on two mowers every day and we have put one on upside down a couple of times. It is easier to do than you would think.

shiftsuper175607 said:

Your grass looks so limber that the wheels seem to just push it over and it does not spring back up.

It must really grow fast!

Very tall grass does not mow well...it just gets pushed over.

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Wait about 3 days and mow again then observe if it looks better than last time ?
.....seemed to work for me on my daughters lawn which sounds similar to yours .....grass grows like crazy !
Normf

Do you have the blade spacers on the wrong side of the blades? One of my guys just done that on one of our Scags and it cut almost just like your picture. Luckily the other guy called me to say that mower was cutting really bad. They'd just put new blades on right before they left. I drove to the sight looked under the deck and sure enough had the spacer under the blade and not on top of it. He'd already mowed about 1 1/2 acres so he got an ear full. Anyway i knocked the blade off watched for a minute and problem solved. Back to the shop and finished my coffee.

TaskForceLawnCare said:

Do you have the blade spacers on the wrong side of the blades? One of my guys just done that on one of our Scags and it cut almost just like your picture. Luckily the other guy called me to say that mower was cutting really bad. They'd just put new blades on right before they left. I drove to the sight looked under the deck and sure enough had the spacer under the blade and not on top of it. He'd already mowed about 1 1/2 acres so he got an ear full. Anyway i knocked the blade off watched for a minute and problem solved. Back to the shop and finished my coffee.

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LONG OVERDUE FINAL ANSWER: Blades on wrong!!