This reminds me of my neighbor telling me about the time he bought a John Deere rider from Lowes and when they delivered it they picked it up by the deck with a forklift and it never cut right , and he said he was in the local John Deere dealer a while later he asked the person at the counter if that was the right way for them to be handling the mowers, and the person at the counter told him to wait a moment and she went and got their service technicians and had him tell them what he had just told her about how they delivered it. Needless to say they'd been getting a lot of mowers in from Lowes that were screwed up because their delivery people picking them up improperly, he ended up making Lowes come take it back and bought one from the dealer.
New Toro- Uneven Cut
- Thread starter SSerian
- Start date
I had a riding mower that had one blade cutting lower than the other. I had purchased a new craftsman 24 hp 42” cut in ‘07 after moving to a house with a couple of acres. From day one the left side blade cut a smidge lower. Level cut for each blade but the left side lower. I messed around and messed around with that deck and wheels and whatever else I could think of. No luck. The left side blade was just lower. Cut a path and there was that height difference where the blades overlap. A perfect line. Finally got new blades and that seemed to get rid of the problem completely. Just about unnoticeable. So, obviously the one blade had a slight bend in it. Of course it looked straight to me. I guess I should have swapped sides to see it that was the actual problem but never did. Kept playing with leveling the deck and wheel adjustments.
I agree with you in the dead of summer. I actually cut 3-1/2 to 4" to avoid the grass getting burned. That said come the end of September I start lowering the deck for fall cuts. By the time I am done I usually land about 1-1/2" to 2". Why, 2 reasons, the leaves don't collect on my yard when it is cut short, they blow off and the snow will not matt the grass as bad. I aerate late in the fall after mulching any leaves that do collect on the yard to avoid a barrier to the soil.
Just my $0.02
It honestly could be the design of the deck. I find this to be the case with hilly yards especially, but even in my own yard I have tested quite a few customer mowers after repairing them and the cut quality differences I've seen have been interesting.
I would get a leveling gauge (John Deere makes the one I have) and check the cutting height at the blade (not the edge of the deck) on each side, then park the mower on a slight hill and see how much it changes. Some decks float differently or more than others due to the deck hanging design.
I would get a leveling gauge (John Deere makes the one I have) and check the cutting height at the blade (not the edge of the deck) on each side, then park the mower on a slight hill and see how much it changes. Some decks float differently or more than others due to the deck hanging design.
I've got an LA-175 lawn chariot. I could level the deck all I wanted (it never changed) but a bent blade can harsh your lawn. I swapped the bent factory stock blades in my deck with a set of Oregon Gators. Immediate day and night difference. The stock Deere blade kit was horribly bent. I had struck a chunk of concrete in the yard that surfaced long years after the foundation for the house was poured.
Good old Deere really did try to masticate it, passing from blade to blade and back again before I could release the PTO clutch. When I swapped the blades out, they were so bent that they couldn't lay flat on one another in a stack.
They were gouging the lawn in stripes like yours is. Some blades cut a little high, one blade would chew and churn the bare surface of the soil... but have no clue other than appearance that there was something wrong. No vibration, wobble or noise.
Simple test: remove your blades and lay them on a flat surface atop of one another. If they don't perfectly nest into one another - ditch them out for new. Like, if you pinch them together one side against the other, back and forth and they wobble or move at all, they're bent, just against their shape. Let alone in motion under the deck.
Good old Deere really did try to masticate it, passing from blade to blade and back again before I could release the PTO clutch. When I swapped the blades out, they were so bent that they couldn't lay flat on one another in a stack.
They were gouging the lawn in stripes like yours is. Some blades cut a little high, one blade would chew and churn the bare surface of the soil... but have no clue other than appearance that there was something wrong. No vibration, wobble or noise.
Simple test: remove your blades and lay them on a flat surface atop of one another. If they don't perfectly nest into one another - ditch them out for new. Like, if you pinch them together one side against the other, back and forth and they wobble or move at all, they're bent, just against their shape. Let alone in motion under the deck.
