Need some mower advice

[Steve NC]

My woods rd 60 mower is clumping up the clippings between the rear wheels of the mower. It is a rear discharge deck that should discharge all across the 5 ft opening at the back. All the grass seems to come out in a section about the width of the center blade. The grass is dry and I am only removing about 1 inch of grass. The blades are new OE blades. Correct part number is stamped on them. Tractor rpm or travel speed has little to no effect on clumps. I also have changed the height bushings on the rear to see if that would help I saw very little change. I also tried mowing a section without the rear chain shield. It looked better with the chains since they helped knock down the piles. Woods refers to these blades as "high suction " I'm wondering if that means they try to keep the clippings sucked up under the deck? The yard looks great after I run my sweeper over it. The grass has a uniform cut except for the piles of clippings.
I also cut a section with my old John Deere with side discharge belly mower. It had no problem cutting the grass and throwing the clippings so I don't feel like I'm trying to remove too much grass at a time. Even in short grass areas the clippings stay in the middle but it is a smaller pile.

Any thoughts?

 

[D2Cat]

Have you looked under the mower deck to be sure grass has not built up and plugging up the discharge?

 

[Steve NC]

I stopped and checked that twice Cat. Thanks for reminding me to add that. I forgot to list that earlier. The bottom side is clean. I did notice two pieces of metal welded behind the blades angling toward the outside edges. One on each side. Since I bought the mower used Im not sure if they are a factory design or possibly they are OE and probably worn down from use. The metal pieces in front of the blades that separates each blade area appear to be correct and not damaged. I guess I need to find another rd60 (preferably a new one) and take a look at the bottom and possibly get some measurements. My local woods dealer doesn't have any in stock. They didn't have any other options when I explained my problem to them.

 

[Deuce]

I have a rd60 but am away for a few days so I can't provide pics yet.

But the two angled vertical blades welded to the deck are correct and supposed to be there. Honestly I think it's an issue with the blades you're running because the only time mine clumps is when there is a lot of thick wet grass and the still it doesn't clump anything like a side discharge mower.

Do you have a part number on the blades you're running to double check which ones they actually are? I can post the blade part number I use in a few days

 

[Steve NC]

Thanks Deuce, the blade number is 1001513. Also the divider plates that run around each blade. Are you blades recessed into those areas or do the blades hang just below them ?

 

[Deuce]

Thanks Deuce, the blade number is 1001513. Also the divider plates that run around each blade. Are you blades recessed into those areas or do the blades hang just below them ?

I'm pretty sure blades are below but wouldn't touch if they were to be same height. Purpose of those plates is to help generate suction and direct the grass around the blades for a better cut and discharge unlike a brush mower that just chops and drops

 

[Deuce]

Also what is the condition of the belt and is everything routinely greased? My rd60 deck discharges across the rear but most seems to come out on the rear left. For example during leaf season most of the discharge will be out the rear left so I can rid the lawn of most leaves by cutting that favors the discharge to clear the lawn. Never had it discharge from the center mainly.

All the blades should be swinging in the same direction (clockwise I believe from memory)....if for some freaky reasonthey aren't then that would be a major factor for poor clippings dispersal.


Gotta rule everything out

 

[Deuce]

Sorry for the multiple posts... doing this from my phone

I looked at the part number and that's right for the high suction blade and all they will do is give you some better lift to pull the grass up to cut it but shouldn't make the clumping issue

 

[Steve NC]

Everything is new from my local woods dealership. This mower sat up for sometime before I bought it. Mostly out in the weather so I changed the gear box oil, all the mandrel bearings and the idler pulleys. The tension spring and belt were also replaced. The mower and tractor are thoroughly greased before each use. I would prefer it favor one side or the other but for some reason it likes the middle. The blade tips are just below the plates that should direct the air. The back lips on the blades just does go up above the plates. The mower leaves a great cut after I run the sweeper over the lawn afterwards. Im almost tempted to weld a hitch to the back of the mower and sweep as I go.

 

[Steve NC]

I have a neighbor that has a woods prd8400. It is set up very similar. I borrowed his tractor and mower to do a test run for comparison. His lower left a very clean cut with no clumps of clippings. They were scattered over the full 7 foot discharge. So I ruled out the yard as the problem and I'm back to the mower.

 

[D2Cat]

Steve, you might put the mower on level concrete and see how the deck sets. I think you should have the front down a quarter inch or so compared to the back.

 

[Deuce]

7100d like what my rd60 is mounted to...

What speed/gear do you set the rear pto at when running the rfm? Should be number 1 which is 512 I believe, but the others (2 & 3) are too fast

 

[Steve NC]

Deuce, I use pto gear 1 and normally the tractor is in 5th. I tried pto 2 for a few minutes, I just knew that would scatter the grass but it did not change it much either. I decided to finish the yard with my neighbor's tractor since I had it here. Cat, I have the a 1 inch spacer under each wheel right now that should give me a cutting height of 2 inches. I ran out of time today with everything going on this weekend. I plan to check the blade pitch tomorrow if I get home from work early enough. I tried adding the 1/2 spacer to the back earlier thinking it would pitch the blades down and open up the back to allow things to clear out. It showed some improvement but the quality of the cut suffered. After using the neighbor's mower I'm convinced I'm overlooking something.

 

[Steve NC]

I did some more research on the mower today. I stopped by one of the dealerships near where I was working. They sell land pride and woods. The service manager was a huge help. We tested out a a rd 60 like mine and a prd 6000 ( the heavier version of my mower) and a comparable version from land pride. I forget it's model number. Their rd60 has the same baffle set up as mine and made the same cut with windrow. The prd 6000 and the land pride scattered a more even pattern. He gave me a copy of a template they had made to fix a few of these mowers with my problem. Basically I am going to have to weld in some plates to extend the baffles so the blades are running separate from each other. That might be a job for this weekend depending on my schedule. Cat, I did check the angle of the blades. The front is about 1/4 inch lower than the back. The service guy gave me a set of blades to try. They are gator mulching blades designed for the land pride. He said they would help but not fix all the problem. He was right the windrow grew from about 8 inches wide to almost 2 feet wide. He said after I fix the baffles I should get a more uniform scattered pattern behind the mower.

 

[Steve NC]

The photo was taken after installing the gator blades. I can't find any currently made for a woods. The land pride blades are the same length and center hole size. Only difference is the have a little more offset to them. Also discovered another source for parts for this deck. John Deere uses this same mower. They paint it green and call it a frontier gm 3060.