Dumb question about tire pressure

[casey]

Will raising or lowering the tire pressure from recommended level decrease amount of scalping. If so, how much raised or lowered. I'm cutting neighbours with bumpy lawns who both insist on 1.5" and we scalp the hell out of it. I warned them and they don't complain but would like it to look better. Using 36" floating, anti-scalp rollers arn't adjustable on the 36.

[Vibe Ray]

Sure....but it would be pointless. It would be equivalent to raising or lowering the deck because it just lifts or drops the whole mower. Might as well just raise the deck a notch.

[casey]

Dumb question #2
Wouldn't harder tires go harder over bumps and scalp more?

[Vibe Ray]

On a 36" floating walk behind? I doubt it.....just slow down on those bumps.

[Jason_S]

Not always Ray! On our Lesco's, the deck is raised/lowered by spacers on the caster type wheels, the back will scalp if the tires get low. Once they are up to pressure, my mysterious clearance problem disapears!

Guess it depends on the mower

[jeffyr]

Jason,

Vibe-Ray was talking about the floating deck that Casey has (not fixed). The height of the deck is changed with pins and the deck hangs from a frame. This allows the deck to "Float" over whatever is comes across and lift up without lifting the weight of the mower.

jeffyr

[awm]

the increased pressure might help but you would have to reset your mower for this customer ,when what they want you to do is wrong.
id just let it be until they decide to let you do it rght.
later

[HOMER]

Do some experimenting out on the driveway with air pressure and a tape measure. Raising tire pressure will raise the entire mower some. You can always raise the back a little more than the frt of vice versa. It won't do a whole lot but might be just enough. You could also play with your blade spacers to get the blades a little higher in the deck. Maybe a combination of both would work.

P.S. That was a legitimate question, not a dumb one. Never hesitate to ask something for fear of being ridiculed, you might miss out on a million dollar answer!

[Charles]

The tire pressure should stay at the manufacture recomended level. I check the pressure in my lazer every day. The front tires are bad about getting pinhole leaks and have to be plugged regurly. They should be 8 ply tires since they are smooth. After that adjusting the deck and hitting the uneven parts of the yards correctly is all you can do

[joshua]

just a thought if you scalp the lawn a (lets say) 1.5 inches because of how the terrain is set up does it mean that you won't scalp it at 2.0 inches????? chances of you doing so is a 50/50 chance. i have a account similar to this i was scalping at 3.0 inches and raised it to 3.5 for the rest of the year ( this year) and in some sports i don't scalp but others i scalp it the same a i did at 3.0". i do it with the lazer so when i know i'm gunna hit a spot that i always scalp i pull the deck up some and it doesn't scalp. unfortunaltiy you cannot do this with a w/b but next time you mow that account pull up on the back handles (trying to pick the backend off the ground) it might give you what you need.

good advice homer, good question casey

[Toroguy]

Higher pressure in the tires gives my exmark a very uncomfortable and bumpy ride. Rays point about the speed is what I have found to be the most effective method for rough terrain. If you can adjust the "anti-scalp" rollers, that may also give the deck more clearance when a high spot comes up.

[Alan]

Higher pressure in the drive tires will also cut down on traction. Just went through that when I loaned my Lazer to a buddy for a day, he thought the tires looked soft and aired them up to 12 psi. I dropped them back to 10 and need to go a little lower as the entire tread is still not touching the ground.

By the way, foam fill in those front slicks cures the chronic slow leaks. I'll run mine now until they are totally shot. As it was they were showing cracks across the "tread" area at the beginning of the second season.

[Chopper Lover]

I have a yard that is so poorly excavated I have had to raise the deck to 4.5" and still scalp (although much less). Sometimes it is just the yard...

Mark