engaging

[hagen]

i have a grass hopper and i always rev it up all the way and turned the blades on and i have just bought a dixie chopper and they said turn them on at low rpms and then rev your motor up but i always have to turn the blades off to go to a diffrent spot when i am mowing and my mower is at full throttle and i dont wont to drop my rpms just to turn my blades on if i turn them on at full throttle on my dixe chopper will it where my clutch out and belt out faster and if so how much faster

[MikeLT1Z28]

you can destroy a clutch doing that. most if not all say no more than 1/2 throttle.

also, no flame whatsoever. please use some comma's or periods. makes it difficult to read.

[richard coffman]

I run a yazoo kees 61" & a exmark lazer z 52" which i had a simular question in the past. I found what workes for me on the exmark with the bagger system to start the p.t.o. system at half throttle to save wear on clutch. the yazoo is a bit different. Sence the r.p.m.'s runs a little lower on my machine at full throttle, I'll start the p.t.o. at 3/4 throttle. my opinio is that the bigger the deck you have, the more power your going to need to get the blades and pully's to turn. hopes this helpes in your quest.:p

[allenandinga]

Assuming you have an electric clutch. All clutch manufacturers in this business advise that blades should be engaged w/engine at full throttle. There is a very good reason for this. Being that the clutch and the correct belts are designed to take this shock load, contrary to some popular beliefs, this will not hurt anything. However, if you engage at less than full throttle, the severe load on what is now an underpowered engine will cause terrible belt slapping until the rpm's get back up to speed. (this applies to units with engine-to-deck belts not shaft driven models mainly) What most manufacturers fail to mention is that these since these clutches also have blade brakes, dropping the rpm's will no doubt increase the brake life. They gotta sell a part sometime.

[captdevo]

this was recently discussed on another thread....link below!

click here for thread (http://www.lawnsite.com/showthread.php?threadid=34709)

[Richard Martin]

Dixie Choppers don't have electric clutches. You can safely engage the blades at high RPM if you engage them slowly. Just tun the handle a little to let the blades spin up and once you hear them go turn the handle the rest of the way.

This is how I do it, full throttle or half... or quarter.

[LAWNGODFATHER]

Originally posted by MikeLT1Z28
you can destroy a clutch doing that. most if not all say no more than 1/2 throttle.

With running single blades on a manual or electro magnetic clutch you can engauge the blades at any rpm speed on any mower. Running doubles on a manual or electro magnetic clutch I would do it slowly and at a lower rpm.

If you have a wet clutch or plate clutch system, you must slow the rpms down to angauge the blades, singles or doubles.

It wont harm the clutch doing this, manual clutches have less give compared to the electro magnetic ones.

[bubble boy]

seems like every time this comes up the answer gets more elusive.

we lower the rpms, or just engage blades SLOWLY. i don't in any way claim this is right or wrong, just what seems would be best to me. can a mower engineer chirp in on this?

i will say this, it becomes habit, even doing it several times on a lawn. really after a week it won't seem like a pain.

[geogunn]

Originally posted by hagen
ii always have to turn the blades off to go to a diffrent spot when i am mowing and my mower is at full throttle and i dont wont to drop my rpms just to turn my blades on if i turn them on at full throttle on my dixe chopper will it where my clutch out and belt out faster and if so how much faster

hagen--don't be concerned with clutch or belt where because since you are running at such high rpm, you will be more ready to mow and make money instead of waiting for the engine and blades to rev. your increased productivity will more than pay for those extra clutches and belts, IMHO.

GEO