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Clean Mower Deck

14K views 32 replies 19 participants last post by  MowersDirect 
#1 ·
I have a Cub Cadet Z ForceS 48" Commercial with a power twin bag assembly. I just put new mower blades on and clean the heck out of the bottom of the deck. 10 hours of mowing later, some of the yards are bagging while others were just side throw, and the bottom of the deck was so full that it was not throwing from the far side anymore. Because of this issue, I can only get about 75 hours of use on a set of blades because the throwing edge is completely worn off (See Picture Below). So here is my question for you, what do you do or how do you keep the bottom of the mower decks clean?

I am considering making my employees clean them every day before they clock out but it takes about a hour and I don't want to pay another hour of labor for something like that! I am also considering just designing a power washer that you drive over and it'll clean the deck for you.

I need advice to see what some of you do out there.

Thanks in advance.

Wheel Hood Wood Tire Flooring
 
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#3 ·
Sounds like either your mower has a problem or there's a design flaw in the deck if its that bad. My only idea would be stick the blower in the discharge chute after every lawn to get as much off as you can before it gets too bad. Otherwise get a different mower, an hour of saved labor each day will pay for a mower quickly.
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#4 ·
Looks like you are using a hand grinder grinding the edges off to much to me are you using one?

I can keep the edge right with hand grinder and angle, had to much cleanup work from greenhorns when I was welding fixing all their crappy welding, seeing their welds I was tot he point where I didn't even trust them to grind their own mistakes out since I was a finish welder on last job.
 
#5 ·
I am in ND also and the wet conditions this year have made the grass really sticky. I am having to scrape my decks every night and sometimes once during the day if mowing any tall grass and i am side discharging. i could imagine that with a bagger the grass stays under the deck longer and builds up faster. just my 2 cents. maybe clean em good and put some mo-deck spray on em would help somewhat.
 
#6 ·
Normal when conditions with wet grass, lush green grass. It will load up underneath the deck when mulching.

If I suspect that my mower will take a grass dump as soon as I stop the blades I will not stop them until the mower is on the trailer so as to not leave a grass dump on the customers lawns, driveway, street.

Hosing off the underside of the deck when needed is part of doing business.

You can wait till lawns are drier before mowing and ask customers on the day that you mow their lawn that they wait until after you mow their lawn. Will help reduce grass build up.

A: If you can not afford to pay the employees to do it then your prices are not where they should be.

B: You do not want to do it you are lazy.

C: You are to cheap to pay your employees to do their job the right way.

D: Any combination of the above.
 
#7 ·
it takes 5 min to clean out a mower deck not 1hr. drive up on the ramp of the trailer with the right front wheel barely on the trailer ramp and the left front wheel hanging off the side up in the air.

crawl under the mower and use a scraper and get all the crap out. you can also go to a spray and wash carwash place and spray it all out or use a pressure washer.

after you do it a few times you get the hang of it.

i do it at least once a week. if you mow in early morning dew alot or when the grass is wet from rain you may have to do it every single day.
 
#8 ·
If it takes an hour to clean the deck then there is something wrong.

I change my blades out daily....clean the deck when the blades are off each time.

Blades off - 20 seconds
scrape the deck - 3-4 minutes
put fresh blades on 40 seconds.

All said and done, counting putting the mower on a jackstand, and getting the tools out...8 minutes. Even after mowing a overgrown field that is wet it hasn't taken close to that long to clean out the deck.

That is one serious problem.
 
#9 ·
If you wait 75 hours to clean it that may be why it takes an hour. I clean mine once a week, it goes very fast.
 
#10 ·
I just rinse my new Deere out with water hose after jobs are done for the day in driveway just dispose of it after it dries, if you let that crap set in the deck it starts rusting the shell, eating the paint coat off.

Using a high powered pressure washer will also bust the paint coat off.
 
#12 ·
I just rinse my new Deere out with water hose after jobs are done for the day in driveway just dispose of it after it dries, if you let that crap set in the deck it starts rusting the shell, eating the paint coat off.

Using a high powered pressure washer will also bust the paint coat off.
my paint is long gone under the deck. it's not from water though it's from the sand in the soil here. :laugh:
 
#13 ·
my paint is long gone under the deck. it's not from water though it's from the sand in the soil here. :laugh:
Clean it and put some Graphite coating on it to save it man.

I just got done with all my jobs today usually would of been 1:30 to 2:30 with old mower knocked them out in 3hrs and 45mins with the new deere WOWSERS
 
#16 ·
not worried about the deck really. the mower will be useless by the time the deck wears out. :laugh:
Well it can help save the deck and also make it easier to clean with graphite on
 
#18 ·
Normal when conditions with wet grass, lush green grass. It will load up underneath the deck when mulching.

If I suspect that my mower will take a grass dump as soon as I stop the blades I will not stop them until the mower is on the trailer so as to not leave a grass dump on the customers lawns, driveway, street.

Hosing off the underside of the deck when needed is part of doing business.

You can wait till lawns are drier before mowing and ask customers on the day that you mow their lawn that they wait until after you mow their lawn. Will help reduce grass build up.

A: If you can not afford to pay the employees to do it then your prices are not where they should be.

B: You do not want to do it you are lazy.

C: You are to cheap to pay your employees to do their job the right way.

D: Any combination of the above.
I have never had such a problem in the past. I typically pressure wash the decks every other week and inspect the blades. This year, every other day I am pressure washing out the deck.

I do have to say that we are having a lot more rain in North Dakota then we have had in the past.
 
#21 · (Edited)
They make a deck washing attachment for the wand end of your pressure wash wand. It has 4 spray heads and is like 14 inches wide...take the wheels off it and flip it over...you can pressure wash the crap off the under side of the deck with mower setting on your trailer in 5 minutes then blow the trailer with the back pack ... It's 10-15 minutes tops. You can hit anything else when you install sharp blades at the end of the day.

You said you check blades every two weeks? You should be putting on sharp blades daily.....?

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#22 ·
They make a deck washing attachment for the wand end of your pressure wash wand. It has 4 spray heads and is like 14 inches wide...take the wheels off it and flip it over...you can pressure wash the crap off the under side of the deck with mower setting on your trailer in 5 minutes then blow the trailer with the back pack ... It's 10-15 minutes tops. You can hit anything else when you install sharp blades at the end of the day.

You said you check blades every two weeks? You should be putting on sharp blades daily.....?

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I have upgraded my sharpening schedule to weekly and we clean the deck by attaching the hose to the deck washing ports every other day. That has helped out a lot.

As for sharp blades daily, how often do you have to replace if you are sharpening that much?
 
#23 ·
There are times I have to scrape decks in the middle of the day. If im mowing tall wet grass, I scrape the deck right away before loadingon the trailer. It takes 2 min. Scrape often, its amazing how easy it is when you keep up on it. Those hose ports, are about useless. Just scrape it every day, before loading it up at the last stop. That way you start each morning with a clean deck. As for blades, I am running the G5's and have found I am sharpening alot less frequently.
 
#24 ·
ive always wished they made ' deck inserts ' which had bolts coming up from there bottom that fit through holes you drill in deck , then you afix with wing nuts . when deck insert gets coated you unscrew plus remove blades and the insert is then seperated from deck so you can turn it down side up and wash the heck outta it with a pressure washer

ive also wondered if they could put a hole in top of deck that a blower tube afixes to , you then run the blower while mowing so the grass is being blown out quickly so that it cant get plastered to the deck

on our walk behinds we tilt em up on street after mowing and wedge a cinder block under back end of deck to keep em propped up so we can do a quick grass scrape . then sweep up the street n blow
 
#25 · (Edited)
As for sharp blades daily, how often do you have to replace if you are sharpening that much?
Not often.

But it depends on how many lawns you have....

If you have 20 accounts for the whole week, you don't have to sharpen daily, but if you do 10 to 20 a day, you have to sharpen daily. Regardless, you charge accordingly.

You seem worried about not getting new blades....you shouldn't be. If purchasing new blades for you is the thought "should I pay my electric or buy new blades this month?" you're not charging enough and your business isn't separated from your life.

Even if you don't change your blades every day...you should at least check them every day, along with the deck.

Every single morning I do the following.....

Check truck oil level
check truck transmission level
check truck tire air pressure.
check trailer tire pressure
check both mowers oil level
check both mowers transmission.
check and sharpen, if needed, both mowers blades.
Clean both mowers decks for grass as you stated. A simple paint scraper and 5 minutes is all you need for this simple task.
check both mowers tire pressure.
Check velke tire pressure

If you don't have time to do that in the morning? You're not running a business.

I have given up 6 family BBQs that my wife went to this year because I had to work on equipment, paperwork or meet a client for a bid. The little things matter......the 10 minutes spent checking so called "mundane insignificant easy stuff" will save your hundreds of dollars in the future and hours of wasted time.

Your weekly checks are more involved than that and your monthly checks go into even more detail.....

It's called "PMCS"..........Preventive Maintenance Checks & Services.

PREVENTIVE is the main word....people may think it is ridiculous to check these things daily...............................weekly................and even monthly.........but the word is PREVENTIVE so it PREVENTS problems in the future........I would rather check my oil every freaking day and it is exactly the same level, than never check it and 2 weeks out the engine seizes and WHAM you have a ton of money to spend on a repair when if you took 30 seconds out of your morning...ya could have PREVENTED it from happening at all.
 
#26 ·
ive always wished they made ' deck inserts ' which had bolts coming up from there bottom that fit through holes you drill in deck , then you afix with wing nuts . when deck insert gets coated you unscrew plus remove blades and the insert is then seperated from deck so you can turn it down side up and wash the heck outta it with a pressure washer

ive also wondered if they could put a hole in top of deck that a blower tube afixes to , you then run the blower while mowing so the grass is being blown out quickly so that it cant get plastered to the deck

on our walk behinds we tilt em up on street after mowing and wedge a cinder block under back end of deck to keep em propped up so we can do a quick grass scrape . then sweep up the street n blow
Please don't use a cinder block for this. A block of wood is much safer. A cinder block is not designed for an acute pressure point such as this. They will fail and drop the mower on your head. A block of wood or even a cheap Chinese Jack stand is much safer.
 
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