Blade Height vs Deck Height vs Setback

tdipaul · Jan 17, 2019

I've been working on and (over) analyzing the settings of my newly acquired mowers, a Giant Vac 48" and a Scag SW 61". They were both acquired recently and cant do any actual testing for another ~10 weeks

The north tips of the blades of both mowers are right at 4.00" and 4.25" on the south and man, the two look a lot different underneath after getting them to this point.

The Giant Vac with 4 small spacers above the blade:

Here's the Scag with 2 spacers under the blade (1 big and 1 small). This is one less than the minimum recommended in the manual but I cannot achieve 4" blade height with >2 spacers. The rear of the deck is set at full high and adding spacers under the casters will throw the rake off so thats out.

The Giant Vac's blade is only about 1/4" above the leading edge of the deck, and there's 5" of space (setback?) between the two:

The Scag's blade is about 1.25" higher than the leading edge of the deck, and has about 2" of setback:

so I'm wondering what the difference in cut quality, discharging and striping will be with these two mowers. They have different types of blades on them so disregard that for now.

Thoughts??

tdipaul · Jan 18, 2019

hmm I thought this would spark some discussion

jetson · Feb 15, 2019

Hey.. I’ve used a million different mowers and all have different cuts and abilities. I’m not familair with 2 spacers 12 years here in the biz because most of the mowers I’ve used only have one. I’d glance at the manual.. as long as my deck adjustment measure at 4 inches and it’s 4 inches to the ground from the blade on a flat surface not really sure what a problemWould be. Because I’d set it to mow at 4 inches and it’s cutting at 4 inches. Everyone is different and all mowers cut different I have 2 61 scag same
Model same year ztr and I swear one cuts like a beast and the other one was made during a shut down.. I know this much regardless of mower sharp blades will win every time.

dishboy · Feb 19, 2019

You might be able to get more rear height out of the scag by throwing a floor jack or 2X4's under the rear of the deck loosening the deck bolts and re-tightening while lifting on the back of the deck or pushing down on the handlebars. You really want at least three 1/4 spacers under the spindle. For what its worth , I have seen 0 rake given on scag decks.

tdipaul · Feb 19, 2019

dishboy,

Since the first post Ive fitted 15" tires so no more issues with pitch and able to go back to 3 spacers under the spindle

when lifiting the deck I had noticed that the right caster would touch down a hair before the left. I loosened the 4 bolts holding the deck to the tractor to relieve the "tension" between them and now its sits perfect.

Thanks.

Blade Height vs Deck Height vs Setback

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