might have to try this

 

I change my blades every day so cleaning my deck takes 5 minutes

 

I understand you completely. That is good to hear. You are also cutting Bahia or similar (I'm assuming since your sig says FL) which is a completely different story than up here in the north. I can cut my yard and at the end of cutting thick lush KB it will be caked on the bottom. The biggest issue is really only this time of year when the grass is laden with moisture. The other benefit from the FF method is the deck is getting some rust protection on the underside as well. I'm going to keep up with this and see how I fair throughout the season.

 

Great thread man...fluid film is amazing for this. Check out kellsport .com for an undercoating gun for use with the gallon. It works great and is very cheap. Just hook it to your compressor and go.....Thumbs Up

 

Sorry mate but there are to many variable for this to be a true test. Dont mean to sound like an azzhole if thats how this reads!

You need 2 of the same mowers, set up the same, one sprayed, one not. Run each mower on same property at same time cutting same grass. If the fluid film deck is clean and the other isnt, then that is a true indication that FF has worked.

 

Im going to give it a shot now, Ive been scraping my exmarks out about every other day, and sometimes more, yet the ferris hasnt clogged at all, and it was used on a few much thicker yards than the exmarks! That front baffling on exmark decks is the culprit in clogging in my opinion. Still though, any thing you spray on the deck, will work its way off in time, the more grass you mow, and Id bet it would all be gone within the first 3-4 yards?

 

Not at all I understand what you are saying. BUT I only cut my yard and my office. I don't cut commercially. I've compared the results on these two properties ONLY with the same mower so basically I did what you recommended. Night and day difference.
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Not at all I understand what you are saying. BUT I only cut my yard and my office. I don't cut commercially. I've compared the results on these two properties ONLY with the same mower so basically I did what you recommended. Night and day difference.
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I stand corrected!:drinkup:

 

I change my blades every day so cleaning my deck takes 5 minutes

your also in florida. try handling the thick wet NE grass and tell me if you change blades daily it takes 5 minutes....i use FF and it takes seriously 5 mins and we change daily and without FF it's 15 minutes..the sh^t works

 

where can I buy this stuff or the equivalent?????????????

 

Any John Deere dealer sells it or you can go to one of the many online retailers. http://www.fluid-film.com/

 

I stand corrected!:drinkup:

No worries, cheers mate! :drinkup: BTW, not sure you follow it but did you see your countryman Mark Webber is on pole for the Spanish Grand Prix? :drinkup:

 

When I bought my new JD I also bought a spray can of fluid film. The day I took delivery of the JD I sprayed the whole underside of the deck (before cutting a single blade of grass) and used about half of a can of fluid film. Last time I looked under the deck, it was still fairly clean. I'm switching blades on it this week, so I'll clean the deck and reapply the fluid film. I'm actually pretty excited to see how clean it kept the deck. I figure no matter what, I at least have some rust protection under the deck.

 

Man...fluid film...best stuff ever invented. Every time I work on my truck, I end up spraying a lot around the area I'm fixing. I also wax my mowers and 2-cycle equipment, as well as spray it on heavy on the underside to keep the grass from sticking. I don't know what I'd do without it.

 

where can I buy this stuff or the equivalent?????????????

I usually get mine at Kellsport.com and mowpart.com has it too.

 

Thought I'd post up an update. It's been a bit over a week since I posted up my results and today decided to get underneath to check out how things were looking. Over the last week we have been hit with some HEAVY rain. Several inches which left me unable to cut for a couple extra days. I've cut twice at my house and also two times out our office. The grass was 8-12" tall, soaked, and wicked thick. I totally expected to see clumps of grass hanging onto the deck. The interesting thing is when I started cutting I noticed the grass was being distributed quite nicely considering the amount of moisture. In the past when I would cut in conditions like this there would be some clumping. Much to my surprise there was none. The FF must be keeping the grass from hanging up on the deck. Well, today I climb under and much to my amazement I was left with virtually ZERO buildup under the deck. Again the areas where the paint has worn were shiny clean and I only had three small areas around each baffle area that has some buildup. 5 minutes of scraping I had a small pile to clean up. The grass again just fell off the deck with a little push of the scraper and the blades were completely clean. I'm absolutely LOVING this method. I'll be ordering up a gallon and the gun, thanks DLAWNS for the heads up!

 

Probably some truth to the stuff...I just question the cost vrs the actual commercial need. Old timers used to apply motor oil to the underside of the deck and (so I was told) it would take several applications over the winter to "set" into the metal....and no there wasnt enough to hurt the grass. Commercially speaking...The cost just isnt worth it on a large scale. Once you learn to grow grass to the apropriate height..you stop spending money trying to figure out how to deal with all that grass....cause there just wont be enough to cause a problem.

 

Probably some truth to the stuff...I just question the cost vrs the actual commercial need. Old timers used to apply motor oil to the underside of the deck and (so I was told) it would take several applications over the winter to "set" into the metal....and no there wasnt enough to hurt the grass. Commercially speaking...The cost just isnt worth it on a large scale. Once you learn to grow grass to the apropriate height..you stop spending money trying to figure out how to deal with all that grass....cause there just wont be enough to cause a problem.

i have "learned" to grow less grass top and more dense a the same time dude and when rain happens and you cant mow you are forced to cut tall wet grass and it clogs the decks pretty bad sometimes depending on the moisture actually on the blades like heavy dew(the worst) so you should not try to be such a smarty pants as it is not appreciated here in that fashion.

we personally do not use any deck treatment and have to scrape the decks often this time of year, multiple times per day even and there is nothing to do about it save trying fluid film or slip plate etc. i may try this for the future but right now we are so busy i dont think i could give the underdeck treatment enough time to set properly and it would not last

 

i have "learned" to grow less grass top and more dense a the same time dude and when rain happens and you cant mow you are forced to cut tall wet grass and it clogs the decks pretty bad sometimes depending on the moisture actually on the blades like heavy dew(the worst) so you should not try to be such a smarty pants as it is not appreciated here in that fashion.

we personally do not use any deck treatment and have to scrape the decks often this time of year, multiple times per day even and there is nothing to do about it save trying fluid film or slip plate etc. i may try this for the future but right now we are so busy i dont think i could give the underdeck treatment enough time to set properly and it would not last

I am sometimes at a loss as to how to respond to you. Not sure if your in over post mode or just need us to slow things down or make them more simple for you sometimes. I incorrectly assumed that the first part of what you wrote above was UNDERSTOOD BY ANYONE WHO EVR MOWED A LAWN FOR MORE THAN 5 MINUTES..especially the ones who post frequently.....my bad.

 

Easy boys, this was simply some findings for others to ponder........wasn't supposed to start a fight

To mdlwn, I understand what you are asking but it really isn't all that expensive. You don't need to coat the deck "daily" I'd say scrape when you need to and maybe apply a light coat monthly. It also depends on the type of grass you are cutting too. Being in Jersey you are cutting the same stuff I am. I also "know" how to grow grass and actually cut every other day (when it's not pouring down rain) so I also know how to typically make it a "non issue" but sometimes (as I stated above) when forced you have to deal with some serious cleanup. This just flat out works to eliminate the mess that once caused a problem this time of year. Take it for what it's worth, just thought this may help others out that deal with the mess when forced to cut in less than ideal conditions.

 

I'll say this. This ole southern boy mowing nasty Bahia, bad azz weeds, to lush St Augustine grass has seen a big difference as almost to the same point as dwost. Been fighting deck build up for over 20 years. I've never seen anything like Fluid Film. What use to be a chore after every mow is now a blessing. As dwost said. Just a spot or 2 around the baffles, and 1 spot at the discharge chute where it has a sharp curve. These spots seem to be dirt rather than grass build up. I just pop them loose in one piece almost like their really not binded to the deck at all. All the metal under the deck is shinny clean. And all it takes is about 2 minutes to clean the deck and spray some Fluid Film on the under side of the deck. I bought 2 cans after I used the free sample. I'm still on my first can. The gent at the John Deere dealership said more poultry farmers use Fluid Film than grass mowers. He said they swear by the stuff to keep their feed chutes clean and flowing, and to protect any exposed metal from corrosion. Well the stuff works pretty darn good under my mower deck. PM the Fluid Film rep this site, and get a free sample.

 

Once you learn to grow grass to the apropriate height..you stop spending money trying to figure out how to deal with all that grass....cause there just wont be enough to cause a problem.

it is not hard to see that this comment is easily misconstrued to being very negative, harsh and a bit rude.

this is what my post refered to, please re read and consider anothers point of view while reading and you should understand why i thought you were a bit over the top to a newbie/solo op guy.

 

Nice thread! Thanks for the good feedback and application info!

 

Dano, your instructions say the deck needs to be squeaky clean before applying. You SHOULD be very grateful for this thread. Squeaky clean sounded like a pain, this sounds easy. I may give it a go, now knowing I can just scrape and spray, and still get good results.

 

Dano, your instructions say the deck needs to be squeaky clean before applying. You SHOULD be very grateful for this thread. Squeaky clean sounded like a pain, this sounds easy. I may give it a go, now knowing I can just scrape and spray, and still get good results.

That's all I did. In fact as I mentioned when I did the first application it actually penetrated the caked on grass and when I went to scrape it most of it had already fallen off and I was left with shiny metal! Crazy good stuff. My recommendation would be for your first app to let it sit at least overnight before you mow. Give it plenty of time to soak in.