Cleaning under mower deck?

Hi, all. I usually hang out in the Tractor rooms, but I hope you don't
mind a question here. Has anyone ever used a flat sprinkler under their mower
deck to wash out the cuttings that stick underneath?? I see some mowers decks come
with a fitting to hook up a garden hose to wash under the deck. Do they work?
I was thinking about putting one of those small flat spot sprinklers down and positioning
the mower over it, starting the mower and the water and see what happens.
Or am I wasting my time?

35 years ago I bought a Case 446 mower that was a couple of years old and in good shape. After every mowing, I washed the underside of the deck with a hose. It got greased after every 3rd or 4th mowing. I the first year, I replaced the bearings on 2 spindles. After that, they never saw the hose again and I never replaced another bearing in the 10 years I owned it.

I had a riding mower one time that had two of them fittings to hook the hose to. I never used it because I didn't have a place to let the water and grass go except in the driveway and that would make an awful mess. So I can't help you but I know too much water and it will get into the spindle bearings. Good Luck.

There's a fella on here named Glenster I think that built something like your lookin for. Might of had three or four sprayer jets in a pipe the length of his mower deck buried in the ground next to a hydrant. The other end of the pipe bent up out of the ground and attached with a hose.
When ever you see him post something ask him about the specifics of the hi-tech. contraption.
I just wash mine out with a hose and give each blade shaft a couple of pumps a grease. I've had my deck since the early 80s and put new bearings in it then.

My advice is simple. Do not wash the underside of your deck.....period......

Case decks use a ball bearing race at the top and the bottom of the mandrel and the blade shaft is supported by those two bearings. The bearings have seals on each side of them because they are pre-packed with grease by the manufacturer. The expectation is that the grease will last for several years of service. Water is a bearings worst enemy and pressure washers can force water inside the bearing and displaace the grease. Removing a deck from a Case GT is time consuming so I refuse to cut my grass when it is wet. Instead, I wait until late afternoon and mow when the grass is dry to the touch so that it will not stick to the deck housing and pack up in the dead areas.

I have an electric hoist that I use to raise the front of the tractor to about 45 degrees and then use metal scrapers to remove the grass as much as possible. In the fall, the deck gets pulled so I can install the snow caster and that is when the deck gets a thorough cleaning with the scrapers and compressed air.

Case NEVER provided grease fittings for the blade bearings. However, in certain years you will find a grease fitting in the side of the blade mandrels. This is there to allow you to fill the cavity between the bearings with grease to prevent condensation.

Thank you, everyone, for your replies.
You all have raised some valid points.

I have tried a lot of things to wash out decks. The problem with decks here is not just wet grass but fire ant mounds that are wet in the spring so when mowing and hit one, you splatter mud under the deck then back to clipping grass and you would have yourself an Adobe brick if you baked it.

Current trend is to avoid mounds and keep them sprayed to keep them infantile. Second is I use a 24 hp tractor's FEL and a chain on the front corner of the frame to raise the mower till the rear bumper hits the ground. Using the mobility of that rig keeps me from making one big pile of goo somewhere.

Then out with the power washer and the angular doo-dads you can attach to the tip for 90* angles from the main wand, allowing better access up under the deck. Sometimes scraping is mixed with that on an as needed basis......the longer I wait to clean out the more scraping.

When the deck dries, i apply dry molly lube in an aerosol can for a slick finish. That's the current plan subject to change at any instant.

Course now that the weather switched from monsoon to arid desert, it's no longer a problem if I mow in the afternoons when it's hot and the sun is blazing down and boils your bottle of water in your mower mounted cup holder and have your side shield sun glasses to keep the cross winds from blowing clippings in your right eye, and your dust mask so that you don't cough all night, and your hat with flaps to cover your neck and ears so that you don't get skin cancer, and ear plugs in addition to 30dB ear muffs to protect what little hearing you have left because the 61" deck and 26 hp BS Vanguard make so much noise, and your large balloon, low pressure, studded snow tires so that you don't lose traction on pond banks and break your back bouncing over clay cracks that would swallow a rabbit, and clump grass that hasn't grown clump against clump as yet. The good side is the ants aren't building mounds any longer as they can incubate under the hot soil and just go subsurface......how many words was that sentence?????? grin

i did spend $250 for a 48x52 sun shield-canopy to fit the ROPs bar which worked great for what it was, but it held more noise that would otherwise excape into thin air (like the ones you have on your tractors do) and was quite heavy helping (with the aid of the mud packed under the deck), make bouncing balls out of the front tires of the ZT.

Have been toying with the flip deck mowers but they have drawbacks for my application that makes the current procedure what works.

And to think that I enjoy mowing......send me to the funny farm.

IF you took a mower deck COMPLETELY apart, you would eventually get down to just the thin stamped mower housing, maybe .050" thick. To make that thin stamping "structural" most companies use a 3/16" to 1/4" thick stamping to give blade spindles something solid to bolt to. But once you get the decks all apart, you will see there was no paint or rust preventative of any kind between those two pieces. You get the slightest amount of water in there and the thin stamped deck dissolves. I stopped washing the underside of decks over 30 years ago. Back then they made them from thick enough steel you could get by with an infrequent washing.
I only mow when my grass is dry enough I can walk through it and the toes of my work boots stay dry. Dry clippings throw easier, they weigh less, so fly farther, and less buildup under your deck. My new Cub Cadet zero turn is over FOUR years old, I've never scraped grass out of the mower deck,I sharpened blades the first time a month ago, there's no accumulated grass under the deck.
I used to use a knotted wire brush wheel in a drill to clean my older decks. I even painted them with Slip-Plate graphite paint, it really didn't help much. Spray-on bed liner would be the best thing to paint the underside of a mower with.

I tried that on my Ferris 61 prior to getting the dry graphite aerosol. Lasted one cutting session and was worn off.....being applied to a clean deck initially.

Thanks for the additional comments.
My mower is ZG 222 Kubota 48" commercial, not a consumer model.
The deck appears to be 1/4" metal, welded construction.
There is even heavy bands around the bottom of the deck, so if you
hit something, it won't bend the deck.
Someone mentioned using pickup[ box liner. I would think
the grass would stick better to that.

try these two items to help. first the canopy replace the hard cover with material, it will not make the echo, use the single pole umbrella also works. throw the seat off and install suspension seat unit, you will never go back to original once you do

My Ford tractors with umbrellas are the same way. I can hear noise at a certain level with the canopy in position, flip it over the back to vertical and sound decreases significantly. On the suspension seat, I have 2 air seats, large and small pattern, a couple of horizontal and one angled behind the seat suspension and then the popular T shaped back rest tractor seat with the vertical suspension on the rear.....works pretty good on the Fords if I disconnect the shock absorber. I know I have over $2k worth of seats sitting in my shop where I have tried different things, different ways, seats meant for one tractor used on another and all that. It's much better than it has been but long way from desirable...just tolerable.

Thanks anyway for your comments.