lawnmower clogging in wet grass

As some may remember, last summer I posted a problem with my commercial ZTR clogging up when I tried to cut heavy wet grass. The grass chute does not plug, but the clippings stay right above the blades, until it cannot mow anymore. Backing out of the grass, turning the deck off so the grass falls down, then moving the mower a little bit before restarting clears it and you can mow for a while. Several mentioned they had the same problem, but no one had found a good cure. I have been doing a little experimenting as time and weather conditions were right, and have found a solution that works for me, though I would suggest using it with caution. I bought a set of Gator Magnum mulching blades.



and used a cut off wheel in my die grinder to remove the 2 center wings. That helped considerably, so I then removed the small wing closest to the center, of course balancing them afterward. The end wing that is left is not near as high as it looks in the picture and provides minimal lift. After the final modification I found I could mow heavy wet grass with no problem, though since it had less lift it did not chop the grass as fine, and did not blow it out as hard, it winrowed worse, but it did work. I tried it mowing very heavy grass consisting of orchard grass and clover that due to the frequent rain had gotten 6 to 8 inches tall and was still wet from a rain an hour or so before. Now if I can just find a manufacturer that makes low lift blades It should do the same thing without requiring a modification. I experimented with the Gator blades thinking it would be easier to remove the wings than grind down the fin on a standard blade.

On word of caution if you decide to try this, since you have modified the blade, any liability from a blade failure will be on you, not the blade company.

What's the brand mower you use and how's the deck made? We have a problem with that too, of course it's been awfully wet and then got another 1.25" last night. Still gotta mow all these places though. We used to use a product you sprayed under the deck to keep it from sticking, but it only worked for a few hours. We use gator blades especially for chopping and reducing leaf volume while mowing in the fall, they are awesome for that.

John,
I was one of the people that commented last year on your post.

If I understand your problem, you are saying you have such good lift with your blades, combined with wet grass (sticky), the grass will stay temporarily stuck to the top of the deck.

I guess I am lucky not to have that problem. And I have a 72" deck, side discharge. My mower will throw wet grass 6-8ft out the side.

I was looking at the Gators to help mulch my clippings a little better. Everyone that has them has told me they use up a few more HP mulching the clippings.

Just a thought, could you take a standard blade, put it in a press to remove the lift wing on back. Effectively making a low lift blade. Then you will still have the mass of the blade to help you through the areas of really thick grass.

Rick

I am using a Simplicity Citation 2148, which is a small commercial mower. It has a heavy steel welded deck with baffles welded inside.

Yes Rick, you have the problem understood correctly. I have an area of my yard that gets a lot of water form above when it rains, and in late spring and early summer when we are getting a lot of rain, or all year long for the last 2 years, it may grow as much as 4 or 5 inches per week, and the grass is always wet, even on a bright sunny day. My original blades are standard lift blades, not high lift ones and they will not work in that area. I would be more inclined to think grinding the fin rather than trying a press would work, for fear the blade was so hard it might crack trying to lower the fin.

Seems to me I saw somewhere a suggestion to spray the underside of the deck with Slip Plate(?), the stuff you spray on sickle mower blades. You have to clean the deck really well of course, and let it dry at least over night to harden well. I think you could put a light coat on the blade too.

I've had my best luck with sheep!

I spent 3 days cleaning my ztr deck and painting the slip plate paint on the underside of the deck. It looks good and feels slick before I used it! I let it sit for 2 days to let it cure before I used it. It worked great until it wore off 2 hrs later and started plugging agian. I going to try to locate where I can order a set of grass cuting blades that has no to min lift to try.

And if the blades aren't balanced properly they can cause major problems. I wouldn't recommend altering mower blades. Cut the grass when it's drier. Dave

I have a JD 325 lawn tractor with 48" deck. I use the "Gator" blades too. I have a very wet spot in my yard that was causing this problem on my mower. I found that if I slowed the engine speed down to about 3/4s, and slowed my ground speed a little too, I could mower through this spot with out pluging. I know that slowing the tip speed down usually causes problems, but this is a thirty foot section that is in every round of mowing.

I know its not always possible but why not wait until the grass has dried off. If I try to cut grass wet I have all kinds of problems, streaking, clogging ect. If I cut when its dry I cruise right along doing a nice job.

All the advice about waiting till it dries is great except that I frequently can't. My place is about 400 yards are so down a hill, and the shallow hard pan directs water back towards the surface at the lower part of my yard. During warm wet weather that area may grow 4 to 5 inches in a week, and the grass (fescue and clover) is so thick that even on a sunny day it is wet down in the stems. For the last 2 years we have set rainfall records, and even when we don't that area is a problem in the late spring.

ya got too damnuch to mowe!... get a cow , or 2 , they work rain or shine , can give milk , have offspring you can sell or fatten and eat and make a buck like your granpa sdid ..

There's probably no way to keep the deck entirely free of grass sticking to it in places so as to cause clogging problems. But one thing can surely help---Remove the deflector, or raise it somehow so that the grass is discharged more freely. Helps to eliminate "windrows",too.

(quoted from post at 06:21:41 05/15/10) There's probably no way to keep the deck entirely free of grass sticking to it in places so as to cause clogging problems. But one thing can surely help---Remove the deflector, or raise it somehow so that the grass is discharged more freely. Helps to eliminate "windrows",too.

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tried that, and while it helps with the winnrowing, it actually made the clogging worse. I was very surprised by that. I assume it is because of the air flow change.

Most of us are smarter than you, dont mow wet grass.

(quoted from post at 18:15:54 05/15/10) Most of us are smarter than you, dont mow wet grass.

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And many others are smart enough to read, look at my reply about 4 postings up

Get a Snapper Mower. It will cut amy time wer or dry