Woods mower digging into my hills...

[MikeEyre74]

So I have a standard Cub with a Woods 59 mower deck under it. I love the cut of the grass, it’s amazing… But I have found an annoying problem that crops up whenever I mow, at least once or twice in the yard. My yard has numerous small hills and mounds, and a couple of dips in the earth. With a regular sized garden tractor, it is a non-issue, but when running the Woods deck, the side-skids will occasionally dig into one of the mounds or catch an edge on a depression, causing a gash in the earth. It looks… Unsightly.

I know I can move the skids up and down (they are set at about 2” above ground level now per the instructions), but I’m wondering if that’s going to help much or should I try just removing them completely and running on the casters only? Anyone with any experience with this phenomenon?

[k hutchins]

I mow 5 acres of old hay field so l can relate to unevenness. I set mine up so the skids are just bearly of the ground when the deck is all the way down. Which means that it runs on the skids almost as much as it does the casters.
It doesn't gouge the turf, but after 25 yrs, l bought a new set of skids this year because they had worn holes through the base. I also had them "patched" about 10 yrs ago for the same reason. Just opted for new this year.

FWIW
Hutch

[inairam]

Cutting grass high keep it healthy and helps keep down weeds. I have my mowers set very high and I still get scalping due to uneven. I cut " pasture" to 5"-7" and finish areas to 3"-4".

Lower the side skids but also use the stop indicators http://www.tmtractor.com/new/hy/6873fp.htm and chain length to set the cutting height. The side skids to no have to rest on the ground when cutting.

[MikeEyre74]

Like I said, my Skids are about 2 inches above the ground, but I’m wondering if I should raise them up higher, to the next notch up. I’m not so much a scalping with the blades but just catching the corners of the mower deck on the small hillocks around my property. The edge catches the base of the hill before the tractor starts to climb it and takes a chunk out of the earth. If I remember to raise the mower deck until I get onto the hill itself and then re-lower it again, then it is OK, but occasionally I forget and it is an eyesore until the grass comes back

[inairam]

I have more trouble with the scalping with the wider finish mower decks than with a wood 42 for mott mowers.

I have a lot of drainage swales on the property and i have the same problem even with the runners all the way down I would not remove the runners. I would keep a hand on the TC control and raise the deck more in those areas. That is what I do.

[Gary S.]

I know some here don't mow with the castor wheels on the front. I tried it because the wheels just mat everything down if you leave the grass get away from you. It ended up digging in and scalping seemingly everywhere. I wonder if yours is just not adjusted right?

[MikeEyre74]

I dunno. I followed the book? If the ground was flat, this would not be an issue at all. I have the casters set to hold the cutting deck at 4 inches of grass height, and the sides kids are a couple of inches above the ground, as it measured on level flat concrete. It’s the skids, and the skids only that are causing the issues that I am experiencing. They dig into the small hills as I go around them. If I went straight up and down the hills then it would be fine, but I can’t do that because there are trees on top of the knoll. The blades scalping the grass is not the problem that I am having.

[outdoors4evr]

I have struggled with this when using my 3160a deck (not a woods). The 3160a deck had a non-swiveling gauge wheel on the right side and a skid on the left. I removed these and installed swiveling gauge wheels on both sides of the deck.

I set the wheels to float 1/2" off the ground when on flat pavement (tire pressures set properly) One side is set so the wheel will not swivel all the way around so it won't contact the front tire when backing up. The other side can swivel all the way around (and doesn't contact the front tire).

[MikeEyre74]

That’s a curious mower setup. My 185 has a 3160 that I haven’t mowed with yet (just got it, still fixing the machine) that has casters but they are towards the center of the deck, much like my Woods setup. Those wheels on the outside edge are interesting... is it just me or is that deck offset to the left as well?

[outdoors4evr]

The deck does sit offset to one side. That is why one of the wheels can swivel all the way around without contacting the front wheels.

[Waif]

What fun!

My Woods 42 has no skids. Instead a p.o. welded a caster each side. One needs replaced as it is bound up ,but I digress.
A skids function it to prevent blade contact with ground when high centering. That does not avoid mole hills and all convoluted terrain.
If your skids are plowing , either the ground needs worked level ,or try raising the skids with blades hitting high spots in mind.

IF you did not have skids ,would your decks edges hit the same hills? My guess is they would ,depending on approach.


There is a compromise in there somewhere.
I'll take a skid scar over hitting another rock.
(Don't ask how I chewed a ten pound rock... I just remember the grinding on swing blades that followed.)

[MikeEyre74]

Mole Hills I could understand, things that have cropped up that weren’t there normally… But I am talking about in manicured front lawn with a gentle rise that have trees planted on top of them. It is not something that you can “work level“.

The skids are the outer edges of the deck and are the lowest point on the deck other than the caster wheels themselves. They are definitely lower than the deck itself, by several inches. I will raise them up and see what happens.

[john2189]

My skids is mounted 3rd hole from the top

[Urbish]

I know it's not really a solution, but I sold my Woods 59 and bought one of these (the proceeds from the mower deck didn't even cover the sales tax). I use the 3 hours I save in mowing time each week to enjoy my old tractors in other ways that don't involve gouging up my yard.

[Gary S.]

Just dragged mine out put it on the cement to check- I'm thinking you have the skids too low

skid height
[url=http://imgbox.com/syAV3cQK]

castor wheel height
[URL=http://imgbox.com/2ZP6ZABD]