Mower Blades Hit RCK54P

[Dandick]

ZD221 with RCK54P-227Z Deck

The right side blade is hitting the middle blade. This happened at the end of the season when I was servicing the mower for next season with new blades. I was using Gator G6 396-812 blades. I tried removing and reseating the blades, but it didn’t help. Here is what I’ve done so far.

Moved the left spindle assembly to the right side.
Rebuilt the old right side spindle - new shaft, bearing and seals.
Installed official Kubota blades K5619-34350

The right side blade still hits the middle blade. I am at wits end with this thing. I think I can rule out the spindle and pulley assembly since it is the one from the left side and didn’t have any problems there. Also, the “old” right assembly is now on the left with no problems.
Any ideas as to what the problem could be?

 

[hagrid]

Perhaps the center spindle is askew and no longer perpendicular to the deck proper.

 

[Dandick]

If that was the case, wouldn’t it hit on the left side, too, or are you saying that possibly the whole assembly is angled to the right? How in the world would I check that?

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

I would have to see the deck sitting on the ground.
I would suspect that the deck is bent.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

wrong new blades ?? did you measure them, maybe pkg was mislabelled !
what happens when you put the old ones on ?
hmm..how much does it hit ??
another have to see it to understand why.....or ah-ha..there be the problem.....

 

[Dandick]

I would have to see the deck sitting on the ground.
I would suspect that the deck is bent.

I’ll try to get the deck off this week and get a photo. The “hitting” isn’t terrible- makes a racket. I considered grinding the edge of the blade a little, but to me that’s not a real solution. Something is causing it to be off center. I don’t see any signs of damage to the deck. Also, I forgot to mention that I rotated the spindle to to each mounting hole thinking that maybe it was off a little, but no joy.

 

[Dandick]

wrong new blades ?? did you measure them, maybe pkg was mislabelled !
what happens when you put the old ones on ?
hmm..how much does it hit ??
another have to see it to understand why.....or ah-ha..there be the problem.....

Nope, not the blades. I double and triple checked them. I also bought the official Kubota blades just to make sure. The old blades would not rub. They are probably a 1/2 inch short because of wear. I should have changed them 1/2 way through the mowing season.

 

[Henro]

I would measure the center to center distance between the center spindle and the two outside ones and compare them. Maybe that might give you a hint?

Seems obvious that the distance between spindles must be less on the side that is hitting...so the question would be why, after it was actually verified this was the case.

I know this is where you are at already, but sounds like you have not made measurements to actually prove your conclusion...

 

[Sawdust&Shavings]

The right side blI pulley assemblthe left sproblright assembly
[/QUOTE] Kubotmeaurements aca

ZD221 with RCK54P-227Z Deck

The right side blade is hitting the middle blade. This happened at the end of the season when I was servicing the mower for next season with new blades. I was using Gator G6 396-812 blades. I tried removing and reseating the blades, but it didn’t help. Here is what I’ve done so far.

Moved the left spindle assembly to the right side.
Rebuilt the old right side spindle - new shaft, bearing and seals.
Installed official Kubota blades K5619-34350

The right side blade still hits the middle blade. I am at wits end with this thing. I think I can rule out the spindle and pulley assembly since it is the one from the left side and didn’t have any problems there. Also, the “old” right assembly is now on the left with no problems.
Any ideas as to what the problem could be?

Measure the diagonal length of the G6 blades and compare that to the Kubota length. The diagonal length takes into account the blade's “width“; which, if wider will be longer. My guess is that the G6 blades will measure diagonally longer.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

from the net...
OEM is 2.5 wide
GTR is 3" wide
both are 18 .625 long

if I did the math right, there's about 0.040 difference(Gator's are longer ).kinda hard to believe that's the problem as 40 thou ain't much !!!

 

[Dandick]

Update 14 Dec

I got the deck off today. Had a neighbor come over with his tractor. Anyway, I was not able to measure the distance from the cent spindle to the left and right ones. I did get the center spindle and pulley assembly out and clean the top and bottom of the deck tomorrow. Again, I didn’t see any obvious damage to the deck or center assembly. I Will update tomorrow or Saturday.
let me know if there’s anything I should look out for.
Thanks to all.
Dan

 

[Henro]

The right side blI pulley assemblthe left sproblright assembly

Kubotmeaurements aca

Measure the diagonal length of the G6 blades and compare that to the Kubota length. The diagonal length takes into account the blade's “width“; which, if wider will be longer. My guess is that the G6 blades will measure diagonally longer.
[/QUOTE]

This seems to be excellent advice, along with verifying center to center distances between the spindles just to be sure nothing changed there...I think S&S may have hit the nail on the head!

 

[Dandick]

Kubotmeaurements aca

Measure the diagonal length of the G6 blades and compare that to the Kubota length. The diagonal length takes into account the blade's “width“; which, if wider will be longer. My guess is that the G6 blades will measure diagonally longer.

This seems to be excellent advice, along with verifying center to center distances between the spindles just to be sure nothing changed there...I think S&S may have hit the nail on the head!
[/QUOTE]

The thing is I’ve used G6 blades in the past without a problem. Also, I put the Kubota OEM blades on and they hit, too. I’ll do the measurements tomorrow.

 

[GrizBota]

from the net...
OEM is 2.5 wide
GTR is 3" wide
both are 18 .625 long

if I did the math right, there's about 0.040 difference(Gator's are longer ).kinda hard to believe that's the problem as 40 thou ain't much !!!

Close. My math suggests about 140 thousands of an inch longer on the diagonal, a bit over an 1/8th inch. I suspect that’s most of the conflict. Should be able to confirm with a regular old tape measure.

 

[Dandick]

Here are the photos of the deck.
Dan

 

[GreensvilleJay]

wow, belt's been rubbing a LOT !

 

[Dandick]

Update 19 Dec

The seal for the gearbox was leaking so I changed it out. I measured the spindle distances. Center spindle to left spindle is 18 1/4 inches. Center spindle to right spindle is 18 3/16. So, it’s definitely a little closer.
I see no signs of any damage to the deck or spindle assemblies.
One side of the right blade still hits the center blade. I’ve rotated the right blade and the other end clears the center blade. I also rotated the center blade and it still hits one side of the right blade. I switched the left and right spindle assembly again and the symptom is the same. I replaced the shaft and bearings in the right spindle - even though I didn’t see anything wrong. The blades still hit.
I give up. I’m taking the deck to the Kubota dealer tomorrow. I talked to them today and they said they’ve seen blades hit and it’s usually a bearing or the deck. I’ll let them check everything - who knows , maybe I missed something. They did say they have ground the edges of blades before. I could have done that, but I really wanted to figure out why they are hitting.
I’ll update this when I find out anything.

 

[whitetiger]

Your deck is bent, I see several a year. I just installed a completely new deck under a BX2360 three hours ago.
Remove the blades and lay a straight edge across the flange on the three spindles. That will prove it.

 

[Dandick]

Your deck is bent, I see several a year. I just installed a completely new deck under a BX2360 three hours ago.
Remove the blades and lay a straight edge across the flange on the three spindles. That will prove it.

You were right. I had already taken the deck to the dealer before I got your email. I was surprised how fast they diagnosed and fixed it. They said the deck was bent “ever so slightly”. They shaved the center and right blade and all is good now. They only charged for 1/2 hour labor. I brought it home and remounted the deck and made a test run. It cuts fine.

I still don’t understand why both ends of the right blade don’t hit the center. I would think that if the deck is bent, but the spindle assembly isn’t, that the blades would hit on both sides when rotated.

I also don’t understand how I could have hit something that bent the deck, but did not bend/damage the blade, shaft, and/or the bottom flange/holder assembly.

Thanks for the reply and verifying the problem.

Dan

 

[GreensvilleJay]

dang my head is hurting trying to figure out WHAT is REALLY wrong with that deck.
it doesn't make ANY sense that only ONE side of a blade could hit, after all BOTH have to be same length for balancing.
also curious as to HOW the deck got 'bent ever so slightly', to cause the problem,seeing how Kubota decks are 'built better than MTD ones'.

Then there's this diddy...
"I still don’t understand why both ends of the right blade don’t hit the center. I would think that if the deck is bent, but the spindle assembly isn’t, that the blades would hit on both sides when rotated. "

I'd love to hear THAT explained...