1057 Mower Blade Orientation

[JWalser 5]

Hello,

 

I have a 1057 with a mower deck. It has the 3 blade configuration, not sure which model, but it's about 45 inches wide. The blades are 13 3/4 long. I took it apart this weekend to clean it and to lube it all, along with sharpening the blades. It never cut the best, so I thought the blade orientation was off. I set the outside blades parallel and the middle blade perpendicular. Now, it doesn't cut the middle well. Is the correct orientation for all 3 blades to be parallel? 

[Handy Don 12,174]

Hi and welcome.

Three-blade decks are all belt driven so the relative positions of the blades can and does change during mowing. This is ok because the blades are spaced so they cannot hit each other.

Normally, this should not affect the cut (the blades are spinning REALLY fast).

If the middle isn't cutting but the other two are, and given that you were in there working on it, it's most likely the blade is not solidly tightened up to the spindle shaft.

[squonk 41,040]

Just by chance. Did you put the center blade on upside down. It's easy to do. (Ask me how I know!) 

[JWalser 5]

3 hours ago, Handy Don said:

Hi and welcome.

Three-blade decks are all belt driven so the relative positions of the blades can and does change during mowing. This is ok because the blades are spaced so they cannot hit each other.

Normally, this should not affect the cut (the blades are spinning REALLY fast).

If the middle isn't cutting but the other two are, and given that you were in there working on it, it's most likely the blade is not solidly tightened up to the spindle shaft.

Thanks for the reply! That makes sense. I thought it was odd that they were all in different positions, so that's why I realigned them. I will double check how tight they are. Side note, I generally mow in 2nd gear, would cutting quality be changed by the rpm of the engine? Should I mow in 1 with high throttle or 2 with lower throttle? Thanks again!

[JWalser 5]

25 minutes ago, squonk said:

Just by chance. Did you put the center blade on upside down. It's easy to do. (Ask me how I know!) 

That's for sure possible! I'm trying to find some new blades also to see if that will help. My grandpa bought the tractor in the late 60's, and he passed a few years ago so I'm not sure about a lot of stuff with the tractor. I'm proud to use it though! He used it as his main mower for a long time and used to give me rides when I was young. 

[Brockport Bill 1,660]

always high full throttle and lower gear  -- preferably 1st,  but 2nd ok if just cutting top of grass and its not damp, underneath is clear of accumulated grass and sharp blades

[JWalser 5]

26 minutes ago, Brockport Bill said:

always high full throttle and lower gear  -- preferably 1st,  but 2nd ok if just cutting top of grass and its not damp, underneath is clear of accumulated grass and sharp blades

That's what I thought to make sure the blades are spinning as fast as possible and for as long as possible over an area to make sure it cuts well. Thanks! 

[Handy Don 12,174]

1 hour ago, squonk said:

Just by chance. Did you put the center blade on upside down. It's easy to do. (Ask me how I know!) 

Dang, that was just too obvious so of course I didn't think of it! 

[daveoman1966 3,745]

On all of these 3-blade mower decks, there is a FLOATING IDLER PULLEY that maintains equal tension on the 3 pulleys / spindles.  This FLOATING action MUST not be impaired, but it does happen from debris build up under this flat bar.  Whatever tyhe case, make CERTAIN the idle bar an pulley float freely.   

[JWalser 5]

1 hour ago, daveoman1966 said:

On all of these 3-blade mower decks, there is a FLOATING IDLER PULLEY that maintains equal tension on the 3 pulleys / spindles.  This FLOATING action MUST not be impaired, but it does happen from debris build up under this flat bar.  Whatever tyhe case, make CERTAIN the idle bar an pulley float freely.   

Thanks for the picture! I took the cover off and cleaned out a massive amount of grass from there. I'm going to take it apart again and double check it. I think I found my issue though. 

[JWalser 5]

1 hour ago, Handy Don said:

Dang, that was just too obvious so of course I didn't think of it! 

Well, that was it. Actually all 3 blades, haha. I didn't even think about it when I put them back on. I looked at each side of the blade and one side looked like the pattern of the bolt/washer so I matched that side up. It was backwards. Still not great mowing quality, but I believe it was from taking the deck off. I was adjusting the height of it with the dial for the manual lever to raise the deck. Sorry, not sure what these parts are called. It started to look much better by the time I was done. 

 

Does anyone have any tips for the correct mower deck height using the adjustment dial? I initially had the tractor on my driveway and adjusted it until the plastic front wheel on the deck was touching the ground and the adjustment lever didn't have any slack. This ended up being too low and caused the middle to cut much shorter. I raised it up and it was closer to even, but not great. Just not sure if I should keep adjusting or if there's a way to find the perfect balance. 

[daveoman1966 3,745]

Page 8 of this deck manual shows how to LEVEL a deck.  42 deck and MULE DRIVE.pdf

[roadapples 6,983]

[oliver2-44 9,711]

You should not be using the dial a height to set mower cutting height.  The dial a height is for things like grater and dozer blades.  The mower deck height should just use the rear adjustable wheels to set height so the deck floats properly.