So.... while mowing extremely high grass today, I hit a piece of metal that was apparently left out at some point. It seems to have jammed up under the blades. Mower still turns on and drives fine (witjout blades running), but the metal is literally stuck under the deck/mangled with the blades?

How bad did I eff up our 1 year old expensive mower? Is it possibly as simple as dropping the deck and replacing the blades? Trying to gauge when to tell my husband,and have an idea of a fix.

Get under there with a mallet and channel locks and bang and rip the metal out. 99% of the time, the blades slam to a halt but the spindles and bearings are fine and the belt just slips.

You might need to sharpen the blades some.

We have chert bullrock and lots of cedar limbs in my area and I hit that stuff all the time. A few times I've also run over old barbed wire or baling wire. Never did bad damage to my old beater mowers.

Probably none at all. There is a blade clutch for a reason - sticks, etc. wedging in between the blade and the deck aren't common, but not out of the world unheard of.

Cut the metal out, give everything a quick once over - spin the blades by hand, make sure the blade isn't bent or damaged that would throw it way out of balance, check the belt, etc. Fire it up, keep mowing.

If you are lucky it is just jammed in the blades and you can just perhaps unbolt the blades and get the metal out. I would replace the old blades as they may be bent or out of balance.

schmellba99 said:

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Probably none at all. There is a blade clutch for a reason - sticks, etc. wedging in between the blade and the deck aren't common, but not out of the world unheard of.

Cut the metal out, give everything a quick once over - spin the blades by hand, make sure the blade isn't bent or damaged that would throw it way out of balance, check the belt, etc. Fire it up, keep mowing.

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This would be my advice as well.

Thank yall! This makes me feel better. I was hoping I would have a plan of action before my husband gets home this evening, but after this storm rolls over, I may go out and see if I can get it out.

It's ruined, I'll pick it up for scrape value and toss in a case of Bud Light to ease the pain.

I had something similar happen the first time i mowed this year. It bent the blade. I used a hydraulic press to straighten the blade and it is back to cutting grass.

EMY92 said:

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It's ruined, I'll pick it up for scrape value and toss in a case of Bud Light to ease the pain.

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Ha! Very funny. I know it's at least worth a case of Michelob.