You did a lot of work to figure out the speeds of the pulleys, and I thank you for that, you may have been off on wording but you are the only person who figured out the problem, no matter what someone else has said, they didn’t figure out the problem, you did, thanks for sharing your thoughts and great videos
I'm impressed. You investigated and got to the source of the issue and re-engineered it to solve the problem. This is a good fix. Bad Boy should be talking to you as a consultant to better understand their product.
Man hats off to you to do all that math. However I only use Gravely and had thought about trying to buy a less-expensive mower for my business until I watched this video. If I may suggest you get a discharge deflector and not spray all your grass on surrounding cars and motorcycles will save you lots of money if you pick up a rock and send it flying into one of those vehicles
I have a 42" with the 725cc and the exact same problem. After watching your video I was inspired. I'm too cheap to buy a new clutch so I bought 3 4" pulleys for the spindles, cut the old 5" pulleys off and welded on the new, takes a 120" belt now and mows like a dream. Full speed ahead through tall thick wet grass and not a missed blade. When I was doing the math I came up with a 22%ish rpm increase.
@@easye2115 No, the smaller pulley on the blade (spindle) will make it spin faster. It's the same concept for the rear sprockets on a bicycle, the smaller the rear sprocket, the faster the wheel will spin at the same crank rpm. So you want the blade (spindle) pulleys to be smaller. If you replaced the pto clutch, it would have to be bigger for the blades to spin faster. Replacing the pulleys for the spindles seems like the easier solution.
I’ve operated riding/zero turn mowers for a cumulative total of over 50 years. I sold power equipment for 4 years. With only one exception; 3 blade decks
You should not have to do any engineering to a brand new mower! And you are way to intelligent to be cutting grass, you should be working for BadBoy helping them to finish designing their mowers before selling them to America.
Whoa! This post is riddled with mistakes. Google "mower blade speed". You're over the speed limit now. A mower manufacturer would lose their shorts if they were to apply this fix. For the most part, you've improved the speed at which grass is discharged. Grass and your occasional 220 mph rock. I'd advise helmets for bystanders. Grass (condition, height, moisture, type, etc.) is the biggest factor. Blade match to that grass is usually the second. Your comparison cuts are just not valid. A baseball bat may have cut the second type.
Delivered a nice even cut, has the super tight turning ability th-cam.com/users/postUgkx1VWTrayKBdCKAjzAcZ_Eg4dhHTae3LkN also recommend I was looking for, and is just a blast to drive. It takes a little bit to get used to driving one after driving a normal tractor style, but once you've got it, you've got it. If you're cutting lines, you have to be careful spinning the mower around or the back tire will dig a bare spot. Just take it nice and slow during the turn and then it's back to full throttle across the yard!
I get pissed when ppl blow grass and other stuff on my vehicles! Plus the fact he had the flap up makes it that much worse. When I mow I blow the stuff away from ppls vehicles not on them. Good way of scratching up their property.
I had a mz for my business and that engine blew up after a while and I purchased a 2019 bad boy rouge 999cc and that thing at 150 hours is still running amazing.
My neighbor had the same issue with his Toro zero turn. I immediately said to him, are you at full throttle when you start to mow. He said no. I said that is your problem. You wont get the blade speed running at 70-75% throttle.
I would like to know if you are running at Full Throttle as these mowers are designed to run full out period that comes from bad boy and Kawasaki told me the same thing. Run at top speeds that's what they're made for. Thanks for all the work you did
Lol you're right. I have an option on my bad boy that hasn't handle that I can open and close the chute as I go by a house, a vehicle or anything else I just close it up . Saves a lot of holes in the siding from stones . Take care.
Great job figuring out the blade, looks like the middle one, wasn't spinning fast enough. I'm having the same problem now and had guessed by observation the speed of my middle blade wasn't as fast as the outside blades. My outside blades cut fine so there's something preventing my middle blade from spinning as fast as the outside blades.. However, to me, it makes no sense to buy new mowers that won't cut the grass the way they're supposed to. These mowers, if they're producing them that way, should be recalled.
I looked at many brands,the bad boy at the time had a recall on all pulleys.Xmart got bought out by Toro,. Bought a FasTrack 54 by Hustler.Not one problem.
My 54" Bad Boy Magnum has never had any problems like that. I mow over 2" sapplings when clearing out my newly purchased 7 acres and it still cuts like a dream. I run the throttle wide open as well.
First thing, use a Lawn mower tach to set the engine speed at full throttle according to manufacturers specs. A lot of them aren't adjusted correctly from the factory.
Great video, ypu should really keep it up. You are clear, showed how you arrived at your conclusion with excellence, and your voice works perfectly with youtube's speed control. I like to watch videos at 1.5x to 2.0x, generally I'm learning from a chipmunk sounding person. Your diction reacts well with the option, no "alvin effect". 👍 You're going to be very successful if you use this level of intelect and care in all aspects of life. I'm sure its been said, as you grow always look to be improving. Look for ways to make the job better for both the customer and the customer's customer. As soon as its in the budget get yourself some sort of deflector or collector. If i were the owner of any of the vehicles i would absolutely have complained to the apartment manager about the clippings on my vehicle. Especially whoever owns that bike. Long term, thats going to cost you money and clients. Please don't take that as an attack, just voicing an opinion. When i started my own non-mowing business i learned quickly that there is a ton of nuances i never considered. I'm hoping my message comes across in the same friendly way as the messages from those that helped me "see the whole picture" while developing my business. Congrats on the new mower & inevitable success. Life is so much better when ypu are the boss. 😁
My mower is two years old and I have the same issue. It is not used commercially just home use. I have called the company with not much technical help on this issue. The only help they put forward was to try a new style blades. I changed them and it helped slightly. It appears to me that there is insufficient overlap in the design of the mower blades.
Interesting video. I am about to buy a 54" Rebel and the local dealer warned me that there may be issues with that specific deck and leaving two little strips where the wheels would be in relation to the desk blades. After watching this I am wondering if it may be because the blades aren't spinning fast enough to deliver enough lift on the grass. The 60" and above and smaller deck supposedly zero issue. (with taller grass as well) Will probably buy anyway as it meets every other need I have.
I didn't know, nor even think about, the mathematics behind the feet per second but being a mechanic or a service tech on engines and equipment most of my life I went by the RPMs and if I ever have a problem with a mower doing this, which is what I just ran into with my bad boy ZT Elite 60 in, I know that adding a bigger pulley on the drive it will speed the blades up and I have done it to a few people's mowers that had this very same problem. My bad boy was leaving behind a few stragglers here and there but my main problem was in the grass chute. It would clump from time to time and clog up. My mower was 6 1/8 in PTO pulley with the same spindle pulleys so I was not to enthused with the one-to-one ratio. Push mowers are one-to-one ratio and in any kind of tall grass they leave it behind all of the time. My hustler was a 60-in and I believe the drive pulley was a full inch bigger than the driven pulleys, spindle pulleys. So I bought a 7-in PTO pulley, installed it on my bad boy and no more problems. I even have videos on my other site testing it out which is, David Neal (@davidneal697)
I notice the blade mounting holes are just round holes and not a star shape. Is it possible the blade is slipping on the spindle shaft when you’re in deep grass? I don’t understand how those round holes work. Most mowers I’ve had have star or some type of keyed mounting point.
You showed a less dense lawn at the end. Increasing the pto pulley will increase the blade speed, but at the expense of power. Meaning in taller thicker grass, you'll see what you are seeing at the beginning of the vid. It will cut short grass nice, but begin to bog down in thick grass. It takes more torque (from engine) to get the blades to turn the same speed under heavier loads. You need a larger engine to keep blade speed up. Your engine is too small for that kind of grass. This is assuming everything else is good.
I have the same mower but with the 48" deck. It came with a 27hp motor, he will have plenty of power yet. My dad's 72" ExMark only came with a 31hp motor.
I have a 60 inch mower and get the same thing I thought that it was the deck wheels flattening the grass before it got cut . The grass then standing back up after I've passed over . I need to look into this more . 60 inch gravely mower
I have the 42 inch and have noticed the cutting problem you describe. I would wonder if Bad Boy perhaps offers a replacement clutch pulley to address this issue?
Dude..... as a 34 year tech. I enjoyed your math..and approach to this problem. Some observations.. Your blade was NOWHERE near sharpened correctly. Nowhere. Bad Boy actually has THE best blades in th industry. I should note, 60 inches. Never worked on a smaller one. Also... Don't blow grass onto AC units!!?? WTH?? You blasted the bike also. But you cannot clean that AC exchanger with a blower!? Very very very poor mowing man. Very poor. Educate yourself on where you are blowing that crap.
Can you show how you did that formula and got those speeds? Because I'm looking into getting a new lawn mower and I would like to know the speeds of the blades.
Why not change the deck pulley size for the blades. Would that be cheaper. The clutch is pretty expensive. And the clutch would be in the same alignment. I always noticed that there was some deck drag on all mowers. That means someone's driving faster then designer made the lawn mower to run. For this model. That's why they make upgrades
How did this ultimately work out for you? I have a Bad Boy also with a 60 inch deck. Thinking of replacing my clutch pully with a bigger pully, and my spindles with smaller pulleys. What do you think?
I have a similar problem with my bad boys mower also. It slows down going up hill and when the grass is heavy it can stall out. When you push the button for the deck it chirps and dies down. Takes a minute to catch up. Any suggestions?
As for the deck engagement problem, these new engines run lean...you can either make the air/fuel richer or. set (or hold depending on whether it's spring loaded) the choke on to the point of the engine starting to sputter before engaging the deck. This will allow you to engage the deck at a much lower RPM so that the shock to the belt and bearings will be minimized. As for the lack of power, again, probably air/fuel mix too lean and possibly rpms set too low. Set max (wot) rpms to 3600 with deck running. Also make sure blades are sharp.
That’s to much like work. All you had to do is add 2 washers on each blade to lower blade a little and this would have eliminated the problem. I had the same issue with my maverick and I added washers and bingo. No more problem
I have a 48 in. cut bad boy. Had a problem (as I perceived it) of the blades not turning fast enough for the speed of the mower. I contacted Bad Boy and asked if there was a way to speed up the blade rotation. They had one of their engineers respond (really quickly, by the way) after explaining what I wanted, he told me the blade speed was as fast as was allowed by federal regulation and they could not and I shouldn't try to change it!!!
I would rather buy a mower with the cut speed I need then buy one and have to replace a PTO and pulley right off the back then it does not fit properly. Just me though. You could of just replaced the pulley on the PTO.
there is other ways to fix this issue to without modification 1. make sure you keep the under part of the deck free of grass clipping build up, these mowers are high left mowers which means they require enough free air space from the top of the blade to the top of the deck. 2. keep the blades sharp 3. every time you mow change the direction that you mow, this keeps the grass from growing in one direction. 4. each time you mow raise the deck .25 inches, this reduces load on the mower which keeps the blade spinning the same speed in thick grass. It also makes thick grasses grow better stay greener longer and drowns out weeds. These are the tips i've used for 3 years with my bad boy zt elite 48inch
If he increased the driven pulley yes. But increasing the driver pulley increases velocity(but reduces torque). Velocity is driven pulley size divided by drive pulley size e.g: 12" driven pulley divided by 4" driver pulley would be 3:1, driven pulley is 1/3rd of the input speed. Making the drive pulley larger reduces the speed loss.
You raise a good point it would have been less expensive. But it’s hard to find spindle pulleys that both match the spindle jack shaft AND reduce to the correct ratio….either way you have to change your deck belt size…..
Sure the pulley made the blades run faster. Are you sure you didn’t just “engineer” yourself another possible issue(s) with the system with rotational inertia? Like when you run over a rock on accident? You know it might be too much energy on the blades that they just self destruct and go flying out the deck. Or maybe not that severe and it just wears out your spindle bearings twice as fast. I’m sure they were designed that way for a reason to begin with. It might just be a loose deck belt!
Great video! Thank you for all of your hard work figuring that out. I am sincerely confused about something. In the example the bad boy and the gravely both had a 6 and 1/8 in clutch pulley. The gravely has a bigger deck, so, as I understand it. The gravely has a faster blade speed because the clutch pulley is smaller in comparison. So it seems to me that to make the blades faster on the bad boy, it would need a smaller clutch pulley to spin the blades faster. That is the opposite of the end of the video when a larger clutch pulley was put on the bad boy, which would make the blade speed slower on the bad boy. Does that sound right to you? I am sincerely trying to understand this. Example, if someone was to speed up their riding mower with the deck off, they commonly reverse the pulleys, putting the smaller pulley on the engine and the bigger pulley at the wheels to make the wheels spin faster, in other words, making the clutch drive pulley smaller will increase the speed of the other pulleys. Please correct me if I am wrong. Thank you
The gravely had a bigger blade which increases the tip rotation of the blade. As for the pullies (like a bike) the big sprocket amplifies the small 1. So he replaced the big sprocket with a bigger sprocket. The equation can be matched in various ways I.E. changing all smaller pullies with smaller pullies. It really depends on if you want to make complicated or simple modifications.
@@TheSlammjammer The opposite is true. A small sprocket (clutch) amplifies the big ( blade spindles). The larger the clutch sprocket, the slower the blades spin.
I purchased a 2023 zt elite and it always leaves a strip of uncut grass. Brand new blades and sharpened as sharp as possible, still have to mow over tall grass at least twice. Worst purchase I've ever made! My 24 year old John Deere cuts circles around the Bad Boy. Bad design of the mowing deck and high center of gravity makes it impossible to mow the pond dam that I've been mowing for years with the John Deere.
I've found multiple design flaws in my bad boy. Very poorly designed piece of equipment. I don't recommend purchasing another. And their customer service is rude and unprofessional.
…actually now that I think of it, my friend has the larger 1000cc engine (I have the smaller 850cc model). He’s been complaining about the fuel consumption. He could save fuel by changing the pulley as described in your video. That would allow him to run at a lower RPM. He’s a truck mechanic and so this wouldn’t be difficult for him.
Why not force manufacturer to fix the problem you paid for it to cut not half cut why they have a warranty . I have a gravely an it doesn’t cut as good as my john deere or Dixon which both has a higher speed blade rotation .
Blade speed is measured in surface feet per minute (SFM) and is regulated by Osha to a maximum of 19,000 sfm. double check your math and make sure you haven't made your mower illegal.
@@lawncareofkilleen1543 HI. GREAT INFO & VIDEO.. Can that mod be done on the BadBoy zt 60 inch Model ( ZT6000 ) ?? Im not having cut quality issues but sounds like a nice mod to make a good cut even better. Can you advise on both pulley sizes needed for the B.B. ZT6000 inch??
"Illegal" That is for the manufacturing company. He can run those blades at whatever speed he likes. The HD spindles can handle it and the blades won't disintegrate just yet.
illegal blade speeds? thats for legal bs on a new mower and the company. and i can promise you it has a 15-25 percent saftey margine. besides fiberglass helicopter blades rotate about 2500 rpm and they are much larger. and made of wood or fiberglass or carbon. none of them come appart. why would a thick and wide steel blade thats short as heck fly appart. shorter blade for the same rpm has a much lower tip speed. we run ours on a heli just below the speed of sound in tip speed. you do the math on a 60" rotor span. how fast is that dude spinning..... FAST
illegal blade speeds? thats for legal bs on a new mower and the company. and i can promise you it has a 15-25 percent saftey margine. besides fiberglass helicopter blades rotate about 2500 rpm and they are much larger. and made of wood or fiberglass or carbon. none of them come appart. why would a thick and wide steel blade thats short as heck fly appart. shorter blade for the same rpm has a much lower tip speed. we run ours on a heli just below the speed of sound in tip speed. you do the math on a 60" rotor span. how fast is that dude spinning..... FAST
After my blades were changed on the 46" Cub Cadet the mower had the same problem you had. I asked the man to position the blade at 12 & 6 O'clock and the other at 3 & 9 O'clock. That fixed the problem. If the blades are not set up that way there will be this problem.
I have the same problem with my BB avenger 60 in deck. I am Majorly disappointed in the brand and would not recommend them to anyone wanting a mower until this design problem is fixed by the company. It’s unfortunate that the people who have perched one will be told tough luck. I will never buy from them again.
Dude, if I saw you flinging grass all over my car like that, I'd throw a rock at your truck. Who knows what you could have flung at the cars and damaged them.
He really didn’t have any choice there are vehicles on both sides. If you see someone about to cut grass knowing there are cars on both sides then move your car.
@@CiaraMichelee96 The solution is use a mulching attachment so you're not blowing grass and potentially damaging projectiles into a parking lot. Also, with this "fix", this guy voided his warranty. He would have been better off returning it and buying a different brand.
![Uneven Grass After Mowing? [How to Spot and How to Fix!]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Eu7tvE_dUC4/mqdefault.jpg)
![Uneven Grass After Mowing? [How to Spot and How to Fix!]](/img/tr.png)
![[TH] 2024 PMSL SEA Finals D3 | Fall | รู้ผลทีมแชมป์ พร้อมตั๋วสู่ PMGC](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/7NxsN0Ch6vk/mqdefault.jpg)
You did a lot of work to figure out the speeds of the pulleys, and I thank you for that, you may have been off on wording but you are the only person who figured out the problem, no matter what someone else has said, they didn’t figure out the problem, you did, thanks for sharing your thoughts and great videos
I'm impressed. You investigated and got to the source of the issue and re-engineered it to solve the problem. This is a good fix. Bad Boy should be talking to you as a consultant to better understand their product.
keith, Well said!!!
Man hats off to you to do all that math. However I only use Gravely and had thought about trying to buy a less-expensive mower for my business until I watched this video. If I may suggest you get a discharge deflector and not spray all your grass on surrounding cars and motorcycles will save you lots of money if you pick up a rock and send it flying into one of those vehicles
Damn you blew grass on that guy's bike like you were begging for him to punch you right off your mower.
😆😆
Damn, all over the bike smh
It is killeen tx, could just get shot. Trash town
You can tell this gentleman is NOT a biker......and he should be thankful he didn't get to meet the owner of that bike!
never mind if it was throwin stones too!!!!
I have a 42" with the 725cc and the exact same problem. After watching your video I was inspired. I'm too cheap to buy a new clutch so I bought 3 4" pulleys for the spindles, cut the old 5" pulleys off and welded on the new, takes a 120" belt now and mows like a dream. Full speed ahead through tall thick wet grass and not a missed blade. When I was doing the math I came up with a 22%ish rpm increase.
Wouldn't the smaller 4" spindle pulleys make the blades turn slower? I have the same problem, but I want to make sure I get it right. Please reply!
@@easye2115 No, the smaller pulley on the blade (spindle) will make it spin faster. It's the same concept for the rear sprockets on a bicycle, the smaller the rear sprocket, the faster the wheel will spin at the same crank rpm. So you want the blade (spindle) pulleys to be smaller. If you replaced the pto clutch, it would have to be bigger for the blades to spin faster. Replacing the pulleys for the spindles seems like the easier solution.
I’ve operated riding/zero turn mowers for a cumulative total of over 50 years. I sold power equipment for 4 years.
With only one exception; 3 blade decks
Full throttle , adjust ground speed with trans. I did the same thing y’all did, until I upped the speed with bigger clutch! Amazing.
You should not have to do any engineering to a brand new mower! And you are way to intelligent to be cutting grass, you should be working for BadBoy helping them to finish designing their mowers before selling them to America.
My thought exactly.
You raise a good point.
It also raises the question of this manufacturer’s field testing, and their R&D.
Bad Boy mowers are built in Batesville Arkansas.
Whoa! This post is riddled with mistakes. Google "mower blade speed". You're over the speed limit now. A mower manufacturer would lose their shorts if they were to apply this fix. For the most part, you've improved the speed at which grass is discharged. Grass and your occasional 220 mph rock. I'd advise helmets for bystanders. Grass (condition, height, moisture, type, etc.) is the biggest factor. Blade match to that grass is usually the second. Your comparison cuts are just not valid. A baseball bat may have cut the second type.
@@warren8283 Perhaps you should do the math. His improvement raised blade tip speed from around 13k to 16k (ballpark #'s) and the legal limit is 19k.
You did a lot of work. I would have just returned the mower and bought a different brand.
Yeah like a Scag.
Delivered a nice even cut, has the super tight turning ability th-cam.com/users/postUgkx1VWTrayKBdCKAjzAcZ_Eg4dhHTae3LkN also recommend I was looking for, and is just a blast to drive. It takes a little bit to get used to driving one after driving a normal tractor style, but once you've got it, you've got it. If you're cutting lines, you have to be careful spinning the mower around or the back tire will dig a bare spot. Just take it nice and slow during the turn and then it's back to full throttle across the yard!
Bad boy needs to hire you as their mechanical yard mowing engineer!!! Excellent!!!!
I get pissed when ppl blow grass and other stuff on my vehicles! Plus the fact he had the flap up makes it that much worse. When I mow I blow the stuff away from ppls vehicles not on them. Good way of scratching up their property.
You should be the next engineer in the company....what a smart man...
I had a mz for my business and that engine blew up after a while and I purchased a 2019 bad boy rouge 999cc and that thing at 150 hours is still running amazing.
My neighbor had the same issue with his Toro zero turn. I immediately said to him, are you at full throttle when you start to mow. He said no. I said that is your problem. You wont get the blade speed running at 70-75% throttle.
I would like to know if you are running at Full Throttle as these mowers are designed to run full out period that comes from bad boy and Kawasaki told me the same thing. Run at top speeds that's what they're made for. Thanks for all the work you did
Nice work. Now address the grass spray all over parked cars issue🤣👍
Lol you're right. I have an option on my bad boy that hasn't handle that I can open and close the chute as I go by a house, a vehicle or anything else I just close it up . Saves a lot of holes in the siding from stones . Take care.
I have 54 is same problem,you are smart man🙏
What model 54 do you have, and do you have that problem if the cut is above a certain height, but not when you cut lower?
Great job figuring out the blade, looks like the middle one, wasn't spinning fast enough. I'm having the same problem now and had guessed by observation the speed of my middle blade wasn't as fast as the outside blades. My outside blades cut fine so there's something preventing my middle blade from spinning as fast as the outside blades..
However, to me, it makes no sense to buy new mowers that won't cut the grass the way they're supposed to. These mowers, if they're producing them that way, should be recalled.
I looked at many brands,the bad boy at the time had a recall on all pulleys.Xmart got bought out by Toro,. Bought a FasTrack 54 by Hustler.Not one problem.
100 % agreement. I have Gravely, XMark, SCAG and Hustler. Hustler is the best.
My 54" Bad Boy Magnum has never had any problems like that. I mow over 2" sapplings when clearing out my newly purchased 7 acres and it still cuts like a dream. I run the throttle wide open as well.
Wondering if they have a bigger pulley on models with a deck over 48 inches. Mike does the same thing at 48 inches with the throttle wide open
First thing, use a Lawn mower tach to set the engine speed at full throttle according to manufacturers specs. A lot of them aren't adjusted correctly from the factory.
Great video, ypu should really keep it up. You are clear, showed how you arrived at your conclusion with excellence, and your voice works perfectly with youtube's speed control.
I like to watch videos at 1.5x to 2.0x, generally I'm learning from a chipmunk sounding person. Your diction reacts well with the option, no "alvin effect". 👍
You're going to be very successful if you use this level of intelect and care in all aspects of life. I'm sure its been said, as you grow always look to be improving. Look for ways to make the job better for both the customer and the customer's customer.
As soon as its in the budget get yourself some sort of deflector or collector. If i were the owner of any of the vehicles i would absolutely have complained to the apartment manager about the clippings on my vehicle. Especially whoever owns that bike. Long term, thats going to cost you money and clients.
Please don't take that as an attack, just voicing an opinion. When i started my own non-mowing business i learned quickly that there is a ton of nuances i never considered. I'm hoping my message comes across in the same friendly way as the messages from those that helped me "see the whole picture" while developing my business.
Congrats on the new mower & inevitable success. Life is so much better when ypu are the boss. 😁
Great video but seems like a lot of work for a new 5k mower that should have been engineered better and does this void your warranty?
My mower is two years old and I have the same issue. It is not used commercially just home use. I have called the company with not much technical help on this issue. The only help they put forward was to try a new style blades. I changed them and it helped slightly. It appears to me that there is insufficient overlap in the design of the mower blades.
i was told by the dealership its just how they are🤢🥴🤬🤪
Interesting video. I am about to buy a 54" Rebel and the local dealer warned me that there may be issues with that specific deck and leaving two little strips where the wheels would be in relation to the desk blades. After watching this I am wondering if it may be because the blades aren't spinning fast enough to deliver enough lift on the grass. The 60" and above and smaller deck supposedly zero issue. (with taller grass as well) Will probably buy anyway as it meets every other need I have.
Looks like the dog peeking through the fence at 1:15 is concerned about the cut quality, too.
I didn't know, nor even think about, the mathematics behind the feet per second but being a mechanic or a service tech on engines and equipment most of my life I went by the RPMs and if I ever have a problem with a mower doing this, which is what I just ran into with my bad boy ZT Elite 60 in, I know that adding a bigger pulley on the drive it will speed the blades up and I have done it to a few people's mowers that had this very same problem. My bad boy was leaving behind a few stragglers here and there but my main problem was in the grass chute. It would clump from time to time and clog up. My mower was 6 1/8 in PTO pulley with the same spindle pulleys so I was not to enthused with the one-to-one ratio. Push mowers are one-to-one ratio and in any kind of tall grass they leave it behind all of the time. My hustler was a 60-in and I believe the drive pulley was a full inch bigger than the driven pulleys, spindle pulleys. So I bought a 7-in PTO pulley, installed it on my bad boy and no more problems. I even have videos on my other site testing it out which is, David Neal (@davidneal697)
Did you happen to get part numbers for the blade pto and pulleys you needed ?
Good analysis and fix. Never mind the Harley
Good job! You should not have to do field engineering on a new mower.
Doesn’t that void your warranty? I would of just got a different brand, I have a 60”
Exmark and love it
I notice the blade mounting holes are just round holes and not a star shape. Is it possible the blade is slipping on the spindle shaft when you’re in deep grass? I don’t understand how those round holes work. Most mowers I’ve had have star or some type of keyed mounting point.
You showed a less dense lawn at the end. Increasing the pto pulley will increase the blade speed, but at the expense of power. Meaning in taller thicker grass, you'll see what you are seeing at the beginning of the vid. It will cut short grass nice, but begin to bog down in thick grass. It takes more torque (from engine) to get the blades to turn the same speed under heavier loads. You need a larger engine to keep blade speed up. Your engine is too small for that kind of grass. This is assuming everything else is good.
I have the same mower but with the 48" deck. It came with a 27hp motor, he will have plenty of power yet. My dad's 72" ExMark only came with a 31hp motor.
I have a 60 inch mower and get the same thing I thought that it was the deck wheels flattening the grass before it got cut . The grass then standing back up after I've passed over . I need to look into this more . 60 inch gravely mower
I have the 42 inch and have noticed the cutting problem you describe. I would wonder if Bad Boy perhaps offers a replacement clutch pulley to address this issue?
Dude..... as a 34 year tech. I enjoyed your math..and approach to this problem. Some observations.. Your blade was NOWHERE near sharpened correctly. Nowhere. Bad Boy actually has THE best blades in th industry. I should note, 60 inches. Never worked on a smaller one. Also... Don't blow grass onto AC units!!?? WTH?? You blasted the bike also. But you cannot clean that AC exchanger with a blower!? Very very very poor mowing man. Very poor. Educate yourself on where you are blowing that crap.
Where in this video is a AC Unit?
Very interesting solution. Now maybe you can figure out how to mow without covering peoples cars and bikes with grass.
I would have brought the second mower back and purchased another brand. Glad it worked out for you though.
Have you found the clutch part number for this?
I am very impressed! Thanks, and now go apply at NASA :) "Bad Boy" did you learn anything??
I'm glad the owner of the motorcycle wasn't out there my friend... Probably wouldn't have turned out well... Thx for the tip!!
Can you show how you did that formula and got those speeds? Because I'm looking into getting a new lawn mower and I would like to know the speeds of the blades.
do you know where I can get a pto with a bigger pulley? They seem to be in the 5-6 in. range.
Why not change the deck pulley size for the blades. Would that be cheaper. The clutch is pretty expensive. And the clutch would be in the same alignment. I always noticed that there was some deck drag on all mowers. That means someone's driving faster then designer made the lawn mower to run. For this model. That's why they make upgrades
How did this ultimately work out for you? I have a Bad Boy also with a 60 inch deck. Thinking of replacing my clutch pully with a bigger pully, and my spindles with smaller pulleys. What do you think?
Smart enough to figure out the speed of the blade but not enough smarts to not blow crap over everybody's cars and bike!🙄🙄
Outstanding!!! But why would you go through all that with a brand new mower?
I hope they addressed this issue because I planned on buying a new Maverick. Hmmm...
Lawl to the pup checking out your progress through the fence
That's awesome!!!
Please invest in a roll bar. Safety first!!! Excellent work 😊😊😊
Sounds like a good candidate for a class action.
I have a similar problem with my bad boys mower also. It slows down going up hill and when the grass is heavy it can stall out. When you push the button for the deck it chirps and dies down. Takes a minute to catch up. Any suggestions?
As for the deck engagement problem, these new engines run lean...you can either make the air/fuel richer or. set (or hold depending on whether it's spring loaded) the choke on to the point of the engine starting to sputter before engaging the deck. This will allow you to engage the deck at a much lower RPM so that the shock to the belt and bearings will be minimized. As for the lack of power, again, probably air/fuel mix too lean and possibly rpms set too low. Set max (wot) rpms to 3600 with deck running. Also make sure blades are sharp.
That’s to much like work. All you had to do is add 2 washers on each blade to lower blade a little and this would have eliminated the problem. I had the same issue with my maverick and I added washers and bingo. No more problem
I will try that. I even put xblades and still had issues.
I have same problem with my 54in does this really work
What size washers did you add @eddiec5501?
I have a 48 in. cut bad boy. Had a problem (as I perceived it) of the blades not turning fast enough for the speed of the mower. I contacted Bad Boy and asked if there was a way to speed up the blade rotation. They had one of their engineers respond (really quickly, by the way) after explaining what I wanted, he told me the blade speed was as fast as was allowed by federal regulation and they could not and I shouldn't try to change it!!!
I would rather buy a mower with the cut speed I need then buy one and have to replace a PTO and pulley right off the back then it does not fit properly. Just me though. You could of just replaced the pulley on the PTO.
there is other ways to fix this issue to without modification
1. make sure you keep the under part of the deck free of grass clipping build up, these mowers are high left mowers which means they require enough free air space from the top of the blade to the top of the deck.
2. keep the blades sharp
3. every time you mow change the direction that you mow, this keeps the grass from growing in one direction.
4. each time you mow raise the deck .25 inches, this reduces load on the mower which keeps the blade spinning the same speed in thick grass. It also makes thick grasses grow better stay greener longer and drowns out weeds.
These are the tips i've used for 3 years with my bad boy zt elite 48inch
Great video. Love the time you took to figure out the problem.
Umm if he installed a larger pulley wouldn't that slow down the belt speed ? Therefore slow down the blade speed ?
If he increased the driven pulley yes. But increasing the driver pulley increases velocity(but reduces torque). Velocity is driven pulley size divided by drive pulley size e.g: 12" driven pulley divided by 4" driver pulley would be 3:1, driven pulley is 1/3rd of the input speed. Making the drive pulley larger reduces the speed loss.
How are you doing, I want to do the same to my badboy 60" deck mower. Would you please give me the purchase codes for the pulley and the clutch.👍🏻
Dude you are pretty slick
Mine started doing the uncut strips after the first blade change.
Why didnt you just replace the spindle pulleys?
You raise a good point it would have been less expensive.
But it’s hard to find spindle pulleys that both match the spindle jack shaft AND reduce to the correct ratio….either way you have to change your deck belt size…..
What is the clutch you used to do this ? what is part number for it?
I needed this. But I can't help notice you're guy discharging all over Harley Davidsons and cars, lol.
open chute blowing grass into cars and motorcycles!!? hope you have insurance and a bodyguard!
My dumb ass wouldn’t have never figured that out. Good job!
What is the part number for the clutch and the did the belt size change?
That's great, good job
How did you calculate the difference in belt length?
There was no significant difference. The tensioner just adjusted time the new pulley.
if u blew grass on my harley like that....... we would be squaring up real quick
You could’ve saved yourself save yourself a lot of time, money and aggravation by just making the spindle bearings pulleys a little smaller.
whe. you do this and the engine is not big enough it will bog quicker in thick grass
Sure the pulley made the blades run faster. Are you sure you didn’t just “engineer” yourself another possible issue(s) with the system with rotational inertia? Like when you run over a rock on accident? You know it might be too much energy on the blades that they just self destruct and go flying out the deck. Or maybe not that severe and it just wears out your spindle bearings twice as fast. I’m sure they were designed that way for a reason to begin with. It might just be a loose deck belt!
I bet the Motorcycle owner is thrilled at you for blowing grass all over his bike.
Great video! Thank you for all of your hard work figuring that out. I am sincerely confused about something. In the example the bad boy and the gravely both had a 6 and 1/8 in clutch pulley. The gravely has a bigger deck, so, as I understand it. The gravely has a faster blade speed because the clutch pulley is smaller in comparison. So it seems to me that to make the blades faster on the bad boy, it would need a smaller clutch pulley to spin the blades faster. That is the opposite of the end of the video when a larger clutch pulley was put on the bad boy, which would make the blade speed slower on the bad boy. Does that sound right to you? I am sincerely trying to understand this. Example, if someone was to speed up their riding mower with the deck off, they commonly reverse the pulleys, putting the smaller pulley on the engine and the bigger pulley at the wheels to make the wheels spin faster, in other words, making the clutch drive pulley smaller will increase the speed of the other pulleys. Please correct me if I am wrong. Thank you
The gravely had a bigger blade which increases the tip rotation of the blade.
As for the pullies (like a bike) the big sprocket amplifies the small 1. So he replaced the big sprocket with a bigger sprocket.
The equation can be matched in various ways I.E. changing all smaller pullies with smaller pullies. It really depends on if you want to make complicated or simple modifications.
@@TheSlammjammer The opposite is true. A small sprocket (clutch) amplifies the big ( blade spindles). The larger the clutch sprocket, the slower the blades spin.
At same rpm an increase of diameter of drive pulley increases drive belt speed and thus driven pulleys
I purchased a 2023 zt elite and it always leaves a strip of uncut grass. Brand new blades and sharpened as sharp as possible, still have to mow over tall grass at least twice. Worst purchase I've ever made! My 24 year old John Deere cuts circles around the Bad Boy. Bad design of the mowing deck and high center of gravity makes it impossible to mow the pond dam that I've been mowing for years with the John Deere.
What is the clutch you used to do this ? Do you have a part number for it?
It has to be a 1” shaft clutch. I will get back to you. I still have the box somewhere.
@@lawncareofkilleen1543 Never got back to us.. And you eventually ended up getting rid of that skid mark that blows
grass on other guys bikes, right?
Why not compare apples to apples? 42" to 42"?
The only thing I see here that was totally uncalled for blowing grass and rocks and everything to people's cars you should have had a cover shoot
Well there went ur warranty? Thanks for video
I've found multiple design flaws in my bad boy. Very poorly designed piece of equipment. I don't recommend purchasing another. And their customer service is rude and unprofessional.
All mowers are designed to mow at wide open throttle
So in summary, I should stop trying to save fuel, and run the engine faster on my Bad Boy Rogue 61”. Thank you.
…actually now that I think of it, my friend has the larger 1000cc engine (I have the smaller 850cc model). He’s been complaining about the fuel consumption. He could save fuel by changing the pulley as described in your video. That would allow him to run at a lower RPM. He’s a truck mechanic and so this wouldn’t be difficult for him.
Why not force manufacturer to fix the problem you paid for it to cut not half cut why they have a warranty . I have a gravely an it doesn’t cut as good as my john deere or Dixon which both has a higher speed blade rotation .
Bro you blasted that bike!!!! And the car. You need a chute blocker
Blade speed is measured in surface feet per minute (SFM) and is regulated by Osha to a maximum of 19,000 sfm. double check your math and make sure you haven't made your mower illegal.
Thank you! That’s really good info. According to my math I should be operating at 18,446 square feet per minute.
@@lawncareofkilleen1543 HI. GREAT INFO & VIDEO.. Can that mod be done on the BadBoy zt 60 inch Model ( ZT6000 ) ??
Im not having cut quality issues but sounds like a nice mod to make a good cut even better. Can you advise on both pulley sizes needed for the B.B. ZT6000 inch??
"Illegal" That is for the manufacturing company. He can run those blades at whatever speed he likes. The HD spindles can handle it and the blades won't disintegrate just yet.
illegal blade speeds? thats for legal bs on a new mower and the company. and i can promise you it has a 15-25 percent saftey margine. besides fiberglass helicopter blades rotate about 2500 rpm and they are much larger. and made of wood or fiberglass or carbon. none of them come appart. why would a thick and wide steel blade thats short as heck fly appart. shorter blade for the same rpm has a much lower tip speed. we run ours on a heli just below the speed of sound in tip speed. you do the math on a 60" rotor span. how fast is that dude spinning..... FAST
illegal blade speeds? thats for legal bs on a new mower and the company. and i can promise you it has a 15-25 percent saftey margine. besides fiberglass helicopter blades rotate about 2500 rpm and they are much larger. and made of wood or fiberglass or carbon. none of them come appart. why would a thick and wide steel blade thats short as heck fly appart. shorter blade for the same rpm has a much lower tip speed. we run ours on a heli just below the speed of sound in tip speed. you do the math on a 60" rotor span. how fast is that dude spinning..... FAST
@ 6:52 Blowing grass all over that Harley... WOW
Impressive. Did the company reimburse you ?
After my blades were changed on the 46" Cub Cadet the mower had the same problem you had. I asked the man to position the blade at 12 & 6 O'clock and the other at 3 & 9 O'clock. That fixed the problem. If the blades are not set up that way there will be this problem.
lolol After 2 seconds of running the blades will be out of sync.
If I spend 5k on a mower, I don't want to have to do any math problems to get the damn thing to cut grass.
Who here got lost when he started doing all the mathematical equations
That’s to much work for a new mower I would have bought a different one after the first one
Buy something other than a Bad Boy.
Look up grass flap it’s worth the money!
I have the same problem with my BB avenger 60 in deck. I am
Majorly disappointed in the brand and would not recommend them to anyone wanting a mower until this design problem is fixed by the company. It’s unfortunate that the people who have perched one will be told tough luck. I will never buy from them again.
Why are you comparing a little 42” cut to a 60” in the first place?
All that knowledge and still stupid
well done
Dude, if I saw you flinging grass all over my car like that, I'd throw a rock at your truck. Who knows what you could have flung at the cars and damaged them.
Nic Hitchins that’s what I’m say. If I saw that, that dude would of got hurt.
calm down keyboard commandos
He really didn’t have any choice there are vehicles on both sides. If you see someone about to cut grass knowing there are cars on both sides then move your car.
@@CiaraMichelee96 The solution is use a mulching attachment so you're not blowing grass and potentially damaging projectiles into a parking lot. Also, with this "fix", this guy voided his warranty. He would have been better off returning it and buying a different brand.
@@CiaraMichelee96 he should be mulching totally a jerk no respect he probly drives a beater car