My 100 blades are stopping in medium grass.
 

Hey guys. My 100 Cub Cadet is having trouble mowing in moderate grass. It's weird because sometime it will mow through even really tall grass without a problem (If I go really slow), but other times, the blades will stop in medium grass. The thing is, the engine never bogs down or tries to stop. I know for a fact that the PTO or the Deck belts are not slipping. The blades just stop, and the motor keeps running normally.

From what I understand, if it was grass that was too thick, the entire motor should stall out. But this doesn't happen. So I am wondering what my problem is. Could it be that my PTO clutch is slipping? Should I rebuild it?

Thanks,

That would be a good place to start.

Do you have free play in your clutch linkage?

Also. are your blade nuts tight? Sometimes they may not get tight enough unless you use an air or an electric impact wrench.

And because the belts are turning doesn't mean the blades are turning. When you notice the condition again, look down and see if the pullies are turning. If not, then loose belts, if the pullies are turning, but not cutting, then loose blades.

In Addition, check to see if there is .001 to .003 clearance between the fiber wear button and the PTO button when the PTO is engaged. You PTO may be adjusted to be slightly disengaged all the time, which would allow it to slip under a load.

Thanks for the tips guys.

When the PTO is turned on, the bronze button is definitely not touching the PTO. I tightened the blades with an impact wrench, so I'm relatively certain that the blades aren't slipping. Later today, I'll get her in grass and when it stop, I'll hop off and inspect the pullies, belts and such and report back.

The thing is, my Cub came with a PTO in a box of parts, but the thing is, the set screws were ALL stripped out. I didn't have any easy outs, so I just took the PTO off of my beater Cub that has seen a lot of hard use. So I'm wondering if the PTO on the beater was shot. I did order some easy out bits in case I need to swap PTOs.

I just posted this into another thread when I thought of your machine: " BTW, I bought a cub bearing for my PTO. Put it on and had problems with PTO slippage. Opened up the PTO and found that the clear grease from the sealed bearing spun out of the bearing and coated the pressure plates, Instant slip. No indication of defect on the bearing."

Also, recheck your throw out levers with the template to make sure your triangular pressure spring had enough pressure. If not, tighten up the machine screw nuts and make sure the jam nuts a very tight against the regular nuts. The manual on the 100 on this site has a very good explanation of the PTO adjustment.

Make sure the fiber friction clutch's "fingers" are inside the starter pulley housing when the PTO is back on.

Probably the beater's PTO is OK.

Another thing: The set screws are hardened. They are probably not stripped, but any allen wrench used in them will probably be. Try new good quality allen wrenches. Tap them in with a hammer. See if the set screws come loose. If the set screws strip out a new allen wrench (my number was 5), try a matric wrnch that may be slightly bigger than an SAE wrench.

Good luck.

Oh these babies are thoroughly rounded out. The guy I bought it from even informed me of it and told me I'd have to drill them out. I looked down into the holes with a flashlight and those things are wallered out horribly.

I'll check all the things you mentioned! Thanks.

I've drilled 'em out before. Usually the holes crack at the bottom end and the PTO is no good. Good luck!

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