Please post a picture of your lawn after you mow. Nearly all LTs and GTs will provide an even cut if you set them up properly. The main differences between standard and premium tractors are durability, ergonomics, and ease of maintenance.

-Deerslayer

From where are you measuring the height of the deck?

How fast are you mowing?

How uneven is your lawn?

I set my blade height by releasing the deck adj lever so it is only released from full up but at it's highest seting. I have it on the garage floor and I made a height gauge from a piece of oak that is about 3 1/2" high...doesnt matter the height as long as you can reach your hand under the deck. I set the deck so the bottom of the blade just touches the wood at the 3&9 o'clock positions from the drivers perspective.

The 12&6 o'clock positions are different, they need to be 1/2" different being lower in the front. I used to go by the deck height but I would get uneven results, maybe that was just my bad measuring...I don't know but this way is more tedious at first but gives me the results I'm looking for.

I mow pretty fast, but when I slow down, it does nolt seem to make an appreciable difference. As far as the deck height, I do it like you gmcman. I level the blades side to side and then front to back with the front a tad lower.
I tried everything imaginable to to get a better cut and replaced almost everything,,,,blades spindles, deck, deck wheels... I am certain the deck was not bent after I hit something with a blade (I took everything off the deck (including the spindles) laid it flat on the garage floor and measured up to the mounting bolts).
The only thing I thought might be contributing to the bad cut is some uneven rpm from the engine as the governor engages to limit the engine rpm. This happens at the throttle setting that is indented on the control.
Unfortunately, although the surging is reduced some when I turn down the throttle, the cut is still bad enough to win Worst Cut in the World honors.
DSlayer: I will try to post a pic if it is nice enough weather tomorrow. If you see the pic, keep in mind, I have gone over the lawn several times to try and cut the high spots.
I feel bad about the money ($2300) and time I spent on this tractor which has Honda GXV 530 engine, although that has proven to be extremely finicky (constantly needs air cleaner pre-filter cleaned and the expensive air filter changed twice each season or it gets to be a real insurgent). I would never get a Sears tractor or that particular Honda engine again.
The quality of cut is the most important thing. I first realized that when I did not have it. You get done and look at your work, and instead of feeling proud of your lot, it looks like he11.

Sears, (AYP actually), has produced some real "gems". The GT I purchased new in '99 is a good tractor, but the 46" EZ3 deck is about the poorest design I've ever seen.

No people, it's not the mowing speed, sharpness of the blades, deck level, or any of that. If I leveled my deck with a micrometer, sent my blades out to a professional sharpener who spent hours honing them by hand, and cut at 2/3 the ground speed of all the other neighbors......they'd all be back in the house hours before me. Because I'd have to go over some areas twice.

Then after I was done mowing, I'd still have to hoist the tractor up, and remove 20 pounds of accumulated grass puree' before the next mowing. And that's under normal mowing conditions....not mowing when it's damp.

I bought my tractor in May of '99, and it was a wet year. On top of that, I was in the middle of a situation at work in which my employer was being acquired by a large company. Naturally, my attention wasn't all that focused on the yard work. I attributed much of the poor performance to the conditions existing at the time. What I should have done was take the machine back right away, (or at least see if I could have traded the crappy deck in for a different model), but I decided to "fix it" instead.

A couple of months worth of mowings went by, with me fiddling with this and that to try and improve the cut. I'm not the type of person that keeps, (and uses), a product for that amount of time.....and THEN tries to return it. So the crappy mowing continued, and the fiddling continued.....and so on.

It's not the "price range" the machine is in either. Neighbors and family members with tractors in the same price range and even cheaper, produce better results.....without the time-consuming constant mucking around.

Believe what you want to believe, but I've got an EZ3 deck here in the garage if you want to sling it under your tractor and see for yourselves how "well" it works. What you'll find is that your tractor suddenly seems to have lost a couple of HP, (due to the clippings being cut over and over and over.....even when trying to use the deck in side-discharge mode), and....even when you mow slower than you normally travel, you'll still have to criss-cross some of the tougher spots to knock 'em down.

This spring I bought a well-used Gravely Pro 50 walk-behind mower from the mid-80s. The previous owner said the hour meter stopped working years ago, and right now it sits at 2100+ hours. I mowed with it all summer and did NOTHING to it....except for greasing the spindles every other mowing. I made a riding sulky for it with some bits I had out in the garage too. It cuts far better, blows the clippings out far better, doesn't require constant cleaning and sharpening, etc., etc. The whole machine set me back $300. (Yay CraigsList!)

Yay Gravely.

DSlayer. Here are some pics:
{{gwi:356820}}
{{gwi:356821}}
{{gwi:356822}}

Boy! I can't tell much from the pictures.

It looks as if the grass is tall, with wheel tracks in it. I hate to ask this, but "are the blades on the right way"? It almost looks, as if it isn't cutting, but just pushing the grass over in the direction of travel. ??

I'd be upset too if my lawn looked like that. There has to be something wrong with your mower otherwise we would have all kinds of complaints about quality of cut with these mowers.

Wow!!! I agree...that's a very lumpy cut!

I mow my lawn to 3.25" and get a smooth cut. Is your grass Kentucky Blue Grass? What is your mowing height?

-Deerslayer

Is there any chance that the belt has a twist in it's routing, is improperly twisted (and/or routed), and is spinning the blades in the wrong direction? Something is wrong!

My neighbor has a 1000 series, and that little guy cut pretty well, so I'm surprised about the difficulty.

Not sure of the problem, but would suggest looking at the following:

a) make sure the blades (not upside down or whatever) are on correctly, may have a star mount and not lined up propoerly, but from the pictures it looks like no vaccum and in my mind, the blades are turning very..... slow for some reason.

b) double and triple check all belts

c) check the deck spindles and see if those are a problem

Good Luck,

I'll recommend 2 options for you. You have way too much grass. You can give me some so you have some bare spots to worry about or get a mower with a lot more blade tip speed. Honestly though, I'd have to say, given all you have tried, that the mower can't keep up with the amount of grass and the speed. If you are any faster than a very slow walk you'll get that result in the first picture. There is also the 1/3'd rule, but I'd say no more than 1/4 for your lawn.

gators IMO don't like speed, You have to go slower to get a good cut with them what I noticed from high lift to gators. I would think deck design has alot to do with it also. The more you spend the better the deck is designed.
With all that to mow you need one of the 10K ZTR's that mows 9 MPH. Like my buddies Gravely 72" cut provided you don't get bounced off.

Kachinee says, "it doesn't make much difference if he slows down". If the grass is high, the blades are slow or whatever, it should grind the grass off, if stopped.

These pictures are after I went over the thing twice in order to take out some unevenness and to cut the uncut strips.
I know it is hard to see but there seems to be a partially cut strip about 3" wide. This makes no sense to me because I have the correct blades on there, they are mounted correctly and not bent, the deck is situated properly with the left spindle closer to the front of the tractor than the right, so there is overlap, I have replaced the spindles and pullys and belt and tried everything I have seen suggested here.
I an using the most recent Gator Fusion blades.
Next year, I may try to switch to the non-Gator fusion blades and see if I get a better cut.

As far as ground speed, I have a lot of grass so you kind of have to get going pretty good, unless you have all day to spend on it. If I got a better cut, of course I would slow down.
As far as the grass it is probably 50% Midnight KBG which I incorporated in to the original lawn (seeded with an unknown mix) by overseeding with 100% Midnight seed after plug aeration. I normally cut it slightly higher but took it down a notch for what is likely my last cut before winter.
Thanks again for all of your help and opinions on this fiasco.

Why put the blame on Craftsman for a poor cut?
You failed to mention how the tractor mowed before you damaged the deck.

1..You damaged the deck...damaged it to the point that it required the replacement of the spindles.

2..You are using blades that are not original equipement.

3..Your last statement indicated that you have too much lawn to mow slow.

You seemed to cover all the bases on the deck rebuild and adjustment but I'am thinking that something got overlooked.

"The more you spend the better the deck is designed. "

That's where I tend to disagree. The tractor I purchased has a deck designed one way, but the same tractor can be had with a different deck. Price has little to do with how well a deck is "designed", but price can greatly affect the quality of materials used.

Here's a photo from a deck like mine currently listed on eBay:

{{gwi:356823}}

The bowl shapes stamped into the metal surrounding each blade are what causes the issues I have with the cut. If the deck is totally clean underneath, and the blades are super-sharp, I can mow for about a half hour.....and then the strips like in the photos above start to show up. Every little bump and contour on the underside of this deck starts to accumulate clippings right away. When enough grass gets built up, the outflow of the clippings is affected. The strips show up on the lawn, and there are clumps of grass from the poor discharging. Then I stop and clean it out, and mow for another half hour.....and do it all over again.

If they'd stamped this deck shell without all of the obstructions, it would perform better. I realize that it's supposed to be mulch and side-discharge capable, but I've never had the mulch plug mounted. Don't need to....it does such a poor job of discharging on its own, it's pretty much in mulch mode all the time.

I eventually took my air cut-off tool and MIG welder to the deck. Directly behind each blade, I sliced open the deck shell and made an opening about 4" wide and 2" high. Then I welded in 1/2" rod along the bottom edge of my cutouts to stiffen up the shell. The 4" X 2" openings really improved the cut, because now some of the clippings could exit the deck WITHOUT bouncing off all of the contours on their way to the discharge chute. I'm NOT advising anyone modify their decks in any way, I'm just pointing out that my poor cut issues are completely due to the poor discharging qualities of this deck. It has nothing to do with price at all.

;-)

I had the same problem years ago with a sears lawn tractor. The only way the deck would cut is if it was extremely low and cutting about an inch high.The blades were sharp the deck was clean. I have a conquest now and it mows great. I'm picky with my yard. I want a nice cut. Many great mowers out there. I just got the wrong one along time ago.

1..You damaged the deck...damaged it to the point that it required the replacement of the spindles.
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Not exactly. I hit something which damaged a blade and a spindle, not the deck shell. I replaced the spindles, the pulleys, the blades, the belt, and before doing that took the bare shell, placed it on level concrete, and made very close measurements to the floor around the circumference of the spindle mounting area. It was not bent whatsoever. Believe me, I did a lot of work and checking everything and replacing numerous parts to try and resolve the cutting issue.

2..You are using blades that are not original equipement.
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True. Are you suggesting that the Gator Fusion blades are causing this? I have already said that next year, I will try a non-Gator blade to see if the cut improves.

3..Your last statement indicated that you have too much lawn to mow slow.
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True, but I also tried to explain that if the problem was my mowing ground speed, I would slow down. Because I have uncut and partially cut strips and dips, I have to go over everything twice.

Thanks again for all the suggestions.

And my other question : how did it mow before???

This is not a situation where the machine cut the lawn like the Boneville salt flats and after hitting an object with a blade and replacing the spindles, it got all out of whack.

This machine never mowed well. It always left a partially uncut strip and an uneven cut. At first I thought it was the OEM blades because of their unusual curve. I put Gator blades on and the cut was slightly better. When I put on the newly designed Gator Fusion, the cut seemed to get worse.
I am going to try high lift fusion blades next year. If that doesn't work, I guess I will look for a used tractor and sell or trade or just junk this one.

"Why put the blame on Craftsman for a poor cut? "

You are right, I should have qualified my comment, but my disappointment with this machine kind of overwhelmed me after all the tweaking and work to get it to cut level after three years.

Craftsman tractors are made for residential, most of them for lots under an acre or so. I have a bit more lawn to do and I like to drive the machine at a decent clip to get er done. Knowing that, I should have spent more for a better machine. I will do that in the Spring, but now I have to junk this one, and that is a bit maddening.

I keep thinking about this and IMHO it is speed and cut height. Before spending more money I would try a small area at 2-2 1/2 inch cut height at the slowest speed you can muster.

You shouldn't have to creep along at a specified height to get a decent cut. This deck has problems and I don't think putting a forth set of blades on it will change anything. For the amount you have spent replacing parts (which may or may not have been needed) you could have taken it somewhere and gotten it fixed right. Sometimes there is value in knowing when you are in over your head.

"For the amount you have spent replacing parts (which may or may not have been needed) you could have taken it somewhere and gotten it fixed right. Sometimes there is value in knowing when you are in over your head."
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I spent $43.20 plus $8 shipping for the deck spindles, $23 for the belt and $20 for blades. Under $100.00. One spindle was definitely bad and the belt and blades were in need of replacement. It cuts the lawn, so it is fine for now until I get another tractor or ZTR.
What adjustment, repair , or part are you suggesting that may present this great challenge to my mechanical abilities?

Ever since this post started ,in the back of my mind,I allways suspected deformed sheet metal around the damaged spindle mounting area.
I know...that you checked to see if it was straight in that area ,but a small variation here would be substancial by the time it was transfered to the tip of the blade.
When you adjusted the deck did you rotate the blades 180 degrees and re-measure ?

Just my thoughts

dynamike: This is what I did when I took off the deck, and the old spindles. First, I thoroughly cleaned the deck and examined it for any apparent damage around the spindle mounting area. There was no apparent damage, but not leaving that to chance, I then set the deck (sans spindles) down on the concrete garage floor. I took a metal ruler that I used to do arch. drawing with, and measured from the concrete floor to the lip of the spindle mounting areas, going all around the circumference to make sure there was no deflection in the metal stamping that would skew the blades.
I also put a wooden dowel rod through one of the bolt holes, marked it where the deck was with a pencil, and then checked that height on the other five mounting holes.

Replacing the entire deck is an option, and I am certainly capable of doing that as I have had the thing on and off more times than anyone would ever want to. The thing is, after doing the measurements and examining it, I am not convinced that replacing it would resolve the poor cut issue.
Moreover, I am not convinced that such an expenditure of money and time would be worth it.
A new deck is about $300.00. Replacing the tin can only is somewhat less, but involves reusing a lot of worn pulleys, rusted and old parts on the top of the deck, like the blade brake assembly, idler pulley, etc. I could do that but I don't really want to at this point.
The thing still cuts and if I go over the areas at 90 degrees, it takes out most of the uncut/partially cut areas.
I am going to switch to regular hi-cut blades instead of the Gator or OEM mulchers next year in hopes that this will help some until I find a new or used machine.
I am not going to blame all Sears tractors, but I do wonder about the design of this one.
Metal:
My dad was originally an auto mechanic and later an industrial engineer who eventually owned a few auto service stations. I am not a mechanic, but I used to fix my own cars when I was in high school. I knew how to replace/set the point gap, replace brake (shoes back then), replace muffler/ exhaust, change tires, alternators, water pumps, radiators, hoses, belts, idler arms, and always changed my own oil/filer and greased the fittings. Now I am older so I only tinker around in the garage and do not service my own autos which admittedly, present some new challenges that I readily admit are over my head. But on a lawn tractor, other than rebuilding the engine itself, there is nothing I would not or could not do to replace parts or adjust something.

I will say this though. The day that Sears makes these basic lawn tractors that guys cannot service and work on in their garages will be the last day that most of us will buy the Sears brand. For a lot of Sears products including tractors, the serviceability and parts availability remains as their biggest attraction.