I mow 5 acres once a week with a Kubota Diesel 60" z turn but needed something to use in the ditches and around the tight spots that big mowers can't get into. Since I use a 5 year old Trailmate/Kee at work (High School Bldg & Grds Mgr. my first choice was a Kee. Went to the local mower shop where we purchased the one for the school and discovered it was no longer available commercially but one of the clerks mentioned she had seen one for sale on Craigs List. Wasted no time getting it in my garage, $300 used, (new cost for our school's mower was $900 in 2005). These things are bullet proof, you can't bog them down. They won't win a beauty contest but you CAN NOT KILL THEM. The design is simplistic but it does exactly what it was born to do. Cut The Grass. The belt design saves your engine from damage due to sudden stopage, stumps, rocks... Also the engine does not have to run at such a high RPM to do the job, I guess from the belt pully design, the blade tip speed is still fast enough to get it done and not bog down. By the way, bagging is a big no no. You are throwing away free fertilizer. Think About It. Bagging is a pain any way, having to stop every 5 minutes and dumping the bag and all. My next choice on the list had I not been able to find a used Kee would have been a new SARLO, also made in South Florida where they cut grass practically 12 months out of the year. They also have a Diesel push mower that you can Will to your Great Grand Kids. 1 Gallon of Diesel per 8 hours mowing. The Flordia State Corrections Dept. loves them. They are goober proof and last forever. They have the figures to back them up. I would not waste my time and my money for the "Throw-A-Way" mowers available at the local big box stores. How long due you really expect them to last any way? From the frame to the over worked engine. Three years and it's in the dumpster.

Ok, so i just got done replacing both head gaskets as they were both blown. Runs like a top now. I removed the deck and with the mower running i engaged the mower blades and it bogged the engine down and wanted to kill it. No sparks this time. Sparks might have been from the exhaust as one bolt wasn't tightened very well, or from the head itself as the gaskets had 2" spots missing. So i'm going to remove the clutch and clean it, one of the oil leaks dripped right into it and it flung allot of oil out when i started it last. It has to be something i did since it worked fine before i took it all apart, but not sure.

I would check the following (for safety's sake be sure to disconnect the negative- battery cable before doing the following) 1) The cable and clamps from the battery to the solenoid and the cable and clamps from the solenoid to the starter. Remove then and scrape/sand them clean and rub them down with a bit of WD-40 and reinstall. 2) Give the negative cable from the battery this same treatment. Be sure the chassis end of this cable has a good connection to BARE metal. 3)Make sure the solenoid is tightly anchored to the chassis. Ideally take it off an make sure there is bright shiny metal on the engine and solenoid to assure a good ground connection. Be sure to make the last connection point in reassembly is the - battery connection. Let us know if this helps, and we can give you the next steps if necessary.

OK. I'm having a similar but opposite issue. When the deck is raised high (8) the blades spin slowly. If I lower the deck to (3), the blades spin faster and I can mow. Seems opposite of the complaint which started this thread. Also, when I mow, the left most blade (3 blade Cub Cadet) doesn't seem to cut as well and I'll have to mow that area again making sure it gets hit by the center blade or right blade. All 3 blades were recently removed and sharpened and the balance was verified. The blades were put back on in random order. The mower was doing this prior to removing and sharpening the blades. Are these 2 related (I think they are) and what's my next move to fix it? Model RZT-L54 (17CRCACA009). Thanks!