Yes Impressive work! Nick, if this mower was mine I'd be thinking now it looks too new to get dirty I'd better buy another Deutscher to cut the grass.
They are one tough rooster of a mower and were advertised well.
The Deutscher HE660 mower is a world class self-propelled walk behind mower. It has been engineered to give continuous service in the most rugged of conditions, whilst retaining the ability to give a smooth finish to parks and gardens. With lockable front castor wheels and large tractor tread grip tyres on the rear, it allows for use in all types of terrain. This mower is the regular choice for many councils, shires, prison farms and mowing contractors throughout the country. The mowers are exported to a number of countries, including Papua New Guinea, South Africa, Kenya, New Zealand and other countries where rugged conditions require large, tough self-propelled mowers. Its design is deliberately rugged for long lasting reliability and safety of use. This mower is made from high quality materials and parts.
I see the limited slip differential is no longer available as an option for this mower-
After many years of offering the large 66cm (26”) side discharge mower with the option of a limited slip differential, due to the closure of their componentry supplier, they are no longer able to supply this option.
Yes, after a single use I reckon she'll have lost a tad of the lustre, doing under the deck etc even though we don't have a lot of rocks etc you know it's coming off soon enough - but I figure it'll be easy enough to top up each 'offseason' - and if nothing else she does look pretty darn close to new and I know mechanically I've got her back on her A-game. Just need to run for the first time with the new drive belt to see if I have the tension right, the new kevlar being a tad tighter, which I've tried to account for by backing off already.
Much thanks to you as well - as your posts on here are always terrific and a regular source of knowledge for a rural chap like myself trying to keep all the gear running well. :-)
Nice learning curve as I've a bugger of a property to mow and suffice to say it's very different to handle from a 21" utility mower.
QUESTION: I found that the lowest cut height level was barely suitable, don't mind staying at that - BUT the surrounding guard/deck is at this height a tad low i.e I'd like to make the blade's effective height 5mm or so LOWER, so I can cut at perhaps the 2nd lowest level & have same effective cut height. The deck was gouging bits of lawn out all over the place.
Would the best solution to this be fabricating a 'spacer' from some mild steel to place in between the blade carrier & the 'boss'/flange, which the 3 bolts attach into?
I would need to use 3 longer bolts to ensure the same effective grip/hold is made. But if there's a better way to do it I'm open to it.
Other thoughts: - she's a BIG girl, 120kg - which when you're ~65kg like me is a very solid workout for upper body on the turns (which I have a lot) - started out rough but got much better working the grears, flicking into N for big reverse turns and working the clutch on turns. - have to completely rethink how I cut the lawn as she's a straight line machine, turning a lot is a PITA - never expected to do anywhere near all of it with it, so best to fly around in H and then come back to tidy up with the utility mower plater on the bits too close to obstacles or that I'd have had to 3 pt turn to cut - the engine & cutter powers through stuff - hardly revved it and did it all super easy - washed under and hit with the blower, still looks pretty darn good - need to wear gloves next time, blisters on the hands from muscling the big bertha through the turns - can see why it'd be terrific on rough stuff, very strong machine. - I am pretty savvy at cutting, to get better access I did with the chute guard off (which I get isn't for everyone, each to their own) PPE'd up with sunglasses and steel caps, it also has very good clearance from your feet so really not an issue at all, I've had the chute off on my HUT216 since day 1 - get much better clipping throw from it.
Hi Nick, In hindsight you might have been better off with a smaller machine like the Y560 , they are only half the size with a 22 inch cut which for a 65kg person much easier to throw around. I haven't looked at lowering the blades but a spacer would be the way to go. Are you looking to lower it 5mm or 50mm, I'm guessing 50mm as 5mm would make no difference to the skirts dragging on the ground
A spacer sounds like the easiest path to lower the blade plate .
The tighter turns are a bit of a workout with a heavier mower.
Yes I've also got a a bugger of a property to mow on a slope but the good thing about the quad bike mower is you can still cut the grass on a hot day and it's especially easy to use when a lot of turning is involved.
[quote=NormK]Hi Nick, In hindsight you might have been better off with a smaller machine like the Y560 , they are only half the size with a 22 inch cut which for a 65kg person much easier to throw around. I haven't looked at lowering the blades but a spacer would be the way to go. Are you looking to lower it 5mm or 50mm, I'm guessing 50mm as 5mm would make no difference to the skirts dragging on the ground[/quote]
HI Norm,
Thank you as always for your reply.
Umm I'll have to do some measuring down in the shed to see what the offset between the blades and skirt bottom is. I would estimate anything from 10-20mm would likely do whats required. I assume mild steel would be essentially the only option.
Oh I just realised that the flange that holds the blade carrier on might be not so easy to get a spacer working on. The flange has 3 bolt holes, all abot 10mm - bu then there's also a central 'hub' which rather than being a bolt hold is just a ~30mm diameter raised round section thats ~5mm in height, this slides into the blade carrier. I forgot about that little feature until now, which makes a spacer a tad more complex.
Yes, look it's possible the Y560 will be shown to be the better choice, I considered them but hey if I need to I'll swap over in some way.
[quote=maxwestern] The tighter turns are a bit of a workout with a heavier mower. [/quote]
Yes, I remember part way through thinking "Bloody hell why am I so tired, this is meant to be easier" and it was - as I didn't need to push but it was like wrestling a sheep around every 180 degree turn. But like I said was the first use and I am loathe to rush to conclusions as I know it got a lot better when I became aware of it's nuances etc.
Hi Nick, Yes that nut on the bottom of the spindle is the same problem I have with getting blade carriers made for the Victa 24's, I can get around it but it does present a challenge How is your upper body feeling today, they sure are a workout when you have to muscle them around
[quote=NormK]Hi Nick, Yes that nut on the bottom of the spindle is the same problem I have with getting blade carriers made for the Victa 24's, I can get around it but it does present a challenge How is your upper body feeling today, they sure are a workout when you have to muscle them around[/quote]
Hi Norm,
Ah yes the Victa 24's, the 'apple of your eye' - I recall many a moon ago when I told of the challenges here on this property you advised me to hunt one down. In hindsight I kind of wish I'd given one a shot, if only out of curiousity - but anyway.
So whats the method you'd apply in getting around that - if one were to add a spacer in the 10-20mm ballpark?
Obviously that central 'hub/nut' would do a LOT of the holding on of the blade carrier, which on the H660 is darn hefty, reliance completely on 3 bolts might be not what the engineers wanted but likely still feasible though I'm not the best on the physics calcs.
Ah the upper body today is perfectly fine, though I have pretty nasty blisters on both hands as those hard rubber grips aren't the best - so made a mental note to glove up next time or I'll remove them completely and replace with some 'tennis racquet' wrap, which is my preferred hand grip material of choice on mowers etc rather than foam, rubber etc.
Again yeah I found the technique in the turns and figuring out whats worth cutting and what to leave to hit with the utility later (as I did) key - at the end of a straight run to turn, flick over to N, push up front wheels and pirouette on the rear ones, flick back into H and head back the other way. Again its a pretty nimble beast for 120kg, well balanced - so I'll be a lot better next time.
Hi Nick, It is quite complex to get around the spindle nut problem and the only way I could do it is to make up a ring the depth required to go over the outside of the boss and then weld a disc to the ring and then bolt through the disc. Like everything it can be done, just takes a lot of work. If you get really stuck I can look at it for you while I have a couple of those unit still here
[quote=NormK]Hi Nick, It is quite complex to get around the spindle nut problem and the only way I could do it is to make up a ring the depth required to go over the outside of the boss and then weld a disc to the ring and then bolt through the disc. Like everything it can be done, just takes a lot of work. If you get really stuck I can look at it for you while I have a couple of those unit still here[/quote]
Hi Norm,
Ah yes, that sounds like what I was envisaging. Hmmm that 'ring' around the boss is the tricky bit, as putting a hole that size in a piece of steel isn't something easy to do. How have you approached that in the past? I have a bunch of cobalt drills bits and I suppose you could do a buch of smaller holes and then grind these out to get the nice hole. Or perhaps easier just take to a metal shop in town and ask them to do.......likely the better option.
Oh no thats ok - I think I owe it to try and few more mows as is before modding, Mr Deutscher deserves a tad more confidence. But thank you for the suggestion - I think your approach would be the one to use IF I was to mod.
Thanks again, Nick
PS. Norm, on behalf of all H660 owners you can't be selling them off this cheap - bump it up a lil more and show Mrs Norm a good time out at the club. $1400 with you having given it the full Norm treatment etc is way too slim, thats easily $2,000 worth and even that would be a good price compared to new & current selling price for others. https://www.gumtree.com.au/web/listing/lawn-mowers/1330162515
[quote=Dandare]Couldn't you just let that sheep keep the grass down? :grin:
Danny[/quote] If you mean the animal peeking in one of the pix - well I have to take you as a non rural lad - as firstly it's a cow. But thats not so much of a problem - alas it's the neighbours on their holding. But I've certainly considered getting different animals in - thing each each comes with their own head aches, much like mowers I suppose - but you know what the mower will cut, with animals they can be rather picky in what and where they eat. :-)
Goats are good because they eat anything but they can be problematic. Funny story about goats, my mate bought a couple of them when he had a very steep property in Pakenham. He let them into the paddock which was next to the strip of land under the transmission towers. The goats walked over to the fence and jumped straight over it, then they headed up the hill, never to be seen again. He found out later that they were some sort of jumping goat and the standard fences were no problem to them. He didn't bother with goats again
[quote=maxwestern]If you just want to drop the cutting height a little then I would go for some stepped blades. Cheers Max.[/quote]
Hi Max,
I love the path of least resistance approach - I mean look if the H660 is to be feasible as a lawn cutter I'm going to have to get it to cut around 10mm lower, as whatever the effective cut height is she's just too high for the kikuyu. Now I pride myself on NOT being one of those very common Aussies who scalps his lawn in the hope it'll mean more time in between cutting - as kikuyu hates that and also it allows weeds to thrive.
But I'm looking at the lawn I did the day before yesterday and it's already needing a cut in another 2 days or so! Thats the summer joy here.
Any model blades in particular you think might be suitable on the H660? I suppose I can do the leg work just as easily looking for same effective length (factoring in bolt hole position) etc.
The Deutscher blades are so tough they don't wear much and you can just turn them over and use the other side. At this rate you are going to end up very fit
I don't have a Deutscher HE660 here to measure blade length and bolt size but there are a few different lengths of Honda stepped blades available so I would look at Honda blades first.
There are probably some stepped blades here I can list the sizes but it would be easier if I knew what length to look for.
If you want tougher blades then look at a slasher blade.
[quote=NormK]The Deutscher blades are so tough they don't wear much and you can just turn them over and use the other side. At this rate you are going to end up very fit[/quote]
haha who says I'm not already? ;-) Yes, I've a spare set of new ones too
These are the blades it's currently utilising, which are the official size: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/204339677610
[quote=NormK]I will go and measure them Max[/quote] Agh! I don't want Norm out having to measure such things, let me shoot down to the shed and come up with some numbers. Uno momento.
