# Gravely 52" HD ZT problems with bagging.



## Gundog

I bought a 52" Gravely HD ZT just under 1 year ago and it does not bag very well. It has the power bagger and it gets clogged at the opening in the deck before the blower motor. Unless the grass is completely dry it clogs right away I live over an hour away from the dealer and have not wanted to make that drive so I have been fighting it.

An observation is it seems to really blow a lot of debris out under the deck on the side where the bagger is. The left side of the deck nothing is blown out. I am wondering if it has the blade mounted wrong or some other issue. I have raised it up and looked under it but it is not obvious what the problem is.

The machine cuts the grass just fine it just won't pick up the grass very well. I paid almost 1K for this option and it does not do a very good job. I called the factory for help but they were not much help and after looking at the work they did installing the bagger I am not real confident in getting it fixed by the dealer.

Any ideas before making 2 round trips to the dealer 1.5 hours each way?

I recent;y bought a DR leaf and lawn vac trailer for my fall leaf cleanup used on CL and when I removed the factory bagger it will pick up grass much better but I have the factory bagger blower and the 8HP DR in series so it works now. I don't want to leave this thing together all year because of the length and losing the maneuverability. I notice even with the 2 blowers in series it still is blowing a lot of debris out on the right side of the deck that just seems odd to me I would think it would be pulling things to the deck not blowing them away.

I have tried adjusting the deck height and nothing seems to change. Without the DR it can't pick up even slightly damp grass without clogging the port in the deck within 100' of mowing. I am not talking wet grass either just good old green grass. The engine RPM seems to be correct but I have not put tachometer on it.

When I bought it the dealer told me it would pick up wet grass with the power bagger but that is not even close hell I would be happy if it just picked up normal grass without clogging. It does not get clogged in the hose but in the deck.

Thanks Mike


----------



## Richard-tx

Lower your ground speed or mow more frequently. It is easy to clog the discharge with long wet grass even without the bagger.


----------



## Gundog

Richard-tx said:


> Lower your ground speed or mow more frequently. It is easy to clog the discharge with long wet grass even without the bagger.


I have done both it does not seem to mater we mow often and slower ground speed did not seem to change things either.


----------



## Richard-tx

Are you sure you have the correct boot/discharge chute?

There are two dealers that I would call.

Richard's in Spencer WV and the other is a dealer in Fl. I have to look up the dealers name in FL. Talk to Jamie at Richard's. If he cannot help, then post back here and I will dig up the other contact. Both of these dealers have seen it all. Florida and WV are states where grass grows quick and Florida has an extended mowing season.

Have some pictures ready to email. Interesting pictures would be of the discharge chute, the installation of the vac, the bottom of the mower deck, a typical clog, etc.

Sometimes all it takes is a sharp edge to catch clippings. Then it is like a snowball rollling down a hill.


----------



## Gundog

Thanks Richard I will try and get a picture of a clog. and see if that helps. I normally just turn it off reach under it to clear the clog and draw back a green arm.


----------

