John Deere Manual

My customer lady has a John Deere Sabre. She complained the grass was clumping when she mowed the lawn. She runs it like a bulldozer

It's a 14.5/38 Gear. It seemed like the deck was set up as a mulching deck. The side discharge had a housing that I just took off, but it had three pieces to it.

She couldn't find her Operator's Manual. I told her I could find one online; turns out John Deere doesn't release manuals for free in pdf. She had an extra set of new blades which I installed.
The ones I took off looked like mulching blades, they had a longer cutting edge on them.

Also adjusted the deck by a couple of rods that support it from the front deck to the frame. That seemed to bring the deck parallel to the ground. Also put the anti-scalping rollers down a little.

I'd like to see the specs for that mulching setup; looks like JD keeps their manuals a big secret. The JD rep was a dick and I hung up on the guy.

Repair manuals can be had off of Ebay, don't want to spend $$$ though....

I got a free PDF manual for my mower off the JD website...if you can''t find it, ask a local dealer if they can help.

Set the back of the deck 1/4" higher than the front, and try to shine up the underside of the deck the best you can.

Thanks Rob,

I think this model is a 1999, deck was very clean underneath. I put every number off that label onto the JD document search, all I got was no file found.

I guess you are on your own. Start with the new blades and proper deck pitch...I bet it will be an improvement.

You could give these guys a call, hopefully they can help:
http://www.warrencountyservice.com/

Thanks John, and everybody,

They did reply to my comment with this: http://techpubs.deere.com
I couldn't familiarize myself with the way they categorize. There were 100's of manuals which is understandable. But the model # which is on the back didn't direct me to the manual I need. It's model 14.5/38 Gear exactly like that on the label, with GX1438A018085
And PS the manual is more than I made on this little job, and the time to find it shows why nobody wants small jobs.

This is another very small job I did, I would just like to consult a manual about removing the mulching cage or whatever it is called. It's a woman homeowner who is a very nice lady, just don't want liability for modifying the mower. Probably too late for that; I warned her that the blade is a little more exposed now with the mulching shroud removed, and there is a slightly greater likelyhood that stones could be kicked out from the discharge. There's still the black plastic spring loaded discharge cover on the deck anyway.
I happen to be painting the house across the street, and had a bird's eye view of her mowing her lawn Hopefully this deck adjustment will nullify her tendency to mow over rocks and roots repeatedly

BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!! BAM!! BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!!


That's a great source of entertainment! Back when I lived in Yuppieville ( my original home town ) there was one neighbor that constantly mowed rocks & roots. Me & my ol' man would just sit there & laugh our asses off the whole time.

I can't help it - every time I hear someone mowing rocks I bust out belly-laughing. It's one of the greatest sounds ever! BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!!

I'm guilty of it too because I'm always in a hurry .... and there's plenty of buried metal, bricks, trash, concrete & rocks here. It's not funny when I do it though - it costs me money!