Why are the clippings blowing outside my deck when using a bagger?

your simply cutting more and faster than your bagger can handle.....try slowing your ground speed, also make sure the debris are not catching or hanging up on your mower discharge chute....if possible you might experiment letting more air out of your bagger someway, I dont think I would fool with it myself, but that might be a option ??

sofakng said:

Thanks very much for the response!

Should I adjust the throttle or just go slower? (i.e. pedal speed)

I could've sworn that I tried going very slow, but I'll try it again and see if it helps.

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no, keep that throttle at "rabbit" (full) when cutting - that will make mower deck operate at it's very best. But, do slow down your travel speed while cutting by backing off on the travel foot pedal...
if fallen leaves are real thick, may take several passes to get 'em all.

There is definitely a happy medium with deck height. Too low and the lawn will scalp and not enough air will be allowed between the ground and the deck shell to facilitate air movement through the chute. Too high and it will just fling leaves everywhere because you'll have too big of a gap to keep the leaves from flying out.

Is there a baffle for the underside of the deck that you need?

The "rake", difference between the height of the front edge of the deck to the back edge of the deck can make a difference. Assuming your bagger is the same as mine there is a baffle on the back side of the top plastic piece that needs to get blown out fairly regularly with a "leaf blower" to keep it clear of clippings. If that gets clogged bagging performance goes down. And if the leaves are at all wet they are likely to be pretty hard to push up the chute so there likely isn't one deck height that's ideal for all conditions. It'll vary with how wet the leaves are and how deep. Also to some degree how big they are (i.e. maple vs birch).

Thanks for the replies everybody! I also spoke to a dealer and he suggested checking for a missing baffle on my deck as well.

Does anybody have any pictures of what that would look like? I'm going to remove the deck on my mower after I go home and take some pictures of my deck so you guys can see what I have.

@bhayden - Do you have a picture of what piece you are talking about? I notice that my bagger gets a lot of clippings right behind where the bags slide onto the metal brackets.

Also, I've tried going slow... very, very slow and sometimes it works decent, but often it seems like the deck is acting like a fan blowing 75% of the leafs outside the deck. I've borrowed some neighbors riding mowers with baggers and they work quite well, so I really do think something is wrong with mine (or maybe I'm missing a baffle like suggested?)

It's so dark now by the time I get home that I can't really get you a picture. Plus my tractor is out in a shed with it's cover on and since it's 45 degrees and raining I really don't feel like going out an uncovering it

The area I'm talking about is on the back vertical part of the hard shell plastic part that hinges up. On mine, and I think they are all the same, there is a perforated baffle that is supposed to let the air flow thru but not clippings. On mine, at least when it's dry a fair amount of clippings get trapped there and I have to blow it out with a leaf blower after each use.

Of course a good deal of the air blows through the mesh bags; at least until they are full.

sofakng said:

Thanks for the replies everybody! I also spoke to a dealer and he suggested checking for a missing baffle on my deck as well.

Does anybody have any pictures of what that would look like? I'm going to remove the deck on my mower after I go home and take some pictures of my deck so you guys can see what I have.

Also, I've tried going slow... very, very slow and sometimes it works decent, but often it seems like the deck is acting like a fan blowing 75% of the leafs outside the deck. I've borrowed some neighbors riding mowers with baggers and they work quite well, so I really do think something is wrong with mine (or maybe I'm missing a baffle like suggested?)

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one way to check that all baffles, etc. are present are to look in the cavity under your tilting seat, get the FULL model # and S/N, go to website PDF Manual Web Archive , enter data, d/l pdf copy of parts list. In that doc you should see exploded diagrams of your mower deck and all associated parts.
If the running deck is blowing leaves back out from under the deck lips, then there most likley is an impediment slowing air and cuttings from traveling up and into bagger. Chk that deck underside and bagger's chute are clean...and that the bagger air sieve screens (located above the clippings containers) are not stopped up with trash (best to blow 'em out with compressed air or such). If all is right, the only time you should see leaves moving away from the deck is when they are too thick and piling up along the deck's outer wall.

Here's an image of the twin bagger:

That 1/4 roundish shaped bump on the back is the air baffle I was talking about keeping clear.