Used John Deere 220SL Greens Mower

Introducing our used John Deere 220SL Greens Mower.

This is an excellent example of a used John Deere 220SL, owned by a local bowling green and serviced by Powercut annually and will come fully serviced, with the cylinder being freshly ground with new bottom blade.

Options included:

Parking stand

Transport wheels

11 Blade cutting cylinder

GTC (Greens Tender Conditioner)

Features

Speed Link™ height-of-cut system adjusts both sides of the roller at the same time

The ultimate in quick and accurate height-of-cut adjustments: The Speed Link height-of-cut adjustment system ties both sides of the front roller together, allowing technicians to make height-of-cut adjustments simply by adjusting one end of the roller.

How does this innovative system accomplish a one-point height-of-cut adjustment? It all starts with the worm gear drives in the front-roller castings. The worm gear system rotates via hex bolts on the side of the rear-roller castings, adjusting the roller up and down. Simply turn the gears by turning the hex adjuster on the side of the casting. Each full turn represents an adjustment of 0.0254 mm (0.001 in.). A diagram on the side of the casting tells which direction to turn the hex bolts to raise or lower the cutting height.

But that’s not all. The true secret to the system is the connecting rod that ties the worm gear systems for the roller tower together. With the connecting rod in place, turning the height-of-cut adjuster on one side automatically turns the other side by the exact same amount. This allows for adjusting the height of cut from one end of the roller, making adjustments not only quick, but with stunning precision.

 

The Speed Link connecting rod is also spring loaded, so it can be easily removed should both towers need to be adjusted independently. Once the roller is paralleled to the front roller when the cutting unit is initially set up, the Speed Link system takes over and moves each side of the roller by the same amount for a quick one-point height-of-cut adjustment.

The preferred way to adjust the cutting unit is with a variable-speed electric or air drill with a 16-mm socket attached. A drill makes the adjustment even easier by rotating the tower quickly, making height-of-cut changes a breeze.  The connecting rod ensures the other side turns just as fast and just as accurately.

NOTE: Electric or pneumatic impact tools cannot be used to make the height-of-cut adjustment.

The line of SL Walk Greens Mowers features a narrow front-roller-to-rear-drum distance for easy turning, maneuverability, and cleanup-pass cutting performance. With a Greens Tender™ Conditioner (GTC) installed, this distance is 342 mm (13.5 in.).

 

Narrow front-roller-to-rear-drum distance for contour following and cleanup-pass cut quality

A narrow front-roller-to-rear-drum base increases performance in undulations, minimizing scalping opportunities and improving cut quality.

 

By keeping the roller base narrow, the John Deere SL models requires very little effort to lift the front roller to make a turn. As this distance increases, turning effort becomes much more difficult, reducing operator comfort during mowing.

 

Another benefit of the narrow front-to-rear base is maneuverability. By keeping the distance as short as possible, the machine becomes much easier to steer and requires little tracking effort on every pass. As this distance increases, opportunities for difficult steering and less-than-optimal tracking become much more prevalent.

 

These are important considerations when comparing to a floating-head walk-behind greens mower.  Some of these competitive units feature front-roller-to-rear-drum distances that are up to 72.6 mm (2.86 in.) more than the John Deere SL models. This added distance increases lifting effort during turns and makes it more difficult to keep the machines on track.

 

Also important to note is the quality of cut in the cleanup pass. Cleanup passes are made in the same track every single time they are mowed. A longer machine with limited steering means the front roller drags across the turf in the cleanup pass, eventually thinning out the turf and hurting its quality. The John Deere SL models limit this impact with its narrow front-roller-to-rear-drum distance.