What role does relief play in Reel Adjustment?

A horsepower study by John Deere was conducted several years ago. The bottom line result was if you "spin-grind only", your equipment will run - at a MINIMUM - with 16% more stress on the working systems, 100% of the time. While the 16% more stress holds true when setting with a "gap", look at the more significant role the OEM design plays if contact is made during the cutting process. See figures below.

		REQUIRED HORSEPOWER & REEL ROTATION
.002" to .005" GAP	OEM Relief	0.75 hp per cutting unit
	No Relief	0.87 hp per cutting unit
CONTACT	OEM Relief	0.88 hp per cutting unit
	No Relief	2.59 hp per cutting unit

Note that a "reliefed" reel with contact requires little more
horsepower than a "non-reliefed" reel with no contact.

We would encourage you to take the minor amount of extra time it may take to perform the complete grind job and include the relief. This once labor intensive process is now made especially efficient with the "hands-free auto-index" systems.

Relief grinding will, without question, minimize stress on the engine and reel & traction hydraulic systems. When looking at the big picture of scheduled maintenance, most facilities are not in a race to make their $15k to $45k investment cut grass. Proper maintenance schedules and the use of new grinder technologies make the time needed to correctly grind the reels a cost savings.