Anyone ever added a flexible skirt to a mower deck?

[packardv8]

A friend with a John Deere X300 said when he added the bagger, he had to add a steel lip to the front of the deck to contain the clippings so the bagger would work.

Now that I'm mowing at 3.5", the bagger doesn't pick up the clippings as well as it did at 3". Looking at the deck sitting on hard pan, there's a lot of daylight under it. Occurs to me a flexible skirt might be a good thing. Anyone ever seen one?

jack vines

 

[Pumper54]

Just throwing out an idea but you might look at the plastic yard edging from one of the big box stores. Cut a few sections to bolt around the bottom of the deck.
Tom

 

[Bob E]

I suspect your friend was probably talking about an anti blowout baffle. It bolts to the bottom of the deck and extends inside the deck to create a little lip that helps hold in debris and keeps them from flying out around the bottom of the deck.
It seems like I've seen threads where guys welded maybe a 1" strip of metal around the bottom of their deck to make it 1" deeper for improved suction. I can't seem to find any of those threads now to see how it worked out for them, but I think you want to keep the cutting edge of the blade close to the bottom edge of the deck for the best cut quality. I once had a push mower that the owner mistakenly put a short blade adapter on in place of a long blade adapter. It was noticeably more difficult to push, and it didn't cut very well...

 

[MyGrassHasCrabs]

A friend with a John Deere X300 said when he added the bagger, he had to add a steel lip to the front of the deck to contain the clippings so the bagger would work.

Now that I'm mowing at 3.5", the bagger doesn't pick up the clippings as well as it did at 3". Looking at the deck sitting on hard pan, there's a lot of daylight under it. Occurs to me a flexible skirt might be a good thing. Anyone ever seen one?

jack vines

I have a number of sweetgum balls in my yard roughly equivalent to the national debt.

I did find the expensive JD piece of metal and put it on the bottom of my mower deck, but I can't see it helps very much.

Which brings me here - I had a similar idea to yours but was thinking of using "doormat" material for the skirt...never did get anywhere with it. Did you ever fabricate the skirt and if so, how did it work out for you? Worth the effort?

 

[7394]

I've read of others using a truck thick rubber mud flap cut to size & bolted on.. Reportedly with good results.

I have front metal baffle on my Z. Adding it was like night & day improvement.

 

[sheenist]

I have contemplated that very thing. I mow higher than I used to and am having the same problems with blowout. i purchased a bolt-on skirt from Jacks small engines using part numbers from the owners manual and received a metal skirt. Not what I wanted. Thinking about looking for a piece of belting from industrial sources such as mines or quarries. I think that 1/4" or 5/16" thick would work.
Sheenist

 

[sgkent]

rubber wall base / baseboard. Hit the big box stores over in the floor tile area. 4" x 48" is like $2 if they have loose pieces. There are places that sell self adhesive although I might not trust that if / when it comes loose.

 

[Honest Abe]

oh my, a transgender mower, now things have gone off the cliff . . . . .

but seriously, what type of blades are you using?

I only use "High-lift mulching" by Oregon, never leave a blade of grass behind on the ground . . . .

 

[MyGrassHasCrabs]

oh my, a transgender mower, now things have gone off the cliff . . . . .

but seriously, what type of blades are you using?

I only use "High-lift mulching" by Oregon, never leave a blade of grass behind on the ground . . . .

Not a transgender mower, but more like a Scotsman's Kilt

I always run into the problem in the Fall - leaves and then a little later Sweetgum balls cover the grass that I've spent too much to overseed. I don't want to lower the deck because I'm trying to encourage the new grass growth. The higher setting (like 3.5-4") picks up 3/4 of the crap, but leaves a noticeable amount behind. I'm using high-lift blades already and it still doesn't get the job done. I could (and do) make multiple passes but (1) it tramps all over the new grass more, (2) takes twice as long and (3) uses twice as much fuel. I already have the JD deck mod (small strip of expensive metal bolted onto the bottom of the deck) that was supposed to increase suction.

I had the notion of some kind of skirt around the bottom would help but can't quite figure out how to "bolt" whatever material onto the deck and don't even know if it would help anyway. I guess the front of the deck would have to be left open so that leaves, etc. could go in(?) but would they get tossed out too?

Thanks everyone who replied, I'll update if I ever get anywhere on this.