Hello all. I have never owned a Toro of any kind, but I have put a Recycler blade hub and Atomic 22" blade on a 22" push-only mower before, and do like the way the Atomic blade performs. I'm looking at getting my daughter and son-in-law a Recycler, as we have an excellent dealer and service place in town. And, at this time, I'm not concentrating on the differences between which drive type to go with, or even Personal Pace vs grab bar, as I'm more concerned with the type of bagging and mulching differences between them.
I've looked at the three different drive configurations at my local dealer, and noticed quite a difference in the underside belt covers (or lack of) between all three. My daughter & son-in-law have a front yard that they bag, and a back yard that they mulch, so I have a few questions:
The FWD doesn't have a shield, and part of the belt is exposed. Do clipping regularly get caught in the belt? Does lack of a rear-belt shield help or hurt with mulching and also with bagging? It would appear the clippings would continue to circulate a bit better, without the rear belt shield, but conversely, wouldn't be *directed* toward the bagging chute as well as one of the RWD models. Any truth to this?
The RWD models have a moderate-sized rear belt shield. As stated above, does this help or hurt with bagging, and also with mulching? And does the somewhat-diagonal ramp/chute configuration on the RWD models assist in filling the bag up better than the FWD models, which have more of a horizontal flow than the RWD models?
The AWD model has a huge rear belt shield. I noticed this when looking at the drive belt placement, which has the standard FWD pulley, with an additional lower (closer to the blade) RWD pulley, making it necessary to deepen the RWD belt cover. To me, it looks as though this would really create a great deal of direction in flow toward the ramp/chute, but also seems it would hinder the clippings from circulating when mulching. Any validity to this, from those with experience?
Thanks to anyone willing to read this, and to give any experience and/or advice.
-Eddie
