Changing blades

[Carscw]

As long as you don't get to the wing part of the blade

LOL I think he was asking how long like a month a year. But I could be wrong just this one time

(( cowboy up and get over it ))

 

[jakewells]

I sharpen my blades every week because of the tough Bermuda grass and spotty crab grass in my customers yards. Only takes me a few minutes with my chain hoist to swap and i rotate sets every week between mowing 30 yards.

 

[jekjr]

As long as you don't get to the wing part of the blade

We see ours wear out on the wings at the ends before we grind them to the wings.

 

[djdicetn]

We change the blades every other day for sharp ones, and run the ones taken off across the blade sharpener. We scrape the decks every night, as soon as, the mowers come off the trailers. I run Dixie Choppers and run 4 blades on a 3 spindle deck. We run the X blade set on the inner spindle for mulching and creating more air to discharge the clippings further. We've a few sets but all of my Dixie's run the same blades.

I just consider it a wear and tear item, and figure it in as an operating expense. I say run them through the grinder real quick. We're working to many hours to file blades. Which i think is a better technique but it just takes to much time.

WOW....reading your post I had never even thought about mounting two blades in an "X pattern" on a single spindle!! Is that "safe"...would it void a homeowner's ZTR manufacturer's warranty if they did that on their Dixie Chopper....wouldn't one blade be slightly higher than the other on the "x spindle" and how would that affect the cut....is there any chance that could have an adverse effect on the spindle's bearings??????? I can see how technically that this would create more "turbulence", but again that's the first time I've ever read about someone doing that which raised all those questions in my mind. Can you elaborate???

 

[exotion]

WOW....reading your post I had never even thought about mounting two blades in an "X pattern" on a single spindle!! Is that "safe"...would it void a homeowner's ZTR manufacturer's warranty if they did that on their Dixie Chopper....wouldn't one blade be slightly higher than the other on the "x spindle" and how would that affect the cut....is there any chance that could have an adverse effect on the spindle's bearings??????? I can see how technically that this would create more "turbulence", but again that's the first time I've ever read about someone doing that which raised all those questions in my mind. Can you elaborate???

I think its one blade in the shape of an x not two blades...

 

[djdicetn]

I think its one blade in the shape of an x not two blades...

Well, the image in your mind when you hear "X blades" are blade(s) in the shape on an X. But after your comment, I googled x blades, and after sorting through the Playstation 3 game hits....found the link below that shows a picture of the Dixie Chopper X-Blade(and it's NOT in the shape of an "X" at all and looks very similar to some mulching blades I've seen). If I were a DC owner, I probably would not have asked all of those questions:0)
But, when you think about it blade(s) in the shape of an "X" may not be a bad idea at all. Linke follows:

Dixie Chopper X Blade 30227-56X - Dixie Chopper Dixie Chopper Parts Dixie Chopper Blades

 

[djdicetn]

Well, the image in your mind when you hear "X blades" are blade(s) in the shape on an X. But after your comment, I googled x blades, and after sorting through the Playstation 3 game hits....found the link below that shows a picture of the Dixie Chopper X-Blade(and it's NOT in the shape of an "X" at all and looks very similar to some mulching blades I've seen). If I were a DC owner, I probably would not have asked all of those questions:0)
But, when you think about it blade(s) in the shape of an "X" may not be a bad idea at all. Linke follows:

Dixie Chopper X Blade 30227-56X - Dixie Chopper Dixie Chopper Parts Dixie Chopper Blades

P.S.
Meanwhile to make a comment relative to the thread topic(I'm bad about hijacking/sidebarring a thread:0)
I just put a mulch kit on my Gravely which has about 31 hours on it. The OEM blades I removed seemed to still be in fairly good shape and sharp(although not "razor sharp"). As a homeowner, I would lean towards sharpening & balancing blades once a season or every 50 hours(whichever comes first). Even at 50 hours, for a commercial user, that would probably be at least weekly or maybe a little more often(based upon a "40 hour work week", although I'm sure some guys mow more than that weekly).

P.S.S.
To keep with my predisposition to sidebar a thread topic.....check out the link below for something referred to as a "Meg-Mo System", which appears to indeed be four blades in the shape of an X.....I cannot elude to whether it is a gimmick or for real as I have only read one post where a user was asking about them:
http://www.meg-mo.com/

 

[Lawnboy18]

P.S.
Meanwhile to make a comment relative to the thread topic(I'm bad about hijacking/sidebarring a thread:0)
I just put a mulch kit on my Gravely which has about 31 hours on it. The OEM blades I removed seemed to still be in fairly good shape and sharp(although not "razor sharp"). As a homeowner, I would lean towards sharpening & balancing blades once a season or every 50 hours(whichever comes first). Even at 50 hours, for a commercial user, that would probably be at least weekly or maybe a little more often(based upon a "40 hour work week", although I'm sure some guys mow more than that weekly).

P.S.S.
To keep with my predisposition to sidebar a thread topic.....check out the link below for something referred to as a "Meg-Mo System", which appears to indeed be four blades in the shape of an X.....I cannot elude to whether it is a gimmick or for real as I have only read one post where a user was asking about them:
Meg-Mo Systems - Lawn Mower Blades, Replacement Mower Blades, Sharpen Lawn Mower Blades, Mulch Grass

Seems a little strange like blade. I do like there dethathcing rake tho!

 

[jekjr]

P.S.
Meanwhile to make a comment relative to the thread topic(I'm bad about hijacking/sidebarring a thread:0)
I just put a mulch kit on my Gravely which has about 31 hours on it. The OEM blades I removed seemed to still be in fairly good shape and sharp(although not "razor sharp"). As a homeowner, I would lean towards sharpening & balancing blades once a season or every 50 hours(whichever comes first). Even at 50 hours, for a commercial user, that would probably be at least weekly or maybe a little more often(based upon a "40 hour work week", although I'm sure some guys mow more than that weekly).

We cut a lot of Bahia grass. In fact I would say 98% of the yards we cut have some. Most people we encounter as well only want their grass cut every two weeks. Under those conditions if you get 8 hours out of a set of blades before you sharpen them you have done good. If you do. To have sharp blades cutting Bahia grass it will start stringing instead of cutting. Sme times we only get about 5 to 6 hours running before we have to stop and change out blades.

I can't even comprehend running a set of blades for 40 hours under those conditions. In fact I don't believe a set will run 40 hours even if they are kept sharp after 40 hours the wings and tips will be worn through.

 

[djdicetn]

P.S.
Meanwhile to make a comment relative to the thread topic(I'm bad about hijacking/sidebarring a thread:0)
I just put a mulch kit on my Gravely which has about 31 hours on it. The OEM blades I removed seemed to still be in fairly good shape and sharp(although not "razor sharp"). As a homeowner, I would lean towards sharpening & balancing blades once a season or every 50 hours(whichever comes first). Even at 50 hours, for a commercial user, that would probably be at least weekly or maybe a little more often(based upon a "40 hour work week", although I'm sure some guys mow more than that weekly).

We cut a lot of Bahia grass. In fact I would say 98% of the yards we cut have some. Most people we encounter as well only want their grass cut every two weeks. Under those conditions if you get 8 hours out of a set of blades before you sharpen them you have done good. If you do. To have sharp blades cutting Bahia grass it will start stringing instead of cutting. Sme times we only get about 5 to 6 hours running before we have to stop and change out blades.

I can't even comprehend running a set of blades for 40 hours under those conditions. In fact I don't believe a set will run 40 hours even if they are kept sharp after 40 hours the wings and tips will be worn through.

Yeah, I guess the type of grass can make a big difference in wearing down the edge of the blades. Mine is KY Fescue, which is probably not as hard on blades as the Bahia. Kinda makes me glad I don't have Bahia grass!!! If I were mowing commercially like you, I would make the "price-per-cut" more attractive if performed weekly instead of bi-weekly to offset the time and labor of stopping and changing out blades(time is money in your business...right). In other words if you charged them $150 to mow bi-weekly and $50 to mow weekly(just an example) wouldn't they be more inclined to have you mow weekly and save $50??? Couldn't you structure your pricing in a manner to make the "weekly "contract" more affordable per cut for the homeowner than the "bi-weekly contract"????