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Anyone here found gator blades for their ZT1 50? I reached out to Oregon and inquired because all I could find on their site was 17 7/8” blades and they confirmed they do not make a suitable blade for the mower. Additionally, the offset is 15/16” which means they would drop down below the deck lip if bolted onto the spindle. I have been over all the forums, searched for 742-05052 and 942-05052 replacement blades and all I can seem to find is the grossly overpriced, crap OEM blades. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Welcome to the world of let's take a standard part and make it odd enough you have to buy from us at a stupid price till oregon makes an aftermarket copy. Look through a parts catalog at all the different blades. There are different types but not that many. They don't design new blades or spindles because they are better.

My paper catalogue from Stens lists 8 blades that are 17 7/8" long
7 of them have a hole & one has a Husqvarna star
Unfortunately it does not appear to be accessable on line
So you will need to take your blade to your nearest independent mower repair shop, you know the ones who do repairs & sell used mowers .
They will probably be able to do a near match for length width thickness & hole size.

the down side of thisis you will need to buy the blade from them & not Amazon or ebay and that appears to be against the religion of a lot who post here.
The other thing too remember is not every blade will work with every deck as the size Shape & angle of the flute is specifically designed for a particular deck .
I remember one case when I found some higer lift blades for a customer because he wanted to throw further
Unfortunately all they did was pack a lot of grass between the deck & the blade till the deck was overwhelmed and choked .
Then again I have a customer with both a Great Dane & A Toro
He found the Toro cuts better with the Dane blades fited and the Dane cuts better with the Toro blades fitted.

Now what is the problem you are having with the "grossly overpriced, crap OEM blades" ?

I've been using Oregon 598-064 Mulching Gator Blades for three years with excellent results in my ZT1 50" deck. The blades sit just a tad lower to the ground but not too low. I thought I would have a selection available by now but this and two offered by CC are it, as far as I know
Bill

I use "Copperhead" mulch blades manufactured by Rotary. They are similar to Gator blades. Item you want is:

Copperhead Mulcher Blade 17-1/4" X 6 Point Star MTD


Only caveat is if the grass is wet or even damp they will clump up like crazy. If the grass is nice and dry they work fantastic. Good luck!

Is there any problem with the offset using the Copperhead 16080 blades?

Here is a stupid question are the current blades using the new "S" mount instead the six point mount?

Just what we need. Another useless proprietary blade mount from crap cadet. Just one more reason to NOT buy crap cadet.
<<<rant off>>>

Yelp just had to order set of blades for stock which BTW are all on B/O from CUB/MTD distributor. Just wait there is a quick change large "S" version too. I am holding off on buying spindles for awhile. Looks like the "S" while hold up better than the star.

StarTech said:

Here is a stupid question are the current blades using the new "S" mount instead the six point mount?

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Just picked up a ZTS2 54 and I see its a new star style....only oem available :-(

You should put in Old style spindles just to buck the system.
LoL.

bertsmobile1 said:

the down side of thisis you will need to buy the blade from them & not Amazon or ebay and that appears to be against the religion of a lot who post here.

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So true......

billv45 said:

I've been using Oregon 598-064 Mulching Gator Blades for three years with excellent results in my ZT1 50" deck. The blades sit just a tad lower to the ground but not too low. I thought I would have a selection available by now but this and two offered by CC are it, as far as I know
Bill

Click to expand...

Excellent results would be bagging IMO.

Hammermechanicman said:

You should put in Old style spindles just to buck the system.
LoL.

Click to expand...

They might last longer too. LOL

Actually all you have to do is change out the spindle shaft. Otherwords replace the 738-06255 with the 753-06348 spindle shaft kit. And then install 6 point star blades.

StarTech said:

Actually all you have to do is change out the spindle shaft.

Click to expand...

Well thats good to know! Price is not too bad. Is the shaft a press fit on bearings? Or slip?

marksanders said:

Is there any problem with the offset using the Copperhead 16080 blades?

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No. The ones I use fit perfectly as they are an OEM replacement.