HR215 blade choice?
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Baughman85
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Used the 215 for the first time today. Not impressed....It didn't have the power to run thru one pass without dying. I kept having to release the blade clutch to keep it from dying when the grass got the slightest bit thick. Its a yard that is not well maintained, mostly weeds but they were not that thick. After about 3 passes I went for my cheapo Troy Built XP that blew right threw it. Maybe the two blade setup is too much for that motor? Going to try a single blade and maybe a side discharge shute to keep it from loading up. If that doesnt work I have no use for it.
Boobala
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I'm sure you know those "sping-washers" are also called Belleville & compression washers, just FYI
Power is definitely on the marginal end of things with the double blades and mulching, and perhaps the engine is a bit "tired" bringing it to the critical point of not being able to do the job.
I agree with your plan to just go with a single blade and see how that goes. You'll need to get the blade holder bracket and shorter blade bolts, as the mulch kit deletes the blade holder and uses longer bolts.
Boobala
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Available at (Fastenal) MUCH cheaper !
https://www.fastenal.com/products/b...|~ ~|categoryl3:"600090 Belleville Washers"|~
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bertsmobile1
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There is a limit to what a mulching mower can do.
The mulchers down here generally have a bigger motor because all of that extra wind movement & grass chopping requires a lot more power.
The mulching version comes with the 190 the strait thrower/bagger uses the 160.
Then there is what you are cutting.
You can not mulch 6" tall grass down to 2", some thing that my office working customers can not understand.
Ideally mulching cuts should be no more that 1/4 of the height of the grass.
Finally, mulching takes time so you have to mow slower, another thing the office workers and particularly the managers can not understand.
Over there the lawers have your balls in a vice because blade brakes/clutches are manditory and all that extra trash gobbles up a lot of power.
Baughman85
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Took the mulching blade off and it runs much better and cuts great. I mow my yard before it gets too tall but the other two other people I mow for let theirs get a little tall before they have me cut it. I guess I will keep the Troy Built around for those yards.
golfergordy
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My son has an HR215K1 SX masters series, and I have an HR215 SX, and last year I installed the mulching blade setup onto both of them. Only the Masters series had the mulching plug installed and I found that the HR215 w/o the mulching plug didn't work as well if I tried to mulch w/o the plug, so I obtained a mulching plug for that one too. If you have the mulching blade setup installed but don't want to mulch, there's no problem because you just attach the grass bag. The mulching blade setup cuts the grass into smaller pieces which fit into the bag more efficiently, so you can cut more grass before emptying the bag.
With 2 different HR215 mowers, I have not noticed a drop-off of power with the mulching blades installed whether mulching or bagging. There might actually be a very small power loss, but I haven't noticed any loss to worry about. If you're experiencing noticeable power loss, I suggest you check every aspect of the mower which could lower power output if not up to specs. For example, I picked up a used HS520 SB a few years ago, and it seemed to run fine, but I noticed that it didn't have the correct spark plug installed, so I replaced the spark plug with the correct one, and the rpm jumped up a few hundred rpms.
With 2 different HR215 mowers, I have not noticed a drop-off of power with the mulching blades installed whether mulching or bagging. There might actually be a very small power loss, but I haven't noticed any loss to worry about. If you're experiencing noticeable power loss, I suggest you check every aspect of the mower which could lower power output if not up to specs. For example, I picked up a used HS520 SB a few years ago, and it seemed to run fine, but I noticed that it didn't have the correct spark plug installed, so I replaced the spark plug with the correct one, and the rpm jumped up a few hundred rpms.