Export thread

Hi everyone

I've got a Sears Craftsman 19HP, 42" Mower (917.20381) that I've been pretty pleased with... I typically cut as high as I can in the summer (3.5 to 4") and plant to lower as fall proceeds...

I decided to install some better mulching blades (I had a set that Sears put on after we bought it) on it about a month ago and had a local tractor shop do it for me... they recommended installing Gator Blades so I went with that... all of my clothes, even in my hair...

Once I got the tractor back and took it out for a cut, it seemed to me that lots of grass clippings seemed to be shooting out of the front right of the mowing deck... I know that some clippings coming out are inevitable but I'm getting covered in them...

I had the shop take another look at the mower to see what might be wrong but they couldn't find anything... I was told that the gator blades really pulverize the grass (and I can see that since the clippings are SO small) but it just seems to me that something must be wrong...

This sort of operation with clippings coming out in a cloud can't be typical...

I've uploaded a picture of my foot after I was done cutting to illustrate what I'm seeing... I tried uploading a couple of videos but they're too big...

Any thoughts?

jsurpless said:

Hi everyone

I've got a Sears Craftsman 19HP, 42" Mower (917.20381) that I've been pretty pleased with... I typically cut as high as I can in the summer (3.5 to 4") and plant to lower as fall proceeds...

I decided to install some better mulching blades (I had a set that Sears put on after we bought it) on it about a month ago and had a local tractor shop do it for me... they recommended installing Gator Blades so I went with that... all of my clothes, even in my hair...

Once I got the tractor back and took it out for a cut, it seemed to me that lots of grass clippings seemed to be shooting out of the front right of the mowing deck... I know that some clippings coming out are inevitable but I'm getting covered in them...

I had the shop take another look at the mower to see what might be wrong but they couldn't find anything... I was told that the gator blades really pulverize the grass (and I can see that since the clippings are SO small) but it just seems to me that something must be wrong...

This sort of operation with clippings coming out in a cloud can't be typical...

I've uploaded a picture of my foot after I was done cutting to illustrate what I'm seeing... I tried uploading a couple of videos but they're too big...

Any thoughts?

View attachment 27359

Click to expand...

What Gator Blades did they install? G3 or G5 and how deep is your deck?

Ric said:

What Gator Blades did they install? G3 or G5 and how deep is your deck?

Click to expand...

I'm not sure which version they installed - I'll have to ask them... I do know that they told me that they were the best blades, ITHO...

For the depth of the deck - is it just a question of measuring from the bottom edge of the deck to the top? Seems like it but wanted to confirm...

jsurpless said:

I'm not sure which version they installed - I'll have to ask them... I do know that they told me that they were the best blades, ITHO...

For the depth of the deck - is it just a question of measuring from the bottom edge of the deck to the top? Seems like it but wanted to confirm...

Click to expand...

I asked about the depth of the deck because Gator blades work based on air flow and blade tip speed. They work best on a mower with a deck of 5 inches in depth and a BTS of between 18000 and 19000 FPM. Look at your blades, if there G3 the cutting surface will be 3 inches unless they installed clones.

Ric said:

I asked about the depth of the deck because Gator blades work based on air flow and blade tip speed. They work best on a mower with a deck of 5 inches in depth and a BTS of between 18000 and 19000 FPM. Look at your blades, if there G3 the cutting surface will be 3 inches unless they installed clones.

Click to expand...

the cutting surface would be the length of the cutting edge, right?

What is BTS?

jsurpless said:

the cutting surface would be the length of the cutting edge, right?

What is BTS?

Click to expand...

Yes the length of the cutting edge only. BTS= Blade tip speed. Gator Blades are basically High lift blades. [SIZE=-1]The teeth of the blade is angle toward the center of the blade to redirect the airflow and push the grass clippings back over the cutting edge of the mower blade. At or between 18000 to 19,000 BTS or FPM the same grass clipping moves across the cutting edge of the blades an average of 4 times which gives you smaller clippings. The other thing would be there going to be somewhat thicker than regular blades. A little better than 1/8th of an inch thick.[/SIZE]

I stopped selling Gators for just this reason.
They work well with some decks and are a disaster with others, it all depends upon the airflow under the deck and the modern trend to make "universal" decks makes this worse.
Universal = does everything equally poorly .
Most of times you can experiment with cutting heights and grass heights and find a combination that works, however to my mind that is the tail wagging the dog .
Before all the Gator lovers jump down my throat, there is nothing wrong with them and some owners find they suit them to a T , however they just do not work particularly well with some mower / deck combos.
The biggest problem I get is with the YTH series Husqvarnas fitted with fabricated decks ( and rebranded look alikes ).
Oddly enough they work great on the same mower with a pressed deck but the local Husky dealers were pushing Gators ( value adding ) to new mower customers and they cause so much build up under the fabricated decks that the clutch/brake pedalcan not fully disengage.

Ric said:

Yes the length of the cutting edge only. BTS= Blade tip speed. Gator Blades are basically High lift blades. [SIZE=-1]The teeth of the blade is angle toward the center of the blade to redirect the airflow and push the grass clippings back over the cutting edge of the mower blade. At or between 18000 to 19,000 BTS or FPM the same grass clipping moves across the cutting edge of the blades an average of 4 times which gives you smaller clippings. The other thing would be there going to be somewhat thicker than regular blades. A little better than 1/8th of an inch thick.[/SIZE]

Click to expand...

Here are some pics I took of the blades and the deck... can you tell what the depth of the mowing deck?

I marked up what I believe to be the cutting edge? Is that it? If so, it looks longer than 3" or 5"?

How do I determine the BTS? I tried looking in the manual but didn't seem to detail this?

thanks!

jsurpless said:

Here are some pics I took of the blades and the deck... can you tell what the depth of the mowing deck?

I marked up what I believe to be the cutting edge? Is that it? If so, it looks longer than 3" or 5"?

How do I determine the BTS? I tried looking in the manual but didn't seem to detail this?

thanks!

Click to expand...

Can I ask did you get a receipt with this purchase of those blades? It should tell what they are for sure. I've run The G3, G5 and G6 Blades on my mowers and those are not the G3 which you should be running. Those are either G5 or G6 blades and you better hope there not G6 because they are the heavy duty commercial blade and you don't have enough spindle or deck to run those.

I personally don't believe you have enough the run the G5 blades. You can't tell by looking any real difference between the 5 and 6 but there is a difference between the 3 & 5 in width, thickness and lift. My guess would be the problem your having with the grass being discharged from under the front of the deck and other places is because the grass isn't being cut properly before discharge for lack of vacuum. They recommend that G5 and G6 blades run on a 5 to 5.5 inch deck and G3 can be run on the 4 inch deck which by the looks is what you have.

Ric said:

Can I ask did you get a receipt with this purchase of those blades? It should tell what they are for sure. I've run The G3, G5 and G6 Blades on my mowers and those are not the G3 which you should be running. Those are either G5 or G6 blades and you better hope there not G6 because they are the heavy duty commercial blade and you don't have enough spindle or deck to run those.

I personally don't believe you have enough the run the G5 blades. You can't tell by looking any real difference between the 5 and 6 but there is a difference between the 3 & 5 in width, thickness and lift. My guess would be the problem your having with the grass being discharged from under the front of the deck and other places is because the grass isn't being cut properly before discharge for lack of vacuum. They recommend that G5 and G6 blades run on a 5 to 5.5 inch deck and G3 can be run on the 4 inch deck which by the looks is what you have.

Click to expand...

I did get a receipt but I don't see anything on it besides "gator blades"...

How do you measure the depth of the deck? Is it this (see attached pic) yellow line?

Are these the blades I want? Sears.com

Thanks!

jsurpless said:

I did get a receipt but I don't see anything on it besides "gator blades"...

How do you measure the depth of the deck? Is it this (see attached pic) yellow line?

Are these the blades I want? Sears.com

Thanks!

Click to expand...

If you look on the end of the blade on the bottom there should be a six digit number write it down and go to the Oregon site and look it up and find out what mower they are for before you buy anything else. If your mower is a Sears it's made by either Husqvarna or MTD most likely Husqvarna. MTD makes most all sears ztr mowers. Your deck is going to be a 4 inch deck.

Ric- "I've got a Sears Craftsman 19HP, 42" Mower (917.20381)"

(Correct me if I'm wrong) But a 917 is a craftsman lawn tractor. Least my old one was. So BTS is gonna be way slower & deck depth will be about 4 inches.

7394 said:

Ric- "I've got a Sears Craftsman 19HP, 42" Mower (917.20381)"

(Correct me if I'm wrong) But a 917 is a craftsman lawn tractor. Least my old one was. So BTS is gonna be way slower & deck depth will be about 4 inches.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure of what your asking in the first part of your question because he said it was a Sears Craftsman. and yes that's what were talking about. The BTS is going to be way to slow for the G5 blades he is using and his deck has a 4 inch cutting height so I would guess it is going to be a 4 inch deck.

The problem in a nut shell is he has to much blade for the mower. Most of those lawn tractors are going to have blades with a total of like 7 inches of cutting surface and the G5 has between 13 and 14 inches of cutting surface, he is cutting more grass than the deck can handle and he doesn't have the BTS to discharge the grass properly. If the G3 would do a better job or not would only be a guess, personally I go back to the regular mulching blades if it were me.

If I remember right the G3 blades are 2.5" wide and G5 are 3" wide.
I have a set of G5 blades on my Husqvarna RZ4623 Z-Turn with stamped deck and they work great, you might try cutting grass shorter mine is set 2 3/4 to 3 inches, I get some blow up of grass but not anywhere as much as you.
I do have a mulching plug on my deck.

gainestruk said:

If I remember right the G3 blades are 2.5" wide and G5 are 3" wide.
I have a set of G5 blades on my Husqvarna RZ4623 Z-Turn with stamped deck and they work great, you might try cutting grass shorter mine is set 2 3/4 to 3 inches, I get some blow up of grass but not anywhere as much as you.
I do have a mulching plug on my deck.

Click to expand...

Actually the G3 are 2.50mm wide and they have 25.4mm lift and 0.203mm thick. They probably would work a little better on the ZTR than the Tractor because the BTS on the ztr will be a little higher. Gator Blades work best when removing up to like an 1 1/2 inch of grass or basically removing no more than 1/3 the total height of the grass.

Ric said:

If you look on the end of the blade on the bottom there should be a six digit number write it down and go to the Oregon site and look it up and find out what mower they are for before you buy anything else. If your mower is a Sears it's made by either Husqvarna or MTD most likely Husqvarna. MTD makes most all sears ztr mowers. Your deck is going to be a 4 inch deck.

Click to expand...

Ric- when you posted this, I was figured you thought he had a Z.

So I quoted his words, but the quotes didn't show up. (sorry for the confusion).

Ric said:

If you look on the end of the blade on the bottom there should be a six digit number write it down and go to the Oregon site and look it up and find out what mower they are for before you buy anything else. If your mower is a Sears it's made by either Husqvarna or MTD most likely Husqvarna. MTD makes most all sears ztr mowers. Your deck is going to be a 4 inch deck.

Click to expand...

I tried looking under the blade but couldn't see any number... is it only on one side? Any picture that might help?

jsurpless said:

I tried looking under the blade but couldn't see any number... is it only on one side? Any picture that might help?

Click to expand...

It's on the bottom of the blade at the end, just one side or end.

Gator G3, G5, and G6 blades are not intended to be used on shallow stamped mower decks.
There is what is called a mulching blade which has a two step cutting edge and these are standard equipment on many lawn tractor machines or optional otherwise.
G6 Gator blades are 3" wide, G5 and G3 are 2 1/2" wide and produce too much airflow for contoured shallow stamped decks.
With the OEM part number of a blade, you can go to the Oregon website and get a cross reference to Oregon blades if they are available.

Mad Mackie said:

Gator G3, G5, and G6 blades are not intended to be used on shallow stamped mower decks.
There is what is called a mulching blade which has a two step cutting edge and these are standard equipment on many lawn tractor machines or optional otherwise.
G6 Gator blades are 3" wide, G5 and G3 are 2 1/2" wide and produce too much airflow for contoured shallow stamped decks.
With the OEM part number of a blade, you can go to the Oregon website and get a cross reference to Oregon blades if they are available.

Click to expand...

So I am wondering - are Gator blades a style of blade OR a specific manufacturer?

jsurpless said:

So I am wondering - are Gator blades a style of blade OR a specific manufacturer?

Click to expand...

Oregon makes the Gator Blades. If you should use the second link and try to look up your own OEM to find out what Gator blade to use. it's a 125 page download.

OREGON brand Lawn Mower Blades

OREGON brand Lawn Mower Blades

Mad Mackie said:

Gator G3, G5, and G6 blades are not intended to be used on shallow stamped mower decks.
There is what is called a mulching blade which has a two step cutting edge and these are standard equipment on many lawn tractor machines or optional otherwise.
G6 Gator blades are 3" wide, G5 and G3 are 2 1/2" wide and produce too much airflow for contoured shallow stamped decks.
With the OEM part number of a blade, you can go to the Oregon website and get a cross reference to Oregon blades if they are available.

Click to expand...

You can use the G3 and G5 on residential mowers and the G3 will work on a stamped deck. The G6 is the only one you can't use on a residential mower.

No need to download 125 pages, check this link.

OREGON® Replacement Lawnmower Blade Search

Put round hole blades on decks with "star" spindles?

jsurpless said:

So I am wondering - are Gator blades a style of blade OR a specific manufacturer?

Click to expand...

If you don't have the information or part numbers the 125 page download can be real useful because it gives you the Oregon Part numbers plus your OEM numbers, blade length the weight and thickness of your blade, lift and some other info. Basically every thing you need to know to know what blades will work.

jsurpless said:

So I am wondering - are Gator blades a style of blade OR a specific manufacturer?

Click to expand...

Oregon designed and patented the Gator blade.
Naturally a lot of other blade makers and blade wholesalers stole the design and got them made in China for all the penny pinchers who will not pay anyone a fair price for their hard work.

Because Gators were the first on the market all tooted blades tend to be referred to as Gators.

Oregon makes Gators
XHT makes Predators
Stens markets Silver Streaks
Raptors & Chop Chops have no manufacturers name on them nor any part numbers so I guess they are another "make 1000 that look like this" from China.

Silver Streaks are a disaster as the end flute is too weak and breaks off leaving the blade unbalanced so after replacing them with real Gators and doing gratis spindle bearing replacements I no longer stock them.
Predators I II III & IV are distributed down here by Jackmax , I fell out with the rep so never had a chance to try them. However they look almost identical to Silver Streaks in flute design so it might have been for the better.
A few of my commercial customers run Gators so I only stock the blades they use.
My predecessor loved Gators and pushed them hard.
Most of the residential decks & spindles suffered greatly from using the Gators.
All of the 3 bolt AYP spindles have fractured, they just can't handle the extra forces the blades blades exert.
The older Murray decks ( pre MTD ) cracked & split every where and most of the pressed decks left clumps of grass on the customers lawn, probably too shallow.
Now there are a lot of variables in this sample but most have gone back to std blades and are getting better results and less deck / belt failures.

OK, took me a while to get a good picture where I could read the model # but I finally found it...

Looks like it's 596 900 ON

jsurpless said:

OK, took me a while to get a good picture where I could read the model # but I finally found it...

Looks like it's 596 900 ON

Click to expand...

Oregon Part Number: 596-900 Replaces Sears 127-843, 131-323, 138-498, 138-791 and 138-971
It's a G5 21" blade with a 5pt star and 1" lift 3.00 wide.

Ric said:

Oregon Part Number: 596-900 Replaces Sears 127-843, 131-323, 138-498, 138-791 and 138-971
It's a G5 21" blade with a 5pt star and 1" lift 3.00 wide.

Click to expand...

How do I figure out what OEM blades my tractor uses?

jsurpless said:

How do I figure out what OEM blades my tractor uses?

Click to expand...

What year is the mower? Is it the T2200? The thing is the OEM blade your mower uses can be any of the ones I listed in the previous post and they will fit a number of different mowers.

Ric said:

What year is the mower? Is it the T2200? The thing is the OEM blade your mower uses can be any of the ones I listed in the previous post and they will fit a number of different mowers.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure if it's the T2200 - I bought in May 2014 and this link seems to indicate it's the T2200 because it says 20381 which matches my manual @ 917.20381

2014 Craftsman T2200 Model 20381 42 in Hydro 19hp Yard Tractor Review – 540cc Single Briggs Platinum | TodaysMower.com