Need help identifying correct Gator blades for my Kubota Z421

[sundevils]

I have a Kubota Z421 (zero-turn) with a 60" deck. The deck model is RCK60P-400Z. I'm not happy with the performance of my Kubota blades and bagger. The guys at my Kubota dealer all upgraded their blades to Gator and really like the change. I want to upgrade my blades but I am getting conflicting information from my Kubota dealer and from Oregon Products about which Gators to order. The Kubota manual does not provide part numbers and I am unable to find part numbers anywhere on the Kubota service web site. The part numbers I've received from my dealer are pointing me at different blades - I want to order right the first time.

Does anyone have access to specs on the blades? I am not near the mower (in a different state) but want to order the blades so I can get them installed as soon as I return home.

- Kubota part number (I've been told K5645-34340 & K56457-34340 with the first one being the mulching blade)
- Length of blade (I'm assuming 20")
- Diameter of center hole (Gators come in 1/2" and 9/16" but my Kubota guy is telling me the diameter of the center hole is greater than 1")
- Corresponding Gator blade part number (I've been pointed to 396-787 & 396-810; it can't be both)

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[ILENGINE]

The 396-787 is 20 9/16 long with 1/2 inch offset. the 396-810 are 20 1/2 long with 5/8 offset both with 1 1/8 center hole. Most likely either one would work.

 

[lugbolt]

gator blades will not solve your problem.

one of the reasons I hate gator blades is because they "say" that multiple blades "will work"....and as a former dealer tech, I have tried them when we were not able to get OE blades, and I honestly cannot think of one satisified customer. They are not made to fit, they "will" fit but not correctly. Remember they are aftermarket and the aftermarket typically sells one-size-fits-most but doesn't really work like it should.

When I had my JD LX188, I had gator blades on it. They worked ok on it, still though, OEM blades cut much better and lasted a lot longer. Again they "just fit"-and that's about it.

the problem lies in the design of the bagging system--i.e., it don't have a blower. It uses only the suction of the blades to "throw" grass up that long tube and there ain't enough air flow from only the airflow created by the blades alone, the blades themselves just won't do it no matter what blades you use. It needs a blower mounted to the size of the deck which would provide suction under the deck as well as provide a large amount of airflow to push the clippings into the bagger.

One thing I did do on mine was I actually welded two OE blades together in a cross pattern (exactly 90 degrees) and that was enough airflow. However, it also ate up a huge amount of power and completely ate up all the available horsepower such that it was pretty close to impossible to mow at any sort of speed, had to slow down for everything! Cut quality was, however, pretty darn good. And noisy.

Secondly if you use trash bags inside the bagger's bags, they cut the amount of airflow down drastically. You cannot use trash bags inside, period. These things need all the airflow they can get and by restricting it even a tiny bit they won't work properly.

I have tried them all while at the dealer and on my own since my mower came with a bagger on it (ZG127S). I threw the bagger away (literally) and put a mulching kit on. Problems solved. And don't have to deal with clippings anymore either.

 

[sundevils]

I appreciate your input. The recommendation to use the Gator blades is coming from multiple people at my local Kubota dealership. This dealership does not sell Gator blades - it only sells Kubota blades - so there is nothing in it financially for my dealer.

 

[slomo]

As lugbolt said, I also agree, Gator blades are terrible for bagging. They are purpose built mulching blades. You will see notch voids on the back of the blade which lowers lift and airflow to the bag. Of course Gator says their one blade can do everything. Owners of their blades say different.

slomo

 

[sundevils]

Again, I appreciate the input. My Kubota dealer guys bag with Gator blades. If it were up to them Kubota mowers would come with Gator blades standard.

 

[bertsmobile1]

The caveat on that is having a blower on the deck.
Gators chop the clippings very fine .
Because they are fine they have very little weight so they do not travel very far.
The analogy is trying to throw a stone , a handfull of gravel that weighs the same and same thing with sand
The rock ( throwing blades ) will go the furthest , the gravel ( mulching blades ) will travel a lot less and the sand ( gators will go the least distance )
However you will see where the rock landed & see where the gravel landed but the sand will vanish.
Different blades have different cutting characteristics and in particular different air flow characteristics and these need to be matched to the deck.
It is a lot more complicated than you could ever imagine .
Considering a set of blades is about the cost of dinner with the misses buy both and try both the settle on the ones you like best .

The 3rd thing is the ground speed you mow at.
Some blade have a maximum ground speed after which they just don't work properly
Then there is the size of the clippings.
The time of day you mow
The moisture content of your grass
The actual species of grass you are mowing

All of them add up .
When I first started in the business I talked most of my commercial customers who regularly change their blades to buy a set of each blade that I carry that would fit on their machine.
The end result is of the 20 or so of them, not a one is running the blades the machines were shipped with .
They all use the notched hi-lift blades on their bagging machines , except on the Walkers . most have flat blades for sandy sites and Gators where the customer wants mulching.
The do the "mulching" lawns early in the morning so the clippings will dry out during the heat of the day and then fall down between the grass blades.
No one can tell you what blades will suit you & your mower best because none of us are you.
Gators & throwing generally allows for the fastest ground speeds and for commercial teams that = money.
A lot of the home owners who are in love with their lawns were very dissapointed with the performance of their gators and when I see them mowing, they are crawling over the ground and in many cases with Gators this will leave a lot of uncut grass all over the place.
CHanged their blades with the propriorty mulching blades and problem solved .
Another thing to think about is the season.
We mow all year round hers and a lot of the teams run different blades for summer & winter .

 

[lugbolt]

Interesting

I always did mulch yards in the afternoons and early evenings. Grass was DRY, and it mulched much better. Even with standard factory mulching blades (Kubota) the "clippings" were little more than dust-literally that's all you saw if you ran across a driveway, was a green dust. Nary a clipping longer than 1mm at the very most. With it being so fine, it just disappears and rots out in a day or so. Home and business owners loved that. No clippings to have to figure out what to do with, they dont' sit in a pile and rot and attract critters, etc etc. I had one or two bagging customers who wanted their yards bagged exclusively and that happens. One of those two, asked to have theirs cut on Friday at 1600 hours and said you need to be done by 1700hr. Ok fine, I'll bring my mulching mower over and while they're gone to work, I'll cut the yard. The man got home before the wife did. Wife got in about 1800, and she called me and said I don't know what you did but it looks great out there, thank you for what you do. The next week they were home by time I could get there and she was throwing a fit about not having a bagger attachment. Once she shut up I told her that I mowed it last week with no bagger and if she'd let me do it again, she could watch...and she did. I mulched her yard every week for 49 weeks until her husband passed away due to stroke, and she moved away to be with family. Really enjoyed working for her. The other customer? Wouldn't let me mulch it, wouldn't let me even try-so after I removed the bagging mower from service due to age/wear, I didn't replace it and had to tell him that it made no financial sense for me to buy a mower for $7000 just to cut his yard only.

but the kicker with mulching blades (kit) is that the blades MUST be sharp, they can't be rounded on the corners, and the deck's gotta be clean and adjusted properly. Dry grass. It'll cut wet grass or grass with dew on it but had to really slow down and the bottom of the deck had to be cleaned twice a day--which meant either (1) a stop at a car wash ($2.00 roughly + the time it takes) or (2) leave it build up and hope customers didn't get mad because the mower wasn't cutting as good as it usually did.

I don't miss doing it. Way too much work for the amount of money people are willing to pay and people can be really picky about their grass!