~~~Question for MULCHING LEAVES!!!

[trpshoot]

Grasshopper 329B with 52" rear discharge deck & a 29HP Vanguard.

OK. I have the stock blades on this mower. The leaves are starting to fall, and thus far I am not impressed with the mulching of this setup. I have sharpened the blades and still no real shredding of leaves.

My old 318 which I no longer have was a mulching machine with two license plates zipped tied over the discharge and using medium lift blades with a speed up pulley. It turned leaves into confetti.

What blades do you all recommend for this rear discharge deck?

thanks

 

[Ric]

Grasshopper 329B with 52" rear discharge deck & a 29HP Vanguard.

OK. I have the stock blades on this mower. The leaves are starting to fall, and thus far I am not impressed with the mulching of this setup. I have sharpened the blades and still no real shredding of leaves.

My old 318 which I no longer have was a mulching machine with two license plates zipped tied over the discharge and using medium lift blades with a speed up pulley. It turned leaves into confetti.

What blades do you all recommend for this rear discharge deck?

thanks

My choice would be the Oregon G6 Gator Blades.

 

[Mad Mackie]

A rear discharge deck may have one or two left turning blades and their basic design is to quickly evacuate the grass clipping out the rear.
Get the OEM blade part numbers, got to the Oregon website and see if what aftermarket blades may be available for your deck.
However, if mulching type blades are available, I wouldn't expect the leaves to be chopped up much more when using them as compared to stock OEM blades. Most decks that are mulchers have a blocking plate on the side discharge chute to keep the grass clippings/leaves in the deck for a longer period of time to chop them into smaller pieces.
I have a Hustler X-ONE with a 60" rear discharge deck which is used primarily in a cemetery.

 

[gainestruk]

My choice would be the Oregon G6 Gator Blades.

+1 I use G5 gator blades on my residential Husqvarna, G6 would be great choice for your commercial Grasshopper.

 

[trpshoot]

Thank you gentlemen. G6 blades on the way, will let you know how they work out in a couple weeks. With the cool weather we are experiencing in central Indiana, I think we are going to see an early leaf drop compared to other years.

 

[bobbysr]

On side discharge decks, backing over leaves chops them up better that going forward over them.

 

[OUTDOOR CONCEPTS]

Grasshopper has a new OEM blade out called the SHREDDER its basically a gator style blade

 

[trpshoot]

Ran the G6 blades on Sunday, incredible, very pleased with the results. Some areas of the yard had leaf piles 8" thick from where I blew out flower beds, etc. Made multiple passes with deck on the highest setting and gradually went down to my normal height. Leaves look like confetti, for the rest of the yard where it just heavy leaf coverage but not high piles I left the deck at my normal height and had to make only a couple passes in places.

Maybe I will try the shredder blades from Grasshopper at some point, didn't know they exist as my Grasshopper dealer told me that only medium lift blades will work on a rear discharge deck. That dealer is getting bad info from the Grasshopper rep. The grass in the front of the property where there are few trees was about 5" tall. I got a great cut with these blades with smaller clippings and less windrow than my OEM blades, still some windrow, but minor to no clumping. Since most of the property's grass was considerably shorter I have not being mowing regulary, so in all fairness I won't be surprised if there is virtually no windrow during mowing periods where I am cutting no more than 1/2" - 3/4" at a time.

thanks again for all the replies.

 

[OUTDOOR CONCEPTS]

Very interesting! Trust me the shredders blades are available!

 

[trpshoot]

Thanks!!! I now see the shredders are available, but already have the G6, I will keep that in mind for future purchase. The grasshopper website only lists a mid-lift blade for a rear discharge deck and that is what my dealer is going off of... My point is that the high lift very aggressive mulching blades are excellent, not sure why grasshopper only recommends medium lift for a rear discharge deck? Bad info IMO...

My point for the rear dicharge guys out there, don't be afraid to try shredders or G-6 blades on your rear discharge no matter what the dealer says! See if they work for you, trying them is not going to tear anything up and worse case scenario is you are out $50 for some G-6 (what I paid shipped to door.) However, i think the rear discharge people will be quite pleased running a high lift mulching blade on the rear discharge deck. The only thing I notice is a minimal amount of "leakage" from the left hand side of the mower, it is minimal and will not trash a sidewalk, flower bed, or drive way, but it will "spray" some clippings, but a minimal amount. So maybe that is why grasshopper only recommends running mid-lift blades? Regardless, the grass cut is superior and the leaves are confetti with my G-6 blades on my rear discharge deck under my mowing conditions; your results may vary. LOL.