I have a cheap “Craftsman” rider. It seems to be considered the red headed stepchild of rider mowers based on multiple forum posts, but it does what we need it to do. Or, it did until now…
I noticed it was tearing the grass as much as cutting it, so I removed the blade and sharpened it. It gives a much cleaner cut, but it no longer catches any grass. I get maybe a couple fistfuls after mowing the whole yard, when I used to have to empty the bags at least twice.
The only change is the sharpened blade. Cut height is the same, gear and engine speed are the same. The mower sounds the same.
Does anyone have any ideas on what might be causing this? Leaving all the cut gras laying in a path behind the mower doesn’t look good.
I’ve verified all of that except the blade being upside down. I’ve just assumed the blade is correct because the grass is shorter where I’ve run the mower compared to where I haven’t been.
I’ll check it to be sure. Thanks.
#4
Craftsman Garage
I would say clogged bagger or need new blades. Love the user name BTW lol.
Another vote for the blade it seems. I’ll get it lifted up tomorrow and check it out. I distinctly remember flipping it over a few times to verify I wasn’t getting it upside down. But it wouldn’t be the first time I pulled a dumb move and put something together wrong after studying it.
I figured my user name should be at least a little bit indicative of who I am.
The blade/deck combo was working fine until I sharpened the blade. Seems to me that just sharpening the blade shouldn’t have an effect on the way the cut grass/leaves flow under the deck.
$30 bucks on a new blade is pretty steep if I don’t know if it will fix the problem.
I’m not trying to be obstinate— I’m just trying to figure out what the issue is before throwing money at it.
Would guess at the R1000 "Terminator" Mower was built to sling instead of bag.
Don't know the type of blades you have on it now. Some blades are for bagging and some for slinging, high lift and low lift. Your deck looks like a low lift design to me. You definitely want high lift blades if you are bagging. They will eat more fuel so be aware of that.
#13
Its Me
Cheapoldfart, if you say that nothing has been changed and shape blades now causes it not to bag, I have two mowers that I bag with, course one is a Scag with the Squarrel blower on the end of the deck, very strong suction and an old toro rear engine rider with the easy empty catcher, the key to getting the toro to pick up leaves and grass it the deck clean, blade on right, a high lift blade and most important is the engine RPM run it at least 3,200 RPM, hope this helps, Joe
