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All,

I mow my lawn once a week; it is a dense lawn and admittedly in that time it grows quite a bit so my issue may be more with the frequency of cut than the mower itself.

But I wanted to see if anyone else feels their Raptor SD leaves too many clippings behind.

I do many straight passes when I cut and I find that the lane next to the one I'm currently cutting is left with a substantial dusting of clippings. Most will disappear within about a week, but some turn yellow over the course of the week and look sloppy.

Wondering if others have experienced the same and if there are any known solutions: mods to the discharge chute or different blades.

Thanks!

Have you checked your blades lately? Are they good and sharp? Are they high lift blades and if they are is the high lift part still there. Is your deck good and clean?

I'm going to vote that it's your mowing frequency more than anything. Yes make sure the blades are sharp and my suggestion is to try a set of Gator Blades. They really chop up the grass into fine pieces. Heck, I even sharpen the grooves on the high lift part of the blade.

Couple things.

Lift the chute up so the grass can spread out more.

Use mulching blades.

Don't cut more then a half inch off the top.

I feel a lawn should never look like it needs to be cut. When it grows a 1/4 inch I trim it.

Do the gator blades make that big of a difference. Had them on my old John Deere and it seemed that the tractor did not have enough horse power to turn them effectively. Like stock blades better on that unit.

Mine is doing the same thing!!! Haven't checked my blades but I bet I need new ones. Tell me more about these gator blades......

gannon311 said:

Mine is doing the same thing!!! Haven't checked my blades but I bet I need new ones. Tell me more about these gator blades......

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Do I search on the web. Countless discussions about them.

Only time my raptor sd leaves to many clippings behind is for 3 reasons. Mowing to low, grass is a lil high or grass is wet. If I do get visible clippings I go over it once and It's good to go.

Raptor SD has more than enough power to turn gator blades. I'm running them on my 54. More wind, more lift, more chopping, no problems. I did balance them very carefully since they are heavier than the factory blades and will exacerbate deck vibration/wobble if not right. Properly balanced there is less vibration than with the stock blades and the balance they had from factory.

I did switch over to gator blades today. I have some areas of my yard wear grass is real think and wet. Did have to cut those area twice. Finished yard with the dryer area of yard. Normal route. Was very pleased with the little amount of build up on deck. Stock blades I had to clean after every mow. Cut was not bad either with gator's.

You've said you have a fast grow grass and create a large volume of clippings. You need to double cut, dropping dck height on the second pass. RSDs have 18,000fpm speed, they have plenty of cutting power. Also, try slowing down, let the grass have more time to be chopped before more incoming volume pushes it out.

Dealer brought my mower after repair (see my other topic). They "tested" it in a tall grass. I made a cut in 10+ days tall grass (too tall) and deck had bunch of build up and left _some_ clippings. I scraped almost 5 gallon bucket from a deck.. I was really worrying thinking it was MY clippings on a deck.

Next time I cut little slower, grass was normal and... NO CLIPPINGS at all. Bright yellow, maybe little grinnish stuf around spindles. So, my verdict - it wasn't me but dealer with super tall muddy grass. I installed mulch kit now and cut grass another time - no clippings and no build-up.

I really can't think how much and how fast one need to cut in order to get build up..

Guess I have to expect this but.. Today I decided to mow in a morning. Our city rules is not to mow after 6pm, so I decided to do it before work. I never mowed in wet before. Not with my old tractor, not with new Raptor SD 54.

Today I did just to see because I was so impressed with how it performed on dry.
Well... Wet grass with mulch kit is NOT something that mows cleanly. Cut look great but clumps were falling from under the dack all over the place. And I went slow.

I guess I will have to try and mow in opposite direction tomorrow night.

OP here...

I've been trying some of the suggestions and not having much luck. I may just be expecting too much from side discharge and a very fast growing lawn. I've tried slowing down (almost to a crawl on the cut, which makes an acre take a looong time), mowing more frequently, even lifting the chute, all without much change. I'm at 3.25" cutting height, I cut dry, there is absolutely no build-up under the deck, chute is not clogged, blades are sharp (original blades).

I've attached some pictures. First a look at the clippings, second one a look at what I'm cutting.



This is a cut after 4 days; I'll cut again in 3. There's just no way I can cut any more frequently than that. Need to find a way to slow the grass down and still have it look green.

I can't believe it's the equipment, but I see the pros cut similar lots in my neck of the woods (with Exmark Laser Zs mostly) and they don't leave this behind. And they don't look like they're double cutting.

I put gator blades on mine and it made a difference with the build up. Still have to double cut the real thick areas just to blow clippings around. Was talking to a buddy that cuts for a living and he said they run high lifts on outside and a gator in middle. Do not know if it would work but it is an interesting idea. Not sure if it would void warrenty if you burn up a spindle either. Running two different blades.

Interested in the answer to the warranty question. I wouldn't think they could tell what blades you run. Where is the best place to get blades? My local dealer wants $20 for reg. blades and $29 for gator blades.

I believe you have get the parts from dealer. Maybe able to cross ref parts number and order on line. Did not save paper work but the blades I got were made by Oregon. Think they were around $24 a blade. Dealer made me a better deal because I was his first customer to try them on the raptor SD. Cut me a deal for some feed back.

I've noticed most of the pros don't use discharge chutes, they just have an open side plate.

Would there be any benefit to this for dispersing the clippings?

I know the raptor deck is open at the top near the chute, but I was thinking if there might be some benefit to trimming the discharge chute back closer to the deck?

Thoughts?

mooch91 said:

I've noticed most of the pros don't use discharge chutes, they just have an open side plate. Would there be any benefit to this for dispersing the clippings? I know the raptor deck is open at the top near the chute, but I was thinking if there might be some benefit to trimming the discharge chute back closer to the deck? Thoughts?

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Tie the chute up and give it a try.

I never take my chutes off I just tie them up.
Helps spread the clippings out and not in the way when getting on the trailer.

The raptor as has an opening at the top of the deck under the chute. Doesn't lend itself to just tie the chute up.

mooch91 said:

The raptor as has an opening at the top of the deck under the chute. Doesn't lend itself to just tie the chute up.

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I have a toro like that. Throws all the clippings up on the mower.

That would be the deal breaker for me.

Revisiting this again...

I am also finding that there are a lot of single strands that get left uncut after a pass with the mower. There's no detectable pattern, just random strands here and there that are still tall. You can see them in the late-day sunlight after you've cut.

I was looking for a pattern to see if the deck was off level, or something were blocking it, but they are random. Almost as if the blades do not pick them up before cutting.

Anyone else experiencing this one?

Thanks.

Are they ina line where the castors smashed down the grass ?