Walk behind Toro GTS150 Commercial - very interesting shaped blade - normal?

[sjoerdjohannes]

Hi there.

I'm busy giving some TLC to my relatively cheap acquired Toro Commercial 22154 pushmower. After kind of fixing the biggest issues with carburetor it now runs like a champ again. But it looks like the shaft is somewhat bend, but I will look at that later when I'm feeling lucky with a hammer.

When investigating the vibration, I removed the blade and the notice it is very oddly shaped but I have a hard time figuring out it is per design curved because it is a native mulcher or this blade is just useless or doesn't match my mower. Feeling wise I would say that the curve is useless on a mower as I always assumed you need a bigger part of the blade to be touching the grass and not only the tip of the blade.

I tried to make a picture of the blade:



Should I just buy a new blade assuming the new one is straight?

 

[ILENGINE]

I believe if it was bent, one end would be lower than the other. If it is a uniform curve then it is probably normal. Most of the cutting of the blade is done at the tip.

 

[sjoerdjohannes]

Hi ILEngine .

It is very evenly curved, that it is why I have a hard time believing the curve occurred after abusing it. Do you know if my mower is equipped with a curved blade? From Toro partsviewer or any picture I googled I can't really figure out if the blade is straight or curved?



Understood about the blade tip doing the mowing. But when I read through the Toro "Quality of Cut" manual i is very specific on the shape of the blade being straight to get a good cut. :smile:

 

[cpurvis]

I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be curved. Mine looks to be. But it also has two shorter blades, also attached to the crankshaft.

Ideally, the outer portion of the blade cuts the grass. If you figure the engine is turning 3000 rpm and the mower is advancing 3 mph, that means the mower is only advancing half an inch before another blade tip comes around.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Because walk behinds cut lower than ride ons the blade mounting has to be protected from coming in contact with the ground.
If not you will leave a bolt line down the center of the cut.
Also the mounting bolt will wear round so it could not be removed
Most walk behinds either have a curved blade or a stepped blade,
Put it back on the mower and check the blade height at each edge.
If more that 1/4 of difference it is new blade time.
You can in theory press it back into shape but the blade is usually boron steel which work hardens so it very difficult.

 

[Blaine B.]

Strange, the Toro Recyclers do have a straight blade (Atomic blade) and then also a plate that goes over the blade, which pushes the bolt down even further below the blade.

The aftermarket Oregon Gator G3 blades are somewhat stepped, however.

I'm using a 2004 Toro recycler and the center bolt has not worn out in these 14 years of use.