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What blades are best???


LesH

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Does anyone know what grass cutting blades really cut up the clippings?? I have the 3 blade side discharge decks. I have heard of the Gator blades (John Deere?). Trying to go for an almost clipping free lawn this year.
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I personally like gator blades and I use them for side discharge as well as mulching. They have no affiliation with John Deere. They are owned by Oregon. I have been using them for 10 years or so and they seem to stay sharp longer. http://www.oregonchain.com/OEP/index.htm
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I use gator blades. The gator blades work great on my 6216 but not as good on my 7117H. I think it is because the 6216 has a shallower deck. I think gator blades fall into the category of "high lift" blades and not mulching blades. I am interesting in trying these. http://www.mambablades.com/ They seem like they are the same as gator blades but they have a higher lift. Also looking at Meg-Mo system http://www.meg-mo.com/
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quote:
They are a mulching blade with a higher lift
Someone told me that mulching blades are different from high lift blades. It was a guy from a Cub Cadet forum. He said when he bought his blades for his tractor he looked at both the mulching and hight lift blades available. The mulching blades I see in the store are different design than the gator blades. But since you are the Club President, I will not argue with you. And since you are a Simplicity owner rather than a Cub Cadet owner, you must be right. LOL.
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Try the Gators.... Considering the deck you have, they are an improvement from the original blade design-----do not think that you will be disappointed, especially considering that the old decks just were not engineered to mulch
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Have a set of Simplicity made mulching blades for the Conquest 44" deck. Use mulching blades for side discharge and for bagging. Mulching blades get thumbs up in dry conditions (late summer & fall) but thumbs down in spring when grass is watery or during a wet summer like last year. I swap high lift and mulching to suit conditions.
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quote:
Originally posted by mroman59
quote:
They are a mulching blade with a higher lift
Someone told me that mulching blades are different from high lift blades. It was a guy from a Cub Cadet forum. He said when he bought his blades for his tractor he looked at both the mulching and hight lift blades available. The mulching blades I see in the store are different design than the gator blades. But since you are the Club President, I will not argue with you. And since you are a Simplicity owner rather than a Cub Cadet owner, you must be right. LOL.
There are several types of mulching blades that have been used by different manufacturers. For example, the mulching blades from Snapper for my walk-behind mover are "forked" on each end, so each end is somewhat Y-shaped. As far as I know, Simplicity never offered a dedicated mulching blade for thes old Sovereign/Landlord deep decks. Most mulching decks are shallower, with curved tops or "air channels" above the tips of the blades, not flat and squared-off like the 6" deep decks on the old Simplicities. The newer Conquests, are in between, not as deep as the old ones, and yet deeper than some of their competition. Back to blades -- high-lift blades have a larger, turned up portion on the backside of the blade. They're designed to provide more suction to pull the grass up and simultaneously more thrust to throw the clippings out the discharge chute faster and farther. If you're bagging, you almost have to have high-lift blades. Simplicity high-lift blades, or at least some of them, have a "gull-wing" design to provide an even larger turned-up section on the backside of the blade while still not contacting the underside of the deck. Even with high-lift blades on a 6" deep Simplicity deck, you won't have much luck bagging unless you have the deck-mounted "Turbo Boost" or rear mounted Vac system. The Gator Blade is a "generic" aftermarket design (by Oregon, as stated above) that has a much larger turned up section on the backside of the blade than standard blades -- but that turned up portion is not solid. It has been cut into multiple "fingers" that are individually angled to form serrations, much like a serrated knife blade. The larger turned up portion functions somewhat like a high-lift blade, even though serrated, while the serrations cause a lot of turbulence underneath the deck, keeping the clippings spinning in the air underneath the deck, and allowing the blade to chop each clipping multiple times... Gator Blades on a 6" Simplicity deck will provide more suction than standard blades, and cut the clipping up MUCH smaller. I don't think you'd have much luck blocking off the discharge plate completely, unless you're only trimming an inch or so off the top of the grass. But, they will chop the clippings up so small that they're not really visible when you discharge them out normally. I use them specifically to chop up leaves in the fall and vacuum them up. If the leaves are dry when mowing, it is a VERY dusty job, since the Gator Blades chops them to something about as fine as sawdust...
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I have always used standard Simplicity blades on a 886 deck, for 35 years now. Properly sharpened blades twice a year have always given me superb results with no bagger and almost never leaves visible clippings.


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quote:
Originally posted by mroman59
quote:
They are a mulching blade with a higher lift
Someone told me that mulching blades are different from high lift blades. It was a guy from a Cub Cadet forum. He said when he bought his blades for his tractor he looked at both the mulching and hight lift blades available. The mulching blades I see in the store are different design than the gator blades. But since you are the Club President, I will not argue with you. And since you are a Simplicity owner rather than a Cub Cadet owner, you must be right. LOL.
Click on the link!:D The manufacture states they are mulching blades. It is there statement so I guess I would have to agree with them. http://www.gatorblade.com/about.html
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quote:
have always used standard Simplicity blades on a 886 deck, for 35 years now. Properly sharpened blades twice a year have always given me superb results with no bagger and almost never leaves visible clippings.
but what about those guys like me who sit on our butts too long and wait till the grass gets too high Larry, you are a grass cutting machine! LOL
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I have switched out the blades on my decks for Gator blades, save for one. Probably will do that one too this year. Been holding of only because I have 2 sets of new gull blades for it that I wouldnt have a use for...
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I wanted to try the Meg-Mo system, but they only make blade with 12" or larger blade length ... the blade for a 36" Broadmoor deep deck is just a little shorter and they could not do it. Who will call Mamba Blade to see if they will cross refereence our Simplicity blades ... their website doesn't include us (yet)! Tom
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quote:
Been holding of only because I have 2 sets of new gull blades for it that I wouldnt have a use for...
Sam, you can alway put your gull blades in the classified section.
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Have always used the Simplicity mulching blades on my decks, 99 Landlord and 2 Prestiges, with very good results. When I get the 48" deck ready for the Sunstar going to pick up a set of Gator blades and try them out. Should be able to find them closer, dealer is 32 miles away.}:)}:)
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I purchased my gator blades over the internet. You can always find a price that is comparable to buying them in a store. Shipped to your door step. No waisting gas or time.
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