Gator G5 mower blade for a push mower

[pault28]

Hello,
I've got a couple year old Husqvarna 7021P push mower. It has a standard mulching blade and the motor, Honda GC160, seems to struggle sometimes in the thicker parts of my grass. I HAVE to cut it twice a week or it'l leave clumps. I do not bad, just mulch. I am wondering if stepping up from a standard mulching blade to one of the Gator G5 blades with the teeth on it will help both with leaving less clumps and not bogging the mower down as much. Does anyone have any first hand experience?

 

[gdocktor3]

I don't think it will help in that sense. Mulching blades are designed to cut the grass and circulate it through the blades over and over cutting it into as tiny pieces as possible. While that sounds like a logical solution, it is forcing your engine to work harder. It has to cut the new standing grass as well as the recirculating grass. Even my 52" commercial Toro mower with 17hp Kawasaki motor has trouble with mulching blades on tall grass. It cuts it, but I can hear it's struggling and tends to leave clumps. The ideal blades for this are called hi lift. They are designed to make a nice sharp cut and "lift" or shoot the clippings as far out as possible. While it is sometimes difficult to shoot the clippings on smaller mowers with out side discharge chutes and messy for your legs, I think it is better than mulching blades. If you don't have a side chute you can open, you should try leaving the back cover open or bagging the clippings. It will put a lot less strain on your mower.

 

[bsaint]

I had a 61" set on my mower. I didn't care for them. They didn't do well mulching and they didnt do well throwing the grass. I switched too super high lift blades, and I used twice as much fuel when I mowed. But I prefer this.

 

[pault28]

I don't think it will help in that sense. Mulching blades are designed to cut the grass and circulate it through the blades over and over cutting it into as tiny pieces as possible. While that sounds like a logical solution, it is forcing your engine to work harder. It has to cut the new standing grass as well as the recirculating grass. Even my 52" commercial Toro mower with 17hp Kawasaki motor has trouble with mulching blades on tall grass. It cuts it, but I can hear it's struggling and tends to leave clumps. The ideal blades for this are called hi lift. They are designed to make a nice sharp cut and "lift" or shoot the clippings as far out as possible. While it is sometimes difficult to shoot the clippings on smaller mowers with out side discharge chutes and messy for your legs, I think it is better than mulching blades. If you don't have a side chute you can open, you should try leaving the back cover open or bagging the clippings. It will put a lot less strain on your mower.

I was just trying to avoid bagging. I also was worried that discharging them would leave big pieces of grass all over. I've always mulched. Does discharging literally leave the same kind of clumps of grass like my poor-mulching blade does, just out the side?

 

[Skin]

You can try it but generally if its already got a mulching blade and you're keeping the edge sharp you're simply limited by engine output. You can also try bumping the RPMs up to 3200-3300 for a hair more power. Short of that you either need to bag or side discharge or start shopping for a mower with the Honda 190cc or Kawasaki 180cc. There is also the Briggs Premium line up with 180cc output and some larger bore (175cc) GXV clones like the Kohler XT775.

I was just trying to avoid bagging. I also was worried that discharging them would leave big pieces of grass all over. I've always mulched. Does discharging literally leave the same kind of clumps of grass like my poor-mulching blade does, just out the side?

Side discharge should leave no clumps, it equally distributes the clippings over the lawn, the downfall is they're larger clippings so they generally sit on top until they rot a bit then fall to the ground (takes a couple days). In terms of lawn health its definitely better than leaving clumps everywhere.

 

[gahrajmahal]

I am sure I will hear from the board on this one, but when I had an old underpowered push mower I sharpened the whole length of the blade to a very sharp edge. I could walk at a steady pace through foot tall grass without it bogging down.

 

[gdocktor3]

I think it's time for a new mower. It's funny because I've posted this picture 3 times in the last few weeks. Picture of my Honda gcv160 mulching, not bagging, heavy damp grass without blinking. It did not bog at all and you can see no clumps. I paid about $400 with 3 year warranty. I bought it last year and use in commercially 3-4 times a week.

 

[pault28]

I think it's time for a new mower. It's funny because I've posted this picture 3 times in the last few weeks. Picture of my Honda gcv160 mulching, not bagging, heavy damp grass without blinking. It did not bog at all and you can see no clumps. I paid about $400 with 3 year warranty.

I have a husky with that same motor, which is why I was thinking it was a blade issue in the first pace. Engine runs like a champ otherwise.

 

[Bighead38]

The main reason I have ever had clumps when the grass was at a reasonable height was because the grass was still wet or moist. The only time I saw clumps with dry grass was when it was too tall because of not being cut. Most times you can eliminate the clumps by double cutting it. There has been a few times over the years where I was forced to double cut it and then cut a third time bagging it. This has always been using a 48" walk behind with a side discharge over 20 years cutting professionally.

 

[pault28]

The main reason I have ever had clumps when the grass was at a reasonable height was because the grass was still wet or moist. The only time I saw clumps with dry grass was when it was too tall because of not being cut. Most times you can eliminate the clumps by double cutting it. There has been a few times over the years where I was forced to double cut it and then cut a third time bagging it. This has always been using a 48" walk behind with a side discharge over 20 years cutting professionally.

I am always cutting it in the morning around 9-10AM. It doesn't seem wet but it very well be a bit damp. I'll first sharpen the existing blade and then just cut it later in the day and see if there's a difference.