Mulching mower converson

jdcrawler

jdcrawler

Tractorologist
Senior Member
Member
Our lawn is looking bad with all of he grass that has built up on it from being thrown out from the mower deck.






So I have decided to put a mulching kit on my mower.
JD makes this insert to enclose the three mower blades but it cost $237 plus the cost of the blades.




It is a nice insert made out of heavy duty plastic but the cost is more then I can justify so I decided close the blades in with metal strips.

First I held a marker at the end of the blades and made a line on the inside of the mower deck where the end of the blades run.




Then I cut a strip out of a piece of poster board and fit it to the shape of the deck.




The pattern is transferred to the metal.




And the metal is cut with a plasma cutter.




I clamped the piece in a vice and smoothed the edges down with a grinder.




The piece is run thru the roller to form the curve in it.




Here are the first two panels welded in place.




The rest of the panels are made up and welded in place to enclose all three blades.
Then I started forming a piece of 3/8 steel rod around the outside to add some strength to the steel panels.




The steel rod is welded in place.




The metal work on the underside of the deck is finished and primed.






The mulching blades are mounted on the deck.




The spots where the welding burned the paint on the outside of the deck are sanded down and painted to finish the deck.






The
 
Very nice job. No turning back though (well I guess there is).
Hope it works for you. You must be dying to try it...?

P.S. I use Gator blades like the ones you put on and while not a mulching blade by themselves do work pretty well alone.
 
I have not liked the results of a mulching mower either. I think one has to cut more often and take onlly an inch off at a time. The one deck I had left it in clumps behind the mower, worse than throwing it out the side. I also leave off or remove the deflector chute off our mowers. Just make sure we don't throw grass towards an windows. Vehicles are in the garage when not on the road.
 
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I mow backwards where I double mow over the clippings and keep throwing them to the center of the yard and when finished mowing I go over the clippings left in the center of the yard once or twice more. Only works if the grass is mowed in a more or less square pattern, and mowed when the grass dosn't clump up,
 
And here I cuss every "mulching" mower that comes my way. Mulching is harder on the engine it's like it's running down the row constantly plugged up. Mow and blow that crap clear of the deck..... Nice Fab work though
 
Lowell, very nice job. Your lawn will actually be healthier and the ground will hold moisture better during the dry times in summer by mulching. I've been trying to do a better job of mulching down here in Texas to save from watering in the hot summer months. I'll bet it works great for you.
 
When we lived up in Buckley Michigan, I had a Toro groundsmaster with a 78 inch mower deck with 5 blades on it.
That deck would toss out the grass all over the place.

I converted it to a mulching deck just like this and it worked really worked well after that.


I'm mowing once a week here and the yard isn't do to be mowed again until after the first of the week.
However, the area behind the barn hasn't been mowed in about two weeks so I took the mower back there to try it out.

It works just as good as I expected it to and I no longer have grass clippings blowing back in my face when the wind is blowing.



 
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Anybody ever try this on one of your mowers. These are on you tube. I have never tried it.

Noel.
 

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Mowed the rest of the yard today.
The grass had grown about three inches since I last mowed and the converted mower deck didn't have any problem.
It even did a good job of chopping up the dead grass that was already laying around the yard from the previous mowings.





 
Lowell. I was wondering if you have checked under the deck to see if there is a build up of grass yet.
I suppose the dryer and more offen you cut would make a difference for mulching.
In my area, the dryest time to cut the grass would be about 6:00 pm. Before the dew hits.
But anywhere after 3:00 pm on a sunny day, the grass should be resonable dry.

Noel
 
We mow once a week but don't cut to short. Usually around 2" and have nice green grass when other are burned up in the summer. Way to many people cut to short like they mowing a golf course.
 
chieffan said:
We mow once a week but don't cut to short. Usually around 2" and have nice green grass when other are burned up in the summer. Way to many people cut to short like they mowing a golf course.
Click to expand...

I'm trying to burn my grass up. I threw the deck on 2.75" usually cut at 3.5" this time of year. It just grew back greener and fuller!!!
 
chieffan said:
We mow once a week but don't cut to short. Usually around 2" .
Click to expand...
Wow! 2" is short. Around here 3 1/2" to 4" is recommended. Remember, longer grass shades out the weeds.
An issue with older mower decks like is on Wheel Horse is, they often cut at a maximum of 2 1/2 to 2 3/4. Changing the guide wheels for bigger ones helps.
 
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