Gator Blades

Jiles · Sep 8, 2011

I have a Gravely G16 mower with bagger system.
First I would like to make it clear that this is [b:4264fa0e00]not a slam against Gator Blades--[/b:4264fa0e00]just my experience.
I have been bagging with the factory original style blades. I bought a set of Gator Blades and gave them a try.
It appeared that the New Gator Blades were not giving better performance, so I did a simple test.
I selected a section in my yard and made one pass about 100' in length and dumped the clippings on a large piece of cardboard.
I then removed the GB and installed the original blades.
There was [b:4264fa0e00]NO DIFFERENCE [/b:4264fa0e00]in the size of the clippings (leaves).
Can someone tell me what I am missing?

OliLt · Sep 8, 2011

Is your mowing deck a "mulching deck"? Mulching decks are
designed along with the blades to produce air flow that keep the
clippings suspended so they can be cut multiple times. Putting
mulching blades on a non-mulching deck may not give you better
results over conventional blades.

How tall is your grass? Mulching decks and blades do not perform
well if the grass is too tall.

Jiles · Sep 8, 2011

No this is not a mulching deck. I don't think anyone bags with a mulching deck because of the "suspension" as you stated.
I am not cutting much grass, it is 90% Leaves.
But I think you are correct.

Mike M · Sep 8, 2011

Some of my mowers have cut better at times with Gator blades and others not so well. Usually not so well. On one of mine a JD LX172 I could definatly tell the Gators took less power to run.
I'm not sold on them.

OliLt · Sep 8, 2011

Although your Gator blades are not performing any better than your
regular blades, they are good blades. Don"t hesitate to use them.
They hold-up well and can take many re-sharpenings.

TWheat · Sep 8, 2011

The GB may be good for mulching , say leaves, but I 'm of the opinion that they do not lift grass as well as the straight blades.

chevy65 · Sep 8, 2011

dont be confused with the gator blade performance
For 1 they are not mulching blades They are not a high lift blade for bagging but will work
The gator blade by design tends to throw the clippings back to the center of deck keeping clippings under longer to make the clipping finer
They do however mulch dry leaves like theres no tomorrow
You just need to experiment with them to learn to use them to ur liking
Condition an type of grass does make a difference

Anonymous-0 · Sep 9, 2011

I was going to put set of Gator Blades on one of my garden tractors. The dealer told me they wouldn't cut any better than regular blades. But they would beat the daylights out of dry leaves.

DaveK(IN) · Sep 9, 2011

I have cut about three acres for many years with a JD 50" deck that has three blades. My wife complained that I left windrows when I cut.

This year I decided to try a set of gator blades since I needed new blades anyway. I watched the performance carefully and at this point in the season (not cutting grass since it is dormant due to no rain of any consequence) here is my 2 cents worth.

When you are cutting grass at the proper time (ie: 3-4 inches down to 2-2.5) they seem to do a superior job of recutting the grass and leaving no perceptable residue and wife acceptable lack of windrows. When cutting grass that is long (should have been cut last week length) they don"t seem to be any better than regular blades and leave windrows. I think that the larger volumn of grass keeps the recutting from taking place.

IMHO-Dave

Gator Blades

Jiles

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OliLt

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Jiles

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Mike M

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OliLt

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TWheat

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chevy65

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Anonymous-0

Well-known Member

DaveK(IN)

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