rear discharge mower

[rap]

I've been test driving a JD 4300 with 60 inch Land Pride 3 pt hitch mower with rear discharge. Yesterday I cut a couple of acres and was surprised at the amount of dust this mower created. Its been dry here, but not that dry. Is that a characteristic of rear discharge mowers? I've always used side discharge belly mowers in the past and have never had that problem.

rap

[Wheeldog]

Most of the rear discharge mowers use 'high-lift' blades, so you may be seeing the effect of this. Mine raises quite a bit of dust too, but it has been very dry here this summer so its hard to judge.

Rob

[Bird]

Hmmm, do they actually stir up more dust than a side discharge, or is it the fact that they spread the dust across the back instead of blowing it out in a small column through one little discharge chute directed back at the ground? I sure don't know the answer to that question.

Bird

[ddl]

I have a rear discharge mower and I think it is cleaner than a belly mower as far as dust goes. Since I got my bota and the rear discharge, lot less problems with choking dust. Never go back to a belly mower, why sit in the middle when it all goes behind you.

Dan L

[DDT]

Been there-done that. I agree with ddl

[Doublezero]

Well, I've got a 72" 3 point hitch grooming mower that has side discharge but it still kicks up a lot of dust when things get a little dry. As someone mentioned, the high lift blades {that help with mulching} probably contribute, and I agree that it's better for me and my tractor to have the dust storm behind me and away from my tractor's air intake as well as mine. I'm not sure whether the rear discharge units mulch well or not since I haven't used one, but "dust is good" when it's dry because it goes hand-in-hand with fine trimmings in my limited experience.

Larry

[Anonymous Poster]

I don't see where there's any difference between rear or side discharge when it comes to the dust. It's the high lift blades. They create a lot of suction in order to stand the grass up before cutting it so it will do a better job. I have a couple of areas where the grass doesn't grow very good and it's always dusty. I just back off on the throttle to slow down the blades, which creates less suction.