54" Deck - Leaf Kit / Anti Blow-out Kit

   / 54" Deck - Leaf Kit / Anti Blow-out Kit #11  
I don't bag leaves, just back over them which chews them up finely and blows the fines evenly over the lawn. In a short while they just disappear.
I use X320 with 330 hours on it and 48" deck/ OE blades to maintain 3.5 hilly acres.
 
   / 54" Deck - Leaf Kit / Anti Blow-out Kit
  • Thread Starter
#12  
I broke down and bought the lip kit to use while the mulch kit is installed to see if reduces the amount of material leaving the front and left sides of the deck. It does, slightly, but I cut with the deck up pretty high so the effect of the lowered lip edges is minimal. I also bought the leaf kit, substatially larger plates that fit up under the deck which in combination with the high lift blades I hope will make a huge difference to the amount of leave debris blown out from the left and corners of the deck while bagging in the fall. It cannot be installed while the mulch kit is in place.

Cheers!

Bob
 
   / 54" Deck - Leaf Kit / Anti Blow-out Kit #13  
So did the leaf kit help or not? I am also looking at it. I have the high lift blades and I get a lot of blow out form the front right of the deck.

Jon
 
   / 54" Deck - Leaf Kit / Anti Blow-out Kit #14  
I had a cub before I picked up a cherry D140 with a 48 deck. Horrible blowout that I never had with the Cub. I hate that I have to spend $$ to fix a major design flaw.
 
   / 54" Deck - Leaf Kit / Anti Blow-out Kit #15  
I have a x720 with a 54 deck and mulch kit and a billion trees in the yard. This will be my first year with this rig and I am hoping to mulch the leafs and then use my sweeper to rake what remains of the leafs. By November, my yard will have 6" of leafs covering the grass and if I don't clean them up, there will be another 6". I normally put them in a huge pile in the back by the woods, wait a year or two and then grind them up to use to repair bad spots in the lawn. I am sure that I will have blow out, but plan on sweeping afterward any way. If I can get more chopped up leafs in the sweeper, which means less trips to the pile, I will be happy.
 
   / 54" Deck - Leaf Kit / Anti Blow-out Kit #16  
Hi all,

With the mulch kit being fragile plastic moldings, we don't use them during leaf season. I don't believe it will take too many sticks, pebbles, and acorns to eventually destroy them.

Last week, the summertime mulch kit and mulching blades came off and the standard blades and anti blowout kit went on, along with the MC519, for the fall.

The anti blowout kit seems to make the biggest difference when making a right hand turn. With the powerflow blower at the right end of the deck, the left end is most susceptible to losing some material. This is exacerbated when turning to the right for some reason.

At least this was my experience with our former 54" deck on our 2305. Maybe this 48" deck on the x324 doesn't have the problem so much but I wouldn't know because I got the anti blowout kit right along with the tractor when new. It used to drive me nuts having to run around sucking up all of the little streaks of leaves scattered all over so getting the kit was a no brainer.
 
   / 54" Deck - Leaf Kit / Anti Blow-out Kit #17  
i bought the baffle kit for my x500 54 inch deck with powerflo bagger.....what a difference...very little blowout now..well worth the price!!!
 
   / 54" Deck - Leaf Kit / Anti Blow-out Kit #18  
I have a JD X758 with Power Flow 54HC and it blows out a trail of debris which requires passes to clean up. I was told that JD had a fix for this, never got a reply, when contacted they had no knowledge of this. I have had the unit for 3 years and no luck resolving this problem. If there is adapter that will resolve this, I am willing to give it a try. There are references to Anti-Blowout Kits but I could not find a link relating to them. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
   / 54" Deck - Leaf Kit / Anti Blow-out Kit #19  
Freeride
:welcome: to TBN

Know exactly what you mean.. have the X485 with PowerFlow and it blew out almost more debris than it picked up and blew into the MC519 cart.

Invited (2004) through my dealer to visit with Horicon plant Engineers and raised that question because I was used to the older 54" decks on my 425, 445, and 455. They said there was a "kit" to fix it. Get it through the dealer. That was an "anti-blowout" plate to bolt under the leading edge of the deck. It didn't work better at all. When contacting the Horicon Engineer directly, he pushed the conversation off to the dealer.

So I still have the X485 but don't use it with the 54 mower deck. Recently gave away the PowerFlow to someone who hopefully can use it.
I added a used 425 with 54" deck and use it solely hooked to the MC519 cart for leaves and grass whenever needed. I found a 455 with 54" deck to use for mowing the lawn.

I think the new mold (stamp) for the X tractor decks was made deeper (maybe to look more robust) and in doing so they lost the good clippings flow out the discharge side. But my visit and connection with Deere was in 2003, so Deere has produced a lot of decks since that time.

Sorry to hear about your Powerflow issue.
 
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   / 54" Deck - Leaf Kit / Anti Blow-out Kit #20  
The purchase of a Cyclone Rake will end nearly all problems that I see being discussed here.
 
 
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