The new Fusion Gator Blades 60"

[Toolguy]

The Gator blades I have look almost identical to the stock blades with the exception of the cutouts on the "lifting wings". I came to the conclusion that the cutouts decrease lift compared to the stock blades. They also made more noise but did not seem to move as much air. That explains why they leave the discharged grass in bunches instead of evenly dispersed. I have the normal Michigan blugrass-fescue-perennial ryegrass lawn. I mow at 3" and in the spring and early summer when the grass is growing fast I mow every 3 to 4 days. Any longer between cuts and the grass is so tall that the cut grass clippings leave a mess. I had hoped the the Gator blades would do a better job than the stockers at chopping up the clippings however, for me, the stock blades gave the best results.

 

[mozark]

FYI, Oregon also makes an OEM replacement blade, I bought a set of those also. If it wasn't for the size of the center hole, I don't think you can tell them from the standard blades. I have not used them yet, but if the grass slows down, I may put them on while I sharpen the Gators. Did I mention they were a lot cheaper than OEM too?

 

[DiezNutz]

The Gator blades I have look almost identical to the stock blades with the exception of the cutouts on the "lifting wings". I came to the conclusion that the cutouts decrease lift compared to the stock blades. They also made more noise but did not seem to move as much air.

Toolguy, your description is very accurate. The Gator blades look like a high-sail/high-lift blade where the sail's been serrated and had the serrations twisted at an angle. It isn't really a high-lift blade though, the purpose of the serrations is to direct air flow such that the clippings keep circulating in front of the cutting edge, getting chopped finer with each blade pass. In theory anyway, they don't need the dispersal power of a true high-lift blade since the clippings are finer. Theoretically.

I'm wondering whether we all really have the same "stock" blades. Attached is a picture of my stock blade. Notice it is flat until about the last 3 or so inches, where it gradually angles up to form a puny sail. They suck allright, but not the grass. I would probably have been pretty happy with high-lift blades.

So tell me Guys, how do your "stock" blades compare?

 

[Volfandt]

DiezNutz, my std blades look similar. The lifting wing on the trailing edge is lower then both the gatorblades and Kubota highlift blades.

When I was looking at the different OEM blades Kubota offers, I was able to compare the std with the highlift (provided w/the OEM bagger) and also with the mulching blade (provided w/the mulch kit) and there were very visable differences between them. The counterman didn't think I'd see any difference in cut going w/just a blade change and not going for the entire kit, so I went with the gatorblades and saw an immediate improvement. They also carried the gatorblades for the Z mower and were unaware of the bushing trick to get them bolted to the BX 60".

The difference in the finish cut of my 60" MMM is night and day with the gatorblades providing much more dispursion and finer/smaller clippings over the std OEM blades.
My results are about the exact opposite of Toolguy. Perhaps he's not wearing his hat correctly or isn't smileing enough when mowing
Toolguy must have the OEM highlift blades since he'e indicated that the wing is about the same in height as the gatorblades, which is much taller then the std's.

In any case, it's good to know that the highlifts work as good and/or better than the gatorblades. I don't know about cost but not having to fab up a bushing to bolt them up is a plus in my book

That said, if I ever have the need to replace the GB's I might try the highlifts, course I haven't had to even sharpen the GB's yet.....

 

[DiezNutz]

They FINALLY arrived! I won't have a chance to fool with them until this w/e, but I'll post up plenty o' pics and a detailed report on their performance.
Thanks for the replies fellas, being as all of our decks are the same basic design I can only surmise that the differences are attributed to grass types/conditions, and it does sound like Toolguy was fortunate enough to get high-lifts from the start. Maybe enough ppl complained that either Kubota or his dealer made the upgrade.

 

[Lockport]

I must chime in here. My past history with GB's, granted it was on a 28" Snapper RER, but was nothing short of overwhelming. I don't recall ever having had to sharpen them. Like Volfandt says, the dispersion of the cut is key, not to mention they are feeding your lawn at the same time. Also, if you get a lot of leaves in the fall and do not have a vacumn or grass collector they got it way over the OEM's.

 

[Toolguy]

DiezNutz has inspired me to take some pictures of my blades, stock vs. GB, on my B3030-60"MMM. The GB is setting on a piece of 3" square tubing. My stock blades seem to have higher wings than his. ???

 

[DiezNutz]

Hmm... well they're definitely not hi-lift. The sail on the hi-lift is pretty radical and detached from the main blade...you'd definitely know. The first pic made me think they were perhaps medium-lift, but the second pic has me thinking they're same as mine. See how about 3-4" from end, the sail is completely merged flat?
This is going to be very interesting indeed...

 

[Toolguy]

Let us know how they work for you. Good luck.

 

[J_J]

Anybody running these yet? These are the newer ones with Fusion edges (p/n 490-987 vs. the original 90-987). Anybody used both and noticed a real difference between the two in sharpening needs, or other? Mine have been on B/O now from Mowpart for 3 weeks. I have Fusion's on a couple of other mowers, like 'em, so I figured for an extra $2.50 per blade you couldn't go wrong with these. $40.02 for the set of 3. Anything's gotta be better than the stock low-lift blades on the 60" MMM... $2000+ mower and they put their ho-hum blades on it, go figure.

I use Gator blades on my Dixie Chopper, mainly to chew up leaves and sticks. Almost turns them into dust. The sand here in Florida will eat them up fairly fast, Both leading edge and the spikes on the trailing edge.