X500 blade question

[crazyal]

My X500 with the 48x deck has mulching blades (Deere P/N M127673). I haven't found the part number but the lip on the edge of the blade doesn't seam to have much of a lip. Also the sharpened edge runs almost the whole length of the blade. When looking at the high lift blades just the outside edge is sharpened. Kind of makes sense since the outside edge is all that's needed to cut the blades of grass while the clippings can hit any part of the blade.

I don't have the mulching attachment and don't plan on mulching. Is it worth getting the Deere high lift blades (Deere P/N M145476) or are there better options. I have used Gator blades in the past but since they are a mulching blade I don't know if they would work any better. I have seen some non serrated blades made by Oregon, Stens, Rotary, and Sunbelt. For the cost, less than $40 I don't see any reason to get a blade not made in the US. The Oregon (P/N 90-348) is a full .250" thick while the stock blades are roughly .200". Not sure if the extra thickness matters. All say they are hardened in some form or another.

I'm leaning towards the Deere brand as a place to start but open to opinions.

 

[beenthere]

al
Not sure what you want that you don't have now.


Myself, I use the JD standard blades.. didn't get a better cut with high lift blades or with the gator style blades..

 

[KEYBEAR]

I bought a set of gator style blades three or four years . I used them three or four times and got rid of them .

 

[crazyal]

I'm not disagreeing but being new I'm trying to find what seams to work on my grass. I think the mulching blades would work fine for me in the summer but now with the grass being thicker and not having the mulching kit the deck is not recirculating the cuttings to mulch it and it's the throwing out the grass as hard as it should. So it leaves clumps. If I go over the clumps it doesn't always pick them up. In the fall I'll be using the mower to blow the leaves to the edge of the woods. In the future I may end up with a powerflow bagging system but I want to wait until I can make a more informed decision. I may want to go with a sweeper instead but I have a feeling that the capacity I'm going to want will mean using something like a trailer. Switching to high lift blades isn't expensive so I figured I would give it a try.

In fact there are lots of things that I have to learn all over. The dealer said to leave the anti-scalping wheels all the way up. Unfortunately my lawn is not smooth enough and in a couple places the lawn got a close shave. The height of the deck is also something I'm trying to figure out. The old mower has a 38" deck with just 1 through 6 height adjustments. The 48" deck seams to need to be a little higher because the lawn is uneven.

When I built the house there was so much to do the lawn kind of took a back seat. As long as it was green I was happy. I have fixed a few areas as well as expanded the lawn using much nicer grass. In the future I'm going to fix more it but being on the side of a hill that means trying to time it so rain doesn't was the dirt away. So for now I'm going to live with what I have and find what works best.

 

[jgayman]

I have a X500 w/48" deck and the mulching kit and it works perfectly with the stock JD mulching blades. My lawn is VERY uneven with hills, lumps and bumps. I keep the anti-scalp wheels set to about 1/2" off the ground and I don't have ANY issues with scalping even in the most uneven spots. The mulching blades are as you describe, they have a curve in the middle and the blade has a sharpened edge from the tip and back through the curve. It does make them a bit tricky to sharpen.

Since you do not have the mulching baffles installed, my advice is to either replace your mulching blades with a set of standard JD blades or get the mulching kit and install it. Getting the whole kit isn't a waste because that will give you an extra set of blades so you can cycle/sharpen them a couple times per season and it will greatly extend the life of the blades. That is what I am currently doing and it works great.

 

[oldnslo]

Last year we had a wet summer and it was next to impossible to mow when then the grass was dry. The 54" deck on the X540 would leave stripes where the front tires drove over the grass. I tried a set of JD Hi-Lift blades and these improved the cut in the wheel tracks. Doubt you would see any difference if mowing dry lawn though.

 

[crazyal]

I found a seller on ebay who had 3 new Deere brand blades for $30 shipped. I got them yesterday and put them on. I mowed Wed night so the grass really didn't need cutting but I did do a small section. They make a big difference. In the spring there's lots of small twigs that have collected over the winter. I've mowed twice so far this year and the mulching blades just left them while the high lift blades were picking them up and throwing them out the chute. The grass also looked like it was cut more evenly with less signs where the tires drove over the grass. Later in the summer I'll switch back to see how the mulching blades work and in the future I'll look at getting the mulching attachment for the deck but for now I'm going to leave the high lift blade on.

 

[bkihum]

I found a seller on ebay who had 3 new Deere brand blades for $30 shipped. I got them yesterday and put them on. I mowed Wed night so the grass really didn't need cutting but I did do a small section. They make a big difference. In the spring there's lots of small twigs that have collected over the winter. I've mowed twice so far this year and the mulching blades just left them while the high lift blades were picking them up and throwing them out the chute. The grass also looked like it was cut more evenly with less signs where the tires drove over the grass. Later in the summer I'll switch back to see how the mulching blades work and in the future I'll look at getting the mulching attachment for the deck but for now I'm going to leave the high lift blade on.

:thumbsup:

 

[jenkinsph]

I found a seller on ebay who had 3 new Deere brand blades for $30 shipped. I got them yesterday and put them on. I mowed Wed night so the grass really didn't need cutting but I did do a small section. They make a big difference. In the spring there's lots of small twigs that have collected over the winter. I've mowed twice so far this year and the mulching blades just left them while the high lift blades were picking them up and throwing them out the chute. The grass also looked like it was cut more evenly with less signs where the tires drove over the grass. Later in the summer I'll switch back to see how the mulching blades work and in the future I'll look at getting the mulching attachment for the deck but for now I'm going to leave the high lift blade on.

I find the high lift blades work pretty well on the simple collection bagger. The power flow collection systems and the MC519 Deere recommends standard blades. Just so you know. Cutting a little more often will reduce the clumping too.

 

[Deere Dude]

al
Not sure what you want that you don't have now.


Myself, I use the JD standard blades.. didn't get a better cut with high lift blades or with the gator style blades..

I found that in to be true in my case. I ordered hi-lift blades but can't really tell a difference. I never tried gator blades mainly because I couldn't figure out which one presumably would work best.