Side to rear discharge

AndyG · May 14, 2009

Has anyone taken a stab a converting a side discharge finishing mower to rear discharge? I have a older 72" Befco mower that I like because of its simple & heavy construction. I would really like to have the benefits of a rear discharge though. Any tips on converting?

GATC35 · May 19, 2009

I have never converted one. I have a 84 in Befco rear discharge at home. I'll be glad to take some pictures of it if that would help you.

AndyG · May 19, 2009

I think that would be very helpful. Please note of all of the blades turn the same direction. Thanks

djradz · May 19, 2009

My 72" Woods RFM is apparently both a side and rear. The only difference I see is that the rear side lip is not as deep as the sides are. Also, I take off the side chute and cover it with a plate that is the same (except mirror) of the other side. Underneath, there is very limited baffling, and almost nothing at the rear. Without pictures of what you have it's tough to suggest what to do, but here's my take
1) Make sure the rear side is shorter than the sides, so the grass can get out the rear. Mine is about 2-3" less.
2) Make sure there is limited baffling extending into the rear area. Mine probably doesn't extend past about a 4-o'clock position.
3) Place a cover or plate over the side discharge chute so the inside surface is smooth and there's not a place for grass to wad up.

Good luck. Although not perfect, I think you'll be surprised at how much of a windrow-less (is that really a word?) result you will come up with.

GATC35 · May 19, 2009

See if this helps. The blades all turn the same direction. This mower came with my M5400 when I bought it used 2 years ago. I have never used this mower. As you can see it has blades missing. I have all the parts and pieces to fix it. Since I have a ZTR I have never gotten around to fixing this, just too busy with other things.

jimmer2880 · May 19, 2009

Mark - those pics are very interesting. I'm a little surprised at how far to the rear the baffling runs. It looks like about 1:00 position on 1, and 2:00 on the other.

Looking at the picture - do the blades turn CW, or CCW?

GATC35 · May 19, 2009

As seen in the pictures they all turn counter-clockwise. If you look at pic 2 the tip of the blade pointing to the 5 o'clock position the leading edge is to the right. The trailing edge is curled up at the backside.

I agree the baffles and blade rotation doesn't seem right. Like previously stated I have never used this mower. So I have no idea how it cuts.

AndyG · May 20, 2009

To bad that the big Befco is in Georgia. Thanks for the pics though. It looks like I can leave the existing side discharge baffles in place and add to them. If djradz can come up with a pic of his Woods mower that will help also. There doesn't seem to be very many good pics on the manufacturer's web sites.

joes_427_vette · May 21, 2009

What would be the advantage to a rear discharge mower ? I like the side as I can discharge the heavy grass / leaves in a pile to cut again or pickup with less raking.

Diamondpilot · May 21, 2009

joes_427_vette said:
What would be the advantage to a rear discharge mower ? I like the side as I can discharge the heavy grass / leaves in a pile to cut again or pickup with less raking.

Rear leaves no piles. Also does not blow it on the drive and in the flower beds. You can also get up close to trees and fence lines with both sides without turning around.

Here is a pic of my 2 year old Caroni 6' rear discharge. I upgraded from a 5' King Kutter at the beginning of last season. Much better design and gives me all the advantages I listed above.

Chris