914A MMM mulch kit?

dhjmdls · Jul 1, 2004

Does anyone happen to know if NH makes a mulch kit for the 914A MMM?

I was ordering a new TC24DA with 914A MMM rear-discharge and the dealer did his very best to talk me out of it in favor of a side-discharge. They stated that the grass exiting the rear-discharge in front of the rear tires gets matted before it can be strewn about, and said that I would not be happy with the results, because it would leave two distinct lines of matted grass. Anyone with any other thoughts before I continue down this path? I haven't ordered yet, because I wanted to call on the expertise of TBN vets.

Thanks,
Derek

Bob_Skurka · Jul 1, 2004

I just started using a 914A MMM with side discharge and am very happy with the quality of the cut. I have no idea if the there is a mulching kit, however.

Inspector507 · Jul 1, 2004

dhjmdls,
I'll be honest with my experiences. The 914 rear discharge is not the best mower I ever bought. It does seem to mulch well, but for me the clippings tend to build up inside and bog the tractor down. This happens if the grass is damp or has a lot of moisture content. If you stop the tractor, lift the deck, and push in the clutch, I get pile of grass "boogers" that have built up inside the deck. A few other members have had all the same problems as well.

Last night I did some mowing and no problem at all. No rain for maybe a week or so. If the rain has delayed me for some time mowing, and the grass is long, I'll pull out the finish mower. It does not bog the tractor engine at all. But it's harder and more time consuming to use that one.

But I have never seen any "matting". The only matting I see is the tire track in the lawn. That happens no matter what mower I use.
The side discharge will tend to make the grass clippings "windrow" if it's long.

dhjmdls · Jul 1, 2004

Inspector - do you leave your grass pretty long when you cut it? I do. That's part of the reason I wanted a rear-discharge, I didn't want all that grass windrowing, as you suggest, and I don't want to rake or bag the crap! The dealer told me they hadn't sold a rear-discharge in over two years because of this matting...

Question - don't all mowers build up grass inside, especially if slightly wet when you mow, eventually spitting out the grass "boogers", just the same? To me, this would not be cause for your description of "not the best mower I've ever bought". Are there other negatives about the mower that cause you to say this?

What size tractor do you own? Gear or hystat?

Inspector507 · Jul 2, 2004

I have the TC18 Hydro. I just think the design of the rear discharge mower leaves a lot to be desired.
Another member here (jwstewar) with a TC24 had the same issues and I think he posted some pics somewhere here.

Bob_Skurka · Jul 2, 2004

I just switched to a side discharge 914A but I used to use a rear discharge RFM and IF the grass was wet, or if the grass was tall, I had the same clumping problems with my rear discharge RFM that serveral people have complained about with rear discharge MMM. I think it is probably operator error, that being we let our grass get too long between mowing and try to take too much off the top in one pass. I also find that using a side discharge unit (I have 2 other side discharge tractors) when I only get noticiable windrowing when the grass is too long to begin with or when it is wet.

I also found, when using a rear discharge mower, that if the back of the deck is slightly higher than the front of the deck, the clumping can be SLIGHTLY reduced.

So with either style mower, my experiences are that if the grass is long or wet the results leave a lot to be desired. I suppose the choice is to mow more often, and only when it is dry.

jwstewar · Jul 2, 2004

Here is a link to my original post about my lack-of-rear-discharge mmm. Had it 2 months and considering trading

We've been a little bit better this year at keeping the grass mowed (even with all of the rain) and haven't had as many problems - though we've still had some.

As Jerry said, it isn't the best mower I've ever bought - well actually it is the only other mower I've ever bought was a push mower /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif, but I should say used. My Dad's old Sears Suburban would go through about anything and never bog. I must say though that the build of the 914 itself is quality. Everything is very heavy built. I like pulling up to stuff from either side to mow, but if I were to do it again I probably would've gone side discharge.

dhjmdls · Jul 2, 2004

It appears you are taking an awful lot off and the close-up shot looks like you're cutting it pretty short. Are those true observations? How tall are you leaving it? I usually take off 3-4 inches when I mow, but I also leave it 3 1/2 inches tall, which I figured would help absorb some of the clippings vs. leaving it only 2 inches tall or something considerably shorter.

I'm more concerned about the "matting" issue the dealer was telling me about. Has anyone here ever seen this "matting" with the rear-discharge model?

jwstewar · Jul 4, 2004

I've got it set at 3 1/2". Those pictures the grass was relatively tall, but not terribly high. Normally when I mow I mow at about 6" or so down to 3 1/2" inches - 1 week. And as Jerry said, if the grass has a high moister content it will do that. Now what I need to get a picture of is how it looks since I mowed yesterday. No rain in over a week and it looks absolutely fabulous - including my "natural grass." The reason why I originally bought the rear discharge - no windrows. The grass is everly distributed and pretty much all gone. The one thing that I'm not sure if I've mentioned or not. Where I've seeded with Kentucky 31 it usually does OK, but where I've let it go natural is where the problem typically is.

dhjmdls · Jul 4, 2004

Do you or have you ever gotten matting because the rear tires run over the exiting grass before it has time to be distributed out of the rear-discharge? So when it's dry, it does OK? What kind of tires do you use?