mattw86
New member
I have a John Deere L118 mower. I want to start mulching my grass so do I only need to get the mulching kit that is just the cover or do I need to get a new set of blades also?
Mowing Mulching Blades?
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woodlandfarms
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I bought a set of Gator Mulching blades for my Craftsman 50". The research I did was that the blades do make a difference, that the mulching kit is mostly not necessary (Mulching kit just prevents stuff from being ejected out the chute, but if your blades are designed to mulch, the benefits are minimal from the kit). If you buy mulching blades you should sand / grind the paint off the cutting edges.
The theory as I understand it is that a normal blade has the upsweep at the tips. That sweep is to create vacuum that pulls grass up to cut, but also it creates a swirling pattern that pushes air out the chute.
Using a mulching blade, they have nicks cut into the upsweep, so the vaccuum is reduced a bit, but the swirling is greatly reduced. Grass is cut, and tossed around inside the machine and mulched.
A Mulching Kit is designed to keep the grass in the mower using a conventional blade.
The theory as I understand it is that a normal blade has the upsweep at the tips. That sweep is to create vacuum that pulls grass up to cut, but also it creates a swirling pattern that pushes air out the chute.
Using a mulching blade, they have nicks cut into the upsweep, so the vaccuum is reduced a bit, but the swirling is greatly reduced. Grass is cut, and tossed around inside the machine and mulched.
A Mulching Kit is designed to keep the grass in the mower using a conventional blade.
LD1
Epic Contributor
I bought a set of the gator blades. They really werent that expensive. About the same as regular blades.
I dont have any facts to back it up, but I cant tell much difference in grass. They do seem to shop the leaves up finer in the fall though.
The "theory" as I understand it is that the notches in the upsweep area and angled inward. This is "suposed" to keep tossing grass to the center of the blade so it can be chopped again. Some of the gator "knockoffs" I have seen have the notches angled outward. That "supposidly" dont work as well because that flings the grass outward away from the blade.
IF I had to do over again, I would probabally still buy the gators. Because as stated, the cost difference between regular blades and gators is minimal, and the cut is just as good.
Dont know much about the mulching kit.
I dont have any facts to back it up, but I cant tell much difference in grass. They do seem to shop the leaves up finer in the fall though.
The "theory" as I understand it is that the notches in the upsweep area and angled inward. This is "suposed" to keep tossing grass to the center of the blade so it can be chopped again. Some of the gator "knockoffs" I have seen have the notches angled outward. That "supposidly" dont work as well because that flings the grass outward away from the blade.
IF I had to do over again, I would probabally still buy the gators. Because as stated, the cost difference between regular blades and gators is minimal, and the cut is just as good.
Dont know much about the mulching kit.
JoeL4330
Platinum Member
mulching blades have two cutting levels and are (thus) designed to cut a blade of grass more than once and/or at two different heights; I believe the "kit" encloses and provides a "blender" like airflow to aid the process of twice-cutting. Instructions on use of mulching kit recommend travel speeds of 2mph or less (presumably to give the twice-cut process dwell time to work)
I have the mulching kit on my large Befco mower and it works as advertised.
I have the mulching kit on my large Befco mower and it works as advertised.