RCK54 mower blades, who makes good ones?

[sunandsand]

Got an RCK54 belly mower on my B2601. I think it is getting to be time for blades since the "cut" has become somewhat raggedy and sometimes it pushes the grass down instead of cutting it. I've run the mower about 100 hours.

I'm looking at Google, and I find blades from $12 each up to $20+ each. How do I determine which ones are quality and which ones are cheap junk? Remember I can't physically check them out, so I guess what I need is something like "Brand X is good, brand Y is garbage, avoid."

What should I expect to pay?

I don't need the grass to be flawless and groomed like an English castle where they've been cutting the lawn every day for the past 300 years, but I'd like it to come out a little more consistent and neater than I'm getting.

I've checked and adjusted the deck alignment, mow height is set to 2.75 inches and that seems to work well for me.

Teach me Mower Blades 101, please! Who makes good ones?

Best Regards,

Mike/Florida

 

[JWR]

Observation from my experience is that new blades should be good for a lot more than 100hrs. How often do you sharpen them and how much mowing a week do you do ? I got a new set of blades from our local kubota dealer last year (around $17 each as I recall) having put about 400 hrs on the originals and having sharpened them once a year. The new blades made a noticeable improvement of course. This was on a BX2200 using a 60" deck.

 

[Leejohn]

Oregon blades are good and make a lot of OEM blades.

 

[tshep]

I wonder about this myself.
Is there a best leading angle?
(I assume flat bottom...)
Is hardening (factor, or re-hardening) an issue?

 

[5030]

Oregon blades are good and make a lot of OEM blades.

...Best price is Agri-Supply www.agrisupply.com I get all my blades from them, so cheap I never sharpen them, just toss the old ones yearly.

 

[homey53]

I bought a set of replacement blades for my BX25D, 60 inch deck on Ebay. I think you can buy directrly from the vendor without going through Ebay, though. The vendor is "Pro Parts Plus". The blades they sell are XHT blades. The letters stand for Xtreme Hardness Toughness. If you check out their site, they make a pretty solid case for selling the best blade going. I bought a set this past spring. The cost was $46.65 plus shipping and tax. I think it was close to $60 in the end, which is a little cheaper than Kubota brand. It leaves a nice cut quality. Check them out.

 

[JWR]

I bought a set of replacement blades for my BX25D, 60 inch deck on Ebay. I think you can buy directrly from the vendor without going through Ebay, though. The vendor is "Pro Parts Plus". The blades they sell are XHT blades. The letters stand for Xtreme Hardness Toughness. If you check out their site, they make a pretty solid case for selling the best blade going. I bought a set this past spring. The cost was $46.65 plus shipping and tax. I think it was close to $60 in the end, which is a little cheaper than Kubota brand. It leaves a nice cut quality. Check them out.

Overpriced it seems to me. They were under $40 for the pair with tax at my local kubota dealer.

 

[RjCorazza]

X2 on Oregon blades. I use the G6 gator blades, which keep an edge longer than anything else I've tried.
My current set has 400 hours in use, sharpened every 30-40 hours.

 

[homey53]

Overpriced it seems to me. They were under $40 for the pair with tax at my local kubota dealer.

$46.65 was for a 3 blade set. (3) 20 inch blades for a 60 inch deck. My math says $15.55 each. Right now at Messick's a 3 blade set for mine are $55.75 or $18.60 each. Messick's always beats the tar out of my local dealer on pricing. I'd rather pay shipping than deal with the south end of a horse, headed north. You are fortunate if you have an accomodating, local dealer.

 

[zoltanthegypsy]

+1 on the Gator blades. The Kubota mulch kit on my GR was pretty much useless so pulled it off and switched to Gators and their sort of mulch cut. Much happier.

Z.