Rear or Side discharge

[kthompson]

Depending on the option to, you may want to plant a slower growing grass. I like the baler option. Some steady good advice.

 

[BrkMstr]

Cutting every week does not allow a lot of growth - the rear discharge spreads it nicely, it's a nice quality mower with sharp blades run at 540 - I do not bag, I put it back on the lawn, old timers use to tell me that returns the nutrients - I assumed it was an excuse for not bagging - but it works for me, our lawn is always neat, grows well and in all honesty if we have a rainy summer looks as good as my neighbors - obviously if we have a dry summer it gets a little brown in spots....

 

[1Random1]

Thanks for the feedback. So if i tried to use a side discharge and throw the grass where I need to mow next... it will eventually pile up and bog the mower down.

If i some how managed to do that then the other problem would be the fact I would have to mow the same way every time causing a trail in the grass etc.

In which case really speaking... If i was to use side discharge i should mow 2 different directions and i should be throwing the new cut clippings over the area already mowed to keep it away from where I need to cut next. In this case the grass is left over the lawn just like a rear discharge would leave it... just spread differently?

I did speak to Kubota and there are bag/catchers for the rear discharge as well as some high flow system for side where it uses a fan to throw the grass up the tube into the catcher.

Well which one can handle neglected grass easier? I would think rear discharge as its not trying to throw the grass from 1 side to the other to discharge...

And terms of cut quality... does one seem to cut the grass nicer over the other (less stragglers etc) or much of a muchness?

 

[mikester]

Thanks for the feedback. So if i tried to use a side discharge and throw the grass where I need to mow next... it will eventually pile up and bog the mower down.

If i some how managed to do that then the other problem would be the fact I would have to mow the same way every time causing a trail in the grass etc.

In which case really speaking... If i was to use side discharge i should mow 2 different directions and i should be throwing the new cut clippings over the area already mowed to keep it away from where I need to cut next. In this case the grass is left over the lawn just like a rear discharge would leave it... just spread differently?

I did speak to Kubota and there are bag/catchers for the rear discharge as well as some high flow system for side where it uses a fan to throw the grass up the tube into the catcher.

Well which one can handle neglected grass easier? I would think rear discharge as its not trying to throw the grass from 1 side to the other to discharge...

And terms of cut quality... does one seem to cut the grass nicer over the other (less stragglers etc) or much of a muchness?

By the sounds of things all you want is a rear discharge bush hog. If you are worried about cut quality you wouldnt let the grass grow that tall in the first place. Re-cutting cut grass just slows you down and burns more fuel. Thats why the rear discharge would be better for you, just cut it once and forget about it.

 

[ruffdog]

If the OP plans on blowing all the clippings to the center of his "square", he will have to bale what is left.

 

[greenrider1]

I've used a 3 pt rear discharge Bush Hog brand finish mower (7 ft) and it left a really nice cut and dispersed the clippings evenly with no clumping. It cut tall grass really well too due to the size of the mower deck. I sold that mower and bought a F3080 with 6' rear discharge deck, and while it's a lot more maneuverable than the 3 pt mower on the bigger tractor, the rear discharge deck doesn't leave as nice of a cut and clumps terrible unless the grass is really dry or mowed very frequently. While I really like the F series mower, the RD deck sucks. I'm not sure why the 3 pt RD was so much better. I've tried Gator blades, which help a little with the clumping, but the cut quality is even worse. If I could do it over I would have gone with the side discharge.

 

[chim]

Had a few side discharge decks and two rear discharge. If the grass isn't too long when cut any of them are OK. My side discharge decks have all been right-side discharge. Generally I went counter clockwise and blew clippings away from the center as the mowing pattern shrank. To switch things up I've mowed different patterns with a side discharge but not when the grass was high. Rear discharge really frees you up to go in whatever direction you want.

Here are a couple pics showing the RD deck and the cut / uncut grass in front of the tractor. This is taking probably 3-4" off.

 

[1Random1]

Well that looks pretty clean if you ask me.

I just dont understand why every manufacturer, hustler, kubota and everyone says "if you leave the grass too long, the side discharge will cut it easier than rear discharge, and side discharge leaves a cleaner looking lawn"

They even told me in wet tall grass, side discharge will go through it easier/faster.

Yet side discharge bogs down cause its trying to cut everything more than once... so I fail to see how it will cut 'easier and faster' than a rear discharge.

What am I missing?

Eg:

"Cutting performance is similar on our side and rear decks, you will have more clumping of cut grass behind the rear deck though. Rear decks don't disperse clippings as effectively / evenly as a side cut decks.

If you're after a nicer finish then you would probably go for a side discharge deck."

"Side discharge decks will deal with tall wet grass easier than rear discharge and they will allow you to cut your field faster and have it looking cleaner than rear discharge"

Then you google the story and u get stuff like this in most blogs/posts

"Once again, rear discharge models do better than side discharge mowers. ... A rear discharge mower will still spray out trimmings in this fashion, but they will tend to spread out more evenly because they are being sprayed out behind instead of to the side and covering a larger area in the process."

Along with a lot of people (think there was a thread on here I read) where majority of people said "i would never use a side discharge again" after buying their first rear discharge deck. And some even said they were told by dealers not to buy rear discharge decks but they pushed them to sell them a rear discharge deck and they work better.

Yet they dont cut as good, they leave more mess, and they struggle in longer grass than side discharge, and they cut grass slower. (based on the above)...

So what am I failing to understand here?

 

[chim]

Not sure what to say except if the grass is REALLY too long nothing works well for me. I wish I'd have gone with a rear discharge sooner. There was hesitation because my side discharge decks had done much better than the rear discharge deck on the In-law's John Deere. I don't remember the model number. It was a dedicated mower that resembled a ZT except it had a steering wheel. It always left windrows between the blades regardless of the condition of the grass being cut.

My side discharge decks were a belly mower on a Cub 154 LoBoy, a 5' Caroni RFM and a 5' LandPride (AT-something) RFM. The came the L3200 with a rear discharge LandPride FDR1672 RFM. Then the L4240 deserved a wider deck, so I bought and re-furbished the Caroni 90" deck in the picture. I should note that I am not running the deflector on that deck. It does impair the distribution of the clippings somewhat.

Last Summer there was a well-used 5' Caroni side discharge that I bought to rehab for the little Ford. The 5' Caroni that has been used, abused, welded and abused again since '91 or '92 has gotten to the point that usable parts will be salvaged from it for the other two Caroni decks.

 

[1Random1]

thanks for the feedback.

I spoke to some other companies... they suggested a "flail" mower.

I must say I didn't understand what that was, I had a look at them in use...

They cut short/tall grass without issues and they disperse the grass (rear - discharge if you will, it doesn't shoot out the side) very evenly and nicely. Even picks up the grass the wheels just flattened to not leave uncut areas.

I was quite surprised how neat that mower leaves things looking and what sort of conditions (if your lazy and want to mow once in 2-3months) it can cut in without having to make 2-3 passes.

Can a properly set up flail mower be used as a finishing mower? - If I am not mistaken they use something of the nature on golf fairways - if they do... then well it seems that gives you the best of both worlds. Tall or short grass and a beautiful finish. 1 Mower that seems to do everything?