Side discharge or rear?

[Capt. Bob]

I am looking at buying a 5' finish mower for my CK30 Kioti. What is the best way to go? I have found a few deals on side discharge but none on rear. I am looking at a used King Kutter right now for $950 and it is a side discharge. What do ya'll think. "Inquiring minds want to know".

 

[MarkLeininger]

I've used both, prefer rear discharge. Side discharge is OK if the grass never gets too long between cuttings, but if it does you get a good bit of clumping and windrows. The windrows mat down the grass and it doesn't look so good. Not a problem if it's a pasture, but if it's your lawn you probably won't like it.

 

[em14]

I have a side discharge ... In my case I feel I made a big mistake every time I use it ... I would go with a rear discharge ... I don't like the windrows a side discharge leaves and I don't need to collect the cut grass where I use it!
Leo

 

[Gizmo2]

I like the side discharge. Used for mowing 2, 1.5 acre horse pastures a couple times a year. Where the horses did not eat the grass was always really high. I could mow then go back over where it was high and blow all the cut grass into a center swath for pickup, used the clippings for mulch. BTW - 5 ft finish mower.

 

[EddieWalker]

I've never had or even seen how a rear discharge finish mower works, but have a side discharge because I got a great deal on it.

It does spray allot of cuttings. It's kind of cool to see how much grass it cuts and how far they will go!!!! I haven't noticed any issues with rows of grass, but then I tend to cut trails, pastures, along my driveway and around my ponds. The cuttings will evenly cover the area that they spray onto, but that seems to disapear withing a day or two.

With all the advantages of rear discharge, I wonder why so many side discharge cutters are made and sold? I also wonder why so many commercial mowers, like zero turn models all have side discharge?

Good Luck,
Eddie

 

[Gizmo2]

Never did a study on it but I really believe the grass lift on a side discharge is much better.

 

[GIJOE]

I also wonder why so many commercial mowers, like zero turn models all have side discharge?

Good Luck,
Eddie

Probably because the track width of the tires is narrower than the cut width of the deck. If they made them a rear discharge the rear tires would see a lot of abuse from thrown debris.


Capt. Bob,

I don't think you would go wrong with either one. If you are not concerned with wind rows, the only advantage I see with a rear discharge is being able to cut extremely close to obstacles with both sides of the mower. That's the two main reason I purchased a rear discharge and I am very satisfied with it.

Joe

 

[wushaw]

The rear discharge RFM I had before my ZTR cut tall grass much better than the side discharge ZTR. If it wasn't for the sheer speed and maneuverability of the ZTR then I would still be using the rear discharge RFM.

Hustler makes a rear discharge ZTR although I hear it doesn't give a very good cut, I guess it has something to do with the design of the deck.

 

[schmism]

I've never had or even seen how a rear discharge finish mower works, but have a side discharge because I got a great deal on it.

With all the advantages of rear discharge, I wonder why so many side discharge cutters are made and sold? I also wonder why so many commercial mowers, like zero turn models all have side discharge?

Good Luck,
Eddie

rear discharge on my MMM deck just leaves an fairly even coat of clippings were you just drove, like an old reel mower. many times if you backup the deck wont discharge the clipings out the side, you can get an idea of what it looks like.

I would like a rear discharge for mine, im always fighting driveing direction with which way im going to spray clippings and if i want that or not. i generally dont like to spray them on the cars, or onto the house, or into the road. This limits the direction of travel. with rear discharge you dont have this problem, not to mention if the shoot is down, mine looks i came back and raked the yard for bailing it windrows so bad. (not to mention clumps and clogs in thick heavy tall grass)

Most commercial mowers are side discharge because 1, your walking behind it and they dont want to toss crap back at the operators feet, and if your riding on it, most want the ablity to offer clipping collection as thats a common request of commercial yard maintenance. (bag the yard)

 

[Bird]

I don't think anyone has made a grass catcher yet for a rear discharge mower, Of course I'm talking about tractor powered ones, not walk behind. And the ability to use a grass catcher might be another reason the ZTRs have side discharge. If you want to blow the clippings off a trail, blow them out from under pecan trees before the pecans fall, or you want windrows you can then rake to pick up the clippings, then the side discharge would be the way to go. But if you're only interested in mowing and leaving the clippings spread, then it seems to me the rear discharge will do that better. Another advantage of the rear discharge is that you can mow very close to buildings and other obstacles on either side; not just the left side.

I bought a 5' Bush Hog rear discharge finish mower in 1999 from my Kubota dealer. He said the price was the same for rear discharge or side discharge, but that he only stocked the rear discharge; would have to order a side discharge. He said 3 years earlier, everyone wanted the side discharge mowers, but by 1999 he couldn't sell a side discharge mower and quit stocking them.

I can see a reason for them to build both, though, since each will do better in different uses.

 

[firefighter9208]

I've never had or even seen how a rear discharge finish mower works, but have a side discharge because I got a great deal on it.

It does spray allot of cuttings. It's kind of cool to see how much grass it cuts and how far they will go!!!! I haven't noticed any issues with rows of grass, but then I tend to cut trails, pastures, along my driveway and around my ponds. The cuttings will evenly cover the area that they spray onto, but that seems to disapear withing a day or two.

With all the advantages of rear discharge, I wonder why so many side discharge cutters are made and sold? I also wonder why so many commercial mowers, like zero turn models all have side discharge?

Good Luck,
Eddie

Eddie,

Grasshopper does offer a special order rear discharge deck on their Zero Turn mowers Grasshopper Mowers > Products > MidMount Series > DuraMax Decks , but I didn't price one when I bought my 223 earlier this year. Kind of wish I had of because with an approxiate 17,000 rpm blade speed it will shoot grass clippings about 15 feet out the side dishcharge.

I have a bushhog RDTH 72 (rear discharge) finish mower that I was using before I bought the grasshopper. It worked well to mow the grass when we first built our house, but after the wife got done planting trees, plants, flower beds, etc... It was too cumbersome for the yard. The rear discharge was great around the pond, because I would often let the grass go too long between cuttings and had no problems with cutting it because there were no windrows.

Chris

 

[3238dpw]

I have been running a lawn business for the last 7 years. I have used both and I wouldn't take a rear discharge if you gave it to me. It does depend on what you need. I admit an advantage of rear discharge is not blowing clippings into beds, cars etc., but I find that a rear discharge leaves clippings in shorter grass than a side discharge. On the SD I believe this is due to grass being cycled from one side of the deck to the other and getting cut many times, getting somewhat of a mulching effect. The RD will cut it once and spit it out the back. While it does spread it evenly it evenly leaves long pieces. If you wait till it is too long it will leave a mess no matter what you do. With the lawn service we could not leave long pieces and would cut it twice if needed. With rear discharge it doesn't seem to matter how many times you cut it, it just won't go away. I also find RD makes a mess out of any part of the mower that is behind or to the side of the discharge like caster wheels and will discharge at an angle then hit the wheel on that side ,bunch up there and drop to the ground leaving a little windrow of grass.

So if you are cutting pastures the RD might be fine. If you are cutting a lawn my vote is for side discharge.

 

[NewToy]

I like the side discharge as I throw all the clippings away from the house as I go around and around on my mowing "route". Mine is a LandPride AT2660 and it creates quite a vacuum that lifts the grass prior to cutting. This is especially helpful if the grass is wet or just "dewy". It has a really fine cut quality that rivals my Honda push mower.

John