Lawn Mower Bagger Question

A little history. My FIL informed me that John Deere told him his mower deck was to big for a non-powered bagger. He’s got a 56″ deck. They also told him that those big commerical units don’t have this issue as their blades move at something like 14,000 RPMs where our residential units only get about 3,000 RPMs.

Now I believe that as I’ve got a 46″ deck and my bagger chute gets plugged all the time.

I’m considering trading down to a 42″ deck to help eliminate this issue. Looking for some thoughts on this and experiences with 42″ decks.

Wade , see if this works..My dad spent 30+ years working on John Deere’s.

Slow you speed of travel down and your running RPM up a little, it gives leaves and such time to travel up the bagger chute.

Quote:

---

Wade , see if this works..My dad spent 30+ years working on John Deere’s.

Slow you speed of travel down and your running RPM up a little, it gives leaves and such time to travel up the bagger chute.

---

Thanks Jeff, I’ll do just that.

I have a 42″ built by JD… I have a yard FULL of Oak leaves… they plug it immediately. I run around at high speed and chop em up, before attempting to bag them. I really need one of them pull behind choppers with their own engine, with the big hopper on a trailer.

I have a 42″ bagger LX 279 at home and using high lift blades what I’ve seen is that too much material will get pulled up and fill the bags and clog chute in a hundred feet or so when the leaves are down. I just leave it clogged and run around & chop the stuff up a bunch before then clearing the chute & emptying the bags so I’m making 20 or so trips to the compost pile vs 50 or so trips.
I have a 80’s vintage 110 Deere with a 38″ deck at the lake. I bought some Gator mulching blade’s on the recommendation of the JD dealer in Isanti. These things are THICK and have a lot of lift, they pull the thatch up & out, and have “rakers” in addition to the 2 step cutters most mulch blade have. I’m going to get some of those for the East Bethel machine after trying them at the lake. My only concern is the new machine has an electronic PTO engagement and with the thickness of these blades I was feathering the engagement pully on the old machine.

Wade, I am running a 48in deck on my Huskavarna. I got a triple bagger and it is an awesome unit. THe only time it plugs on leaves is when the bags get full and I try to push it a little to far. I bag my grass, and the only time I have had trouble is if I mow when it’s wet. This thing has saved me alot of headaches from raking, very good product.

If your blades are worn thru, replace them. I was having all kinds of trouble with this on my LX 176. New blades fixed the problem.

WAY too many leaves to bag here I gave up on bagging and took the easy route. I just blow them into wind rows and push the whole pile across the yard. I decided to let them all go this year and do a 1-time cleanup in a few weeks.

GOOD PLAN

I agree with the Bladepuller. To maximize the bagging, it helps to have high-lift blades to create more air flow through the chute and into the bag.

The problem this fall for me has been that this extra air flow has creates huge clouds of dust when conditions are dry. It looks like I’m running a combine through a dry wheat field when I’m out bagging the lawn. In fact, it’s do bad that I started using the graden hose to water down the area of the lawn that I intend to bag to keep the dust down.

But the bottom line is yes, there is a limit to how wide of a mowing width you can bag with a conventional tractor with a non-powered bagger.

Another option is to get a tow-behind leaf sweeper.

Grouse

My Husqvarna has a 48” deck and the bagger consist of 3 big garbage cans hanging off the back and that thing eat leaves like no bodies business.
Oak, Catalpa, Red Maples and whatever else I have in the yard.

You should have no trouble with your 46” deck and JD. Slowing down sounds like it will solve your problem.

I’m thinking my blades may be my issue.

Wade, if your yard is like mine, slowing down won’t help either. I literally “push” the leaves in front of my deck… they are 6″-8″ deep. Then again, probably not every yard has 30+ 100 year old oaks and Maples on them. (glad I took 15 out last year)

Quote:

---

Then again, probably not every yard has 30+ 100 year old oaks and Maples on them. (

---

I do, plus some Ash that are 100 yrs old. You know if you run around a couple times a week it helps instead of waiting for everything to be down

Quote:

---

Wade, if your yard is like mine, slowing down won’t help either. I literally “push” the leaves in front of my deck… they are 6″-8″ deep. Then again, probably not every yard has 30+ 100 year old oaks and Maples on them. (glad I took 15 out last year)

---

If it is that bad, try running them through the mower first without trying to pick up any leaves. Chop them up and even them out. It really helps to have them prechopped.

Quote:

---

Quote:

---

Then again, probably not every yard has 30+ 100 year old oaks and Maples on them. (

---

I do, plus some Ash that are 100 yrs old. You know if you run around a couple times a week it helps instead of waiting for everything to be down

---

I used to do that Bret.. about 4 times. But I would get so depressed, 15 minutes after I had the green turf exposed, the wind would blow through and it would look like I didn’t do a thing… this of course would put me into a deep depression, that I could only survive, through heavy sedation from HIGH LIFE …. now I wait until 99% are down, then I do exactly as stated… run around like a mad man, chopping em up, plowing em… the only thing about the way I do it now, I need to watch, because they pile up in front and the muffler will start them on fire that’s happened before