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New Mulching Kit Throws Leaves out in Front/Right side of Mower

14 years ago

I have a 32" Encore Premier walk-behind mower for 10 years now that I use for personal use and decided to get a mulching kit for the leaves this year. It came with a center divider, cover plate for the discharge chute and new blades.

When mowing there is a constant gust of wind coming out the front towards the right wheel which pushes leaves in a line off to the right and it leaves rows of uncut leaves or semi cut leaves. The mulching worked great where the leave were thick (3" to 6" deep) because that wind was blocked I would guess.

I called Encore Equipment today and they were not really sure what to do but suggested I try taking out the center divider to see if that helped. They also said I might try on some gator blades which work good on leaves. He also said to raise the blade up all the way. The blades are on the third "ring" out of five now, and the front wheels are all the way up for clearance. I'll raise the blades all the way next weekend but it's only about 1/2" more.

Is this a common problem with all mowers or all commercial type walk behind mowers or maybe just the design of this Encore Premier? I did have to go over the leaves a couple/few times and it worked great except for the strips of leaves left behind.

When I used to bag with this mower it sucked up everything in it's path like a vacuum cleaner. I assume because all of the air was going out the discharge chute to the bag.

BTW, I did check and the blades are installed correctly.

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Comments (4)

rdaystrom
14 years ago
That is somewhat common at least with several mowers I've had. On my current rider I solved the problem by installing a piece of metal about 2.5" wide bolted to the right front edge of the deck. This lip was similar to the one already present on the left of the deck. It stopped the blow-by of leaves and mulched much better.
kevin2e
Original Author
14 years ago
Thank you for your suggestion. I'm not sure it would work on my mower though. I have only about 2.5" clearance altogether and the air seems to be coming out from about half way in front of the mower. I think installing a piece of metal would block the leaves from going under the whole right side of the mower. As it is, a lot of them end up on top of the mower and I have to use my blower occasionally to clean it off.

I used it again this weekend after lowering the front a bit and raising the blades as far as I could. I had about the same results. Where the leaves were thick it worked fine, but where they were thin they were flying all over the place. I tried mowing with all right turns and it helped a little but still missed a lot. It was frustrating...
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rdaystrom
14 years ago
Perhaps you misunderstand what I mean by installing the metal piece. The 2.5 inch strip of metal would be on the bottom front middle and right edge of the deck parallel with the ground. It would not block leaves at all. A wide metal edge is what Snapper uses around their whole deck for mulching and bagging leaves.It keeps leaves from blowing out.
kevin2e
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks again. Do you mean adding a piece of metal to the underside of the deck? I pictured what you said on the very front of the deck hanging down. If on the outside, it would need to be at least 12" long which is why I thought it would block the leaves.

My mower is squared off on the front right side but somewhat round underneath for mulching. There are two "chambers" with the center divider in but they are not really round all the way so maybe that's the problem. It could be a design flaw. Maybe it works OK for grass but not so well for leaves.

I'll add a link if it works to encoreequipment.com. If you click on Mowers, then Premier then Pro Belt you would see my mower. Picture it without the discharge chute and the corner is square. Also if you click on Accessories you can see what the underside looks like with the mulching kit and how it's not really round all the way. I wonder if that's where the problem is compared to a true mulching mower...

Here is a link that might be useful: Encore Equipment

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