Do you have the mulch plug installed? Depending on the deck gators may work better with or without the plug.

I currently have none of the original mulch kit installed. Most feedback was this was the way to go. I'm going to toss the blocking plate on and cut the remainder of the lawn. Stay tuned!

Thanks needstractor!

I find depending on the type of grass you may have to go alittle slower than normal.

OK, here's the update. I added the blocking plate to cover the side discharge... My STX is a 5-Speed and I typically cut in 2nd gear. When I first started it left clumps behind, then it seemed to even out. All in all I'm still quite surprised at the size of the clippings left behind. After all the great gator-blade reviews am I the only one having an issue??

Are your gator blades painted Green?

I got mine from my JD dealer and they were painted JD green, and for some dumb reason they painted over the edge of the blade.

Pull em off, give em a good sharpening, and pop em back on. Should do a better job.

Thanks kcook. Bought mine from an online JD dealer. They are painted black. Looks like I'll pull them off and hit them with a file to get the paint off!

I've noticed that when my blades start to get dull they leave a longer blade of grass. Just keep em sharp and I found they work well. Especially on leaves.

Some people love them, some don't think they make a difference. On my grass, I do notice a difference from stock blades, especially if I go over it a second time. They work amazing on the dry leaves we get up here.

I think grass type might have a big difference on cut, as well as how long the grass you are cutting is. I mow at about 3.25 inches, and I mow when the grass gets about 5-6 inches high, and I don't notice the clippings on the grass unless I walk through it when its wet...

Another thing to check is how clean the underside of your mower deck is. If it's got lots of crusted on grass it's possible there isn't enough airflow or volume to re-cut the grass blades. My gators were starting to cut worse about a month ago. Turns out the deck was full of caked on grass. After a good cleaning the gators are back to cutting great again.

I agree with the tip to sharpen the blades and give them another try. Sometimes on here people tend to go a little overboard on what Gators can do. On my LX178 (38" deck like yours) I found that they work as good or maybe slightly better then the OEM blades. I use them with the "ramp/blockoff" part of the mulching kit on and they do well. The part I liked about them is that the Magnums I bought are much thicker than the OEM's (They seem to keep an edge very well) and much cheaper, the fact that they mulch pretty well too is gravy.

I got gator blades this fall to use on the leaves,cut 8 bags didn't notice any difference,took the blades off and sharpened them cut 8 more bages still no difference,took the blades back off and the sharpened edge was round,so installed mulching plug the same results,after reading all the great post about g.b. I thought after I installed I could go inside get a cup of coffee come back out and the yard would done not impressed they sure look bad rick