Mulching deck vs mulching kit

15 years ago

I have a 2007 John Deere X500 with the standard 48" side discharge mower deck on it. I'm considering switching to either the dedicated mulching deck or perhaps the mulching kit which can be put on my existing deck. Even though I am currently mowing twice a week and not cutting an excessive amount of the grass blade off, I am getting a lot grass clumping and I'm not interested in getting either a sweeper or a bagger. So I would like to hear from other owners to get their opinions as whether they like the performance of their mulchers and whether the kit is sufficient or whether the dedicated mulcher is better. I realize with the dedicated mulcher you can't switch to side discharge if you want but what are the pros and cons of these two options.

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Comments (4)

metal
15 years ago
I would try a set of Gator Mulching Blades first (cheapest option), and if still don't get the desired results go for the mulch kit. Buying a whole new deck is a little extreme. You might also ensure that your deck is leveled correctly.
bogey123
15 years ago
I have a mulch kit on my Simplicity Conquest with a 44 inch deck. It works well as long as I clean out the deck especially if I happen to cut when its been a bit wet.

In the fall the mulching kit works wonders, I never have to rake / blow leaves anymore.
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I've never run the Piranha with the deflector removed. Not sure how that would work out. I currently have the mulch deflector installed (M120965) which, unlike a "mulch plug" does actually allow a slight discharge of clippings. There is also a rear discharge insert (M120966) available which you'd swap out with the mulching discharge chute, if you want to use it as a conventional mower. I'd guess it increases the airflow volume by about 3x, and I'm sure it would still mulch quite a bit, with six blades spinning over a 44" swath. If you read the US patent description, the original intent was that a homeowner could easily convert this deck into a neglected-grass mower for certain situations like returning from vacation. Go to the JD parts catalog (link below), click on equipment search, type "deck" then scroll down to "mower decks for LX, GT, etc... Click on Sectional Index, then "44 inch mulching mower." When you open up the "mower deck, chute and gage wheels" view you'll see what I'm talking about. The Piranha will cut high grass. You just might have to go over it twice to mulch it completely. But it's not like your mower will become ineffective if your grass reaches 3". I previously owned a Cub Cadet with a mulch plug in the convertable deck. If the grass was too high it would basically clog up and leave about a third of the pass uncut. The Piranha doesn't do that, as far as I've seen. It just leaves clumps of clippings atop the otherwise evenly cut grass--if I let it get too long. Second pass elminates it completely. As long as I cut once a week, that doesn't happen. I sit and think of all the time I wasted bagging and dumping grass clippings (and unclogging the chute). Now here I am, with the same end result (minus the 4x8' compost bin), and the organic matter is instantaneously recycled into the soil. What a great purchase; probably would have been worth paying retail if I hadn't come across such a good deal. Nah, I'm too cheap to drop $900 on a mower deck. That extra $600 on top of what I spent buys a lot of Yuengling Lager and strip steak 5-packs from Sam's Club. I'd probably have to switch to Milwakee's Best and eye round steaks this summer if I'd paid full retail. Here is a link that might be useful: jd parts catalog
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mbsl98
15 years ago
I'm dealing with a JD 42 not a 48 deck, but in my opinion, the dedicated Freedom mulching deck is well worth bother/cost. It just does a great job, but has about zero suction so it is poor on leaves and other droppings. I got my JD LT160 with the Freedom deck, and then bought an almost new 42C side discharge deck on Ebay from a dealer in PA. It was traded in for a Freedom deck and sold cheap - about $200 delivered on a pallet in MA. I added a new bagger only because i couldn't source a decent used one, and that takes care of all of my spring and fall clean-up. Then I put the Freedom on around first of may and will take it off after the next few weeks, as the leaqves start to drop. If you browse Ebay, you can often find JD decks going cheap - either freedom or side discharge. With a 3 blade 48, there may be bigger differences in performance, although I understand that generally, They don't cut as well as 2 blade, and need power baggers.
john_wa
15 years ago
We have two mowers for our property which was formerly pasture, a JD LT 160 with the 42" Freedom mulching deck and a GX335 with a 54C deck, mulch kit and Gator blades. The GX335 has been set up this way since the day I bought it. Here in western Washington we generally mow once a week in the spring gradually stretching out to every two weeks in the height of summer. I find that we can avoid clumping and have a neat looking lawn as long as we mow at the correct height, and we're now nearing the end of our fourth season with this equipment. After I mow that first strip across the edge of the field, if there are any visible clippings, I just raise the deck height a notch for the next strip.

There is only one area where I sometimes have a little trouble because it is a north facing fairly steep slope that is in shade most of the day and almost always wet. But even here it comes out okay as long as I don't try to cut too low. We have no trouble mulching leaves with either deck, though we don't have a huge amount of deciduous trees.....just some alder, birch and cottonwood. We never rake leaves and we don't ever use a bagger.

Between the two, I would have to say that the Freedom deck does a little nicer job than my 54C deck. But if I were in your place I would do like Metal suggested. Check to see that your deck is properly leveled and try Gator blades first. If that doesn't work well you can then decide if you want to try the mulch kit.

Mulching deck vs mulching kit

Comments (4)

metal

bogey123

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mbsl98

john_wa

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