Lawn mowers

[Jaybird1980]

I think the 14.5" will be too short and leave a mohawk. I'll measure the next time I clean out the deck.

Maybe, you could measure the ones on the deck and see how much overlap you have.

Does Ariens not even have a high lift blade available?

 

[ws6guy]

Maybe, you could measure the ones on the deck and see how much overlap you have.

Does Ariens not even have a high lift blade available?

The one in the picture I posted is their standard blade, the mulch blade is lower lift. I might try putting the standard blades back on with the mulching baffles to see if it cuts any better. Like I said it cuts good without the mulch kit but I like having having the mulch kit to get rid of the leaves instead of raking (lots of trees). Worst case is that I just need to spend an hour or so every year changing out the mulch kit.

 

[WebSnyper]

Got the Bad Boy Maverick, 54“ deck last year. Had a few minor bugs but the dealer was good. Added a front weight to add stability over the hills and mole holes for a bit of improvement, but when I filled the tires with liquid last week, the better half who does the mowing gave it a thumbs up. Pictured are my 2 bad boys, but sadly we had to put the little guy down last March. Almost wish I went with the Ariens as a local business I do alot with now sells them and they were in the running when I got this. I tend to service my mowers in the spring.

When you say you filled the tires with liquid, what exactly did that entail?

I went with a Badboy myself largely due to it being my second choice (though probably 1st in the price range) due to finding a good dealer in my area, but also having access to another dealer or 2 in the area. I bypassed the more expensive Hustler that would have been my #1 pick in all but price point due to the only Hustler dealer that I'm aware of in my area having a very bad rep. Getting ready to do the initial break in oil change this weekend.

 

[IndyBeerman]

To be honest I had gator blades on my now dead 44 inch Simplicity ZTR 3 blade deck, they sucked, even for mulching leaves. And if I remember correct it had 16 inch blades.

The drawback when mulching is that you're always going to get a build up under the deck, I substantially cut that down by modifying the baffles, they was the biggest culprit for the build up.
Man I can't wait till I can climb back on a new ZTR and mow the yard myself again to MY standards, hate having the grass to low because of late year drought and my back yard grows way faster than the front for some reason.

 

[Jaybird1980]

The one in the picture I posted is their standard blade, the mulch blade is lower lift. I might try putting the standard blades back on with the mulching baffles to see if it cuts any better. Like I said it cuts good without the mulch kit but I like having having the mulch kit to get rid of the leaves instead of raking (lots of trees). Worst case is that I just need to spend an hour or so every year changing out the mulch kit.

I was just just thinking some high lift blades would move more air and create more turbulence under the deck, hopefully helping with the buildup. It's essentially what gators do they just do it a lil better than standard high lift in most cases. That said if the deck is just a bad design then it may not change anything. I did see a lot of the same complaints when I did a quick search on those, same with the Ikon XD.

 

[Bugzilla]

When you say you filled the tires with liquid, what exactly did that entail?

I went with a Badboy myself largely due to it being my second choice (though probably 1st in the price range) due to finding a good dealer in my area, but also having access to another dealer or 2 in the area. I bypassed the more expensive Hustler that would have been my #1 pick in all but price point due to the only Hustler dealer that I'm aware of in my area having a very bad rep. Getting ready to do the initial break in oil change this weekend.

A $10 liquid fill adapter that fits a garden hose, used the12v pump on my home made lawn sprayer to pump it in. I took the tires off. Just made it a little easier. Take the valve stem out, put the adapter on the tire stem and pump the liquid in. The adapter has a bleeder to relieve the pressure as you fill the tire. A little messy as residual liquid will spit out also, but not bad. Got real good at it by the time I got to tire #4!! You can google charts on how much the tire will hold. My Maverick took 5.5 gallons each on the rear and 1.5 on the front. Got the adapter at TSC. Used -20F washer fluid, but most any liquid will work. I did the oil change on the hydro units in the spring.