Can I convert a now mulching mower to a mulching mower?

15 years ago

How well does a gator blade work on a non mulching mower? Id like to mulch my grass and was thinking about adding a gator blade to an old toro but wasn't sure if this would do a good enough job. Does mulching performance depend more on the blade or deck design? Thanks...

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Comments (4)

indy452
15 years ago
Gator blades work well with Toro mowers. As far as I know most Toro decks are similar in design. The newer Toro decks have what they call "kickers" under the deck to help toss the grass clippings around even more. I have an older Toro without the kickers and the gator blade works well with it.

You just need to be sure that the deck is sealed off and the clippings are being mulched.
Do you have a much plug for the chute? Or do you have a side discharge Toro? If the latter I'm not sure what to tell you.

Neal
1saxman
15 years ago
Non-mulching decks were designed for one thing - throwing clippings out the discharge. They would bag if a chute were placed over the discharge port. In order to mulch, the discharge port must be closed, and the deck must be of a certain design so the clippings are cut and re-cut. Usually it is not possible to get satisfactory results by 'converting' an older design to mulching. You would have to fabricate a blocking plug for the discharge port, and there is no 'fix' for the wrong type of deck. The greatest problem may be power. 3.5 HP was the norm for many years and it was adequate for discharging and bagging. When mulching mowers started selling, power started increasing, because mulching takes twice the power. If your mower doesn't have at least 5 HP and an engine in excellent condition, it may not be able to 'cut it' regardless of modifications you make to the mower.
Bottom line, even with all the problems above, if you put a mulching blade on your mower and manage to block off the discharge, it probably will mulch to some extent. After all, it would be cheap to find out.
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eddie_il
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks guys, this is great info! Its not a side discharge so I'm in luck there. Its a old mower push mower, I doubt it has the power it needs. I might give it a shot but I'm kind of leaning towards buying a new mower since it needs some minor repairs and I'd really like a mower than mulches well since I don't plan on bagging except on rare occasions. Appreciate the help...
sungodra55_hotmail_com
13 years ago
I have a toro groundsmaster 345 with a mulch deck. I want to convert it to a recycler deck, Has anyone ever done this before?