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I am looking for anyone who has a mower equipped with the 48" AccelDeep deck and is using aftermarket blades. I am not exactly thrilled with the mulching kit on my deck now and am looking for alternatives to the OEM blades. I am going to try the factory high lift blades that came on it but was hoping that Oregon Gators or something similar might offer even better cut quality and discharge the clippings better. I appreciate any experiences that anyone can share.

Mike

Nice write up on your X380 post Mike. I'm wondering the model # of the blades that came with your mower. JD lists that the standard blades have a wing height of 0.858 in and the high lift blades have a wing height of 1.370 in. for the 48" AccelDeep deck.

gotomow said:

Nice write up on your X380 post Mike. I'm wondering the model # of the blades that came with your mower. JD lists that the standard blades have a wing height of 0.858 in and the high lift blades have a wing height of 1.370 in. for the 48" AccelDeep deck.

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I will have to measure when I get home. I cannot imagine that the sail would be that high as anything over 1.25" is considered an "extreme lift" blade.

I have no doubt that I can get this thing dialed in with the right blade and deck alignment but this all goes back to my review that it just isn't cutting as good as I expected. My expectations are obviously high as I owned two Exmarks but I had a similar experience with Cub Cadet where the new mower just did not cut as well as the old one. My 15hp, 38" LT155 with wavy mulching blades and open chute left a carpet-like cut and minimal visible clippings. I went right to using the X380 the first time with the mulch setup and think that the next step is to just go backwards. Remove baffles and see how it does. After that put factory blades on and see how it does. If it isn't satisfactory, maybe then I will order some aftermarket blades.

gotomow said:

Nice write up on your X380 post Mike. I'm wondering the model # of the blades that came with your mower. JD lists that the standard blades have a wing height of 0.858 in and the high lift blades have a wing height of 1.370 in. for the 48" AccelDeep deck.

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I went ahead and took the factory blade out and it very well could be 1.370". The blade does not have what I would call a "normal" sail. I am used to Exmark blades that are somewhat flat at the sharpened edge and then the sail starts to rake upward. The JD blade really doesn't have a flat part other than where it mounts to the spindle. The sharpened edge and sail are all raked upward with the sail curving more towards the top of the deck as it goes back. This makes the overall blade height from cutting edge to top of the sail around 1.5". So again, not what I am used to seeing where the blade has some substantially flat part that it sits on and then a very distinct sail at the back end of each cutting edge.

On a positive note, I completely removed the mulching kit and blades and put the factory blades back on and it is SO MUCH BETTER than it was before. I am thinking that I still might want to try a set of Gator G5's just to do it and see if I notice any improvement in cut quality or clipping dispersing. I maybe noticed a handful of dandelion stems that were not fully cut after I passed over them, but I could not see any noticeably high spots as I did with the mulch kit. And as a reminder, I was getting that with the chute open and side discharging with the kit installed. I am not sure as to what recourse I have with my dealer, but I will never use the kit again.

Do you have a set of standard side discharge blades? My 42" deck came with them.

Yes, that is what came with the mower and what I just put back on after removing the mulch kit. The standard blade is part number M145476 (pictured below). The blades work well but I want MORE!! Lol.

I have a 48A Accel deck on my John Deere z355e zero turn. I'm using the stock M145476 blades now with moisture laden grass, These blades seem to eject the grass better and doesn't clog up the deck. About June, I will switch to G5 Gator blades, these are great for me, I'm cutting bermuda and some fescue in shady areas. I also have some G3 blades, they seem to chop leaves the beast and mulch them up in the fall. Iusually start in the spring cutting at 1& 1/4 inches,I'm now cutting at 1 &1/2 inches, and usually end the year at 2-2&1/4 inches. I side discharge all season, no mulching.

Alaguy said:

I have a 48A Accel deck on my John Deere z355e zero turn. I'm using the stock M145476 blades now with moisture laden grass, These blades seem to eject the grass better and doesn't clog up the deck. About June, I will switch to G5 Gator blades, these are great for me, I'm cutting bermuda and some fescue in shady areas. I also have some G3 blades, they seem to chop leaves the beast and mulch them up in the fall. Iusually start in the spring cutting at 1& 1/4 inches,I'm now cutting at 1 &1/2 inches, and usually end the year at 2-2&1/4 inches. I side discharge all season, no mulching.

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Thank you for the reply. I never cut when the grass is even close to being moist. I have the benefit of being able to cut pretty much any day of the week so I wait for things to dry out. I will admit that at times I am cutting off more than 1/3 of what's there but typically I just slow down a bit to keep the deck processing the clippings effectively.

Compared to the factory high lift blades, do you feel as if the G5's discharge any better/further out?

Both blades blow about the same distance, but the G5's seem to make smaller clippings. Right now, the fescue grows faster than the bermuda, so I double cut that area, but it's a small area. When it gets hot, the bermuda is the more dominant grass. It's been a cool spring here in North Alabama, bermuda is a little behind in normal growth, but that's about to change soon.

I have a 1-year old JD 48A deck with the MOD (Mulch on Demand kit) and JD mulch blades. Last spring and this spring both, the deck would clog with either the JD mulch blades or the Gator G-5 blades. I actually think the G-5's are worse because of the larger wings. They tend to beat the clippings into mush which collects on the underside. I have to scrape after every mowing. I cut only late afternoon with dry grass. I get a better cut with the G-5's but the clogging caused me to invest in a Mo Jack lift to ease the scraping time and effort. I just took off the entire MOD kit so I will side discharge only for a few weeks. It seems if I mulch it's worse. By not taking much off ( leaving grass taller) I am not sure mulching is much benefit. I will likely put the G-5's back on in the summer and Fall and see how it goes. I might also look for a standard Gator non-mulching blade with less wing to see if that helps with the clogging issue.