Blade Selection for a 42" Hustler

[Nordo]

I live in Australia and my 42" Hustler is called a "Sport". The name may differ in the States.
I mow 5 acres of grass (definitely can't be called lawn).
My blades need replacing.
The standard blades are 20.50"-L-F-CW (part No. 793794).

Some of the grass I cut can be quite wirey, and during summer, can quickly grow to 6-8" before I can get onto it.
Even though I pick up as many sticks as I can (lots of gum trees), the odd stick can still be hidden in the grass.

My question is - should I be buying standard blades, or should I be looking at something like Gator blades?
Any help would be appreciated.

 

[bertsmobile1]

How long do the standard blades last ?
Are they wearing short at the cutting edge or are the flutes cracking & falling off ?
How high do you mow ?
What problems are you having with the cut right now ?

Better still post some pictures of your blades .

Different blades work best in different circumstances.
I have a customer who has council / RTA contracts to mow roadside verges
HE uses a Great Dane for this fitted with Cub Cadet notched low lift blades so he reduces the throw onto the roadway
And he mows over whatever is in front of him and lower then the deck .
And funny enough he uses Great Dane blades on 2 of Time Masters & low lift Toro blades on the thrid for mowing ovals & sporting fields..
IT is very much a case of suck it and see.

Another customer who seems to like mowing garden edging fitted the G5 Gators ( the carbide tipped ones ) to his TimeCutter and he is happy as a pig in poo.
Yet another tried 2 different Gators in his fabricated deck Husqvarna but went back to the standard Husky mulchers which are really thin so produce a good clean cut but bend if they ever see a tree root.

Do you sharpen your blades regularly ?
If so get several sets of different blades and swap them over rather than sharpening to do a comparison.

All sorts of things make a difference.
Stepped blades are less likely to get bogged down from Tussock grass wrapping around the spindles
Strait blades give a finer cut , throw further and will handle a lot more clipping before the deck chokes .

You might find Gators a bit hard to get now that Oregon are being distributed through Briggs & Stratton in place of RGS and they a touch heavy to get sent post off evilbay.
My customers who use them usually have to wait 2 to 3 weeks for the glass fronts to get them in because they do not keep aftermarket blades as stock ( makes the mower company reps cranky )

 

[StarTech]

Also is there particular particular reason you using low lift blades? Most my Hustler customer are using the high lift blades which I switch over to XHT blade which are heated treated and last up 2x longer than the Hustler blades. Now these blades may not be available down under.

The high life ones are 794685, F20.50"-H-F-CW

 

[bertsmobile1]

XHT are available down here , they were distributed by Jackmax when I had an account with them, about the only product in their catalogue that I would fit to a mower
In the search page from allmowers the Gators are not real Gators they are a copy made in OZ by Gripskies as are all of the blades with a BLR number.
I have not tried any of them yet because the final flute section is not double length like real Gators and when I tried the Stens copy , the flute wore off in no time flat .
I think Alloy Steel Products do the 20.5" Hustler blade as well AFAIK they are made in France by the same mob who used to do some blades for Stens
Standard blade is 5.2 mm thick, heavy duty blade is 6.4mm
ASP sell direct through Evilbay.
All their stuff is very good but of course I only get a small trade discount from them which basically equates to free freight .
Prime line do a better gator copy called Preditor but are only imported in small numbers as Prime Line abandoned Australia 5 years ago
Gripskies bought their cable factory and inventory but only added a few Prime Line product lines to their catalogue

 

[Nordo]

Hi Guys

Sorry it's taken so long to reply.
I've been waiting to get my ramps back so I can take some photos of the blades (as Bert suggested).
feeling the blades with my hands, and trying to look at them through the discharge gap in the deck skirt, they have thin sharp twisted edges and there is no-way they could be repaired/sharpened.

I bought the Hustler second hand and it was fitted with the L-F-CW blades.
But I am open to suggestions as to replacements (the high lift XHT blades sound interesting).
I'm mowing a 4 acre paddock, so throw control isn't an issue.
I try not to let the grass get any higher than around 200mm (8"), so I've never had a problem with deck choking or stuff getting wrapped around the spindles (AFAIK).

@bertsmobile1 - the blades are set around 60mm (just under 2 1/2"). This helps me miss some of the sticks/branches that are hidden in the grass (still hit plenty, though).
The blades were sharpened around 20 acres ago (not sure how that equates in hours).
The resulting cut is obviously ragged, with some bits not being cut. i.e. they are cutting around 95% of the grass. This can be improved by mowing slower, but that defeats the purpose of having a good mower like a Hustler.
If you recommend high lift XHT blades, do you know where I can get them? (EDIT - just saw your reference to ASP and Jackmax).

Thanks again.

 

[Nordo]

@bertsmobile1 - On the ASP (ebay) site, they have only two blades that seem to suit my 42" Sport - BR-08910 "muching", and BR-08952 "flat".
They don't appear to have Gators for a 42" Hustler.

Can you help me :-
1. These blades suit Fastrak, Raptor and Zeon. Would they suit my Sport? The dimensions, although in metric, appear to match the specs for Sport blades.

2. The BR-08952 appear to be H-F-CW, but does "right hand cut" mean Clockwise (CW)?

Alternatively, would it be easier to buy through you? (I notice ASP don't charge for postage).

 

[bertsmobile1]

I dont tout for custom on the site .
the cut is the side the discharge chute is on so a right hand cut is clockwise standing on the deck and looking down .
ASP do not do gator style blades only "normal" blades .
AFAIK all Hustler blades are interchangable provided they are the same length. and have the same hole size
See the GA catalogue page as it is too much typing

At this time of year, no rotary will give a really good cut which is why golf courses are using reel mowers right now to cut the roughs .
Tussock had just finished seeding , rye varieties & paspailums are seeding now so lots of stalks which do not cut .
Nothing will give a nice even cut.
We have just finished doing the landlords farm and today it looks like a drunken shearers efforts
In a weeks time the stalks will die off and new leaves will take over.

Gators come in 5 or 6 varieties G1 > G6 each for a different application.
The contractors like to use them simply because they recut the clippings so usually you can cut taller grass and not leave windrows .

Having said that they are wider & thicker than the std blade so they last longer .
They are good for bagging if and only if you have a powered bagging fan to blow the clipping up into the bags because the finner cut bits pack tighter and clog a lot less so they save time.
A wider & thicker blade stores more energy so it will allow for faster cutting on clumping grasses like Tussock provided there is a bit of breathing room between the thick clumps for them to spin up again .
A thicker & wider blade is also less likely to bend .
The XHT are also thicker being a full 1/4" rather than the standard 3/16" .

If you want to cut fast then you have to cut with sharp blades .
Typically a contractor will start with a fresh set every morning and some will even change them again at lunch
Then the apprentice ( some times me ) gets a box full to sharpen & balance every week or so .
It is important to both keep the blade balanced , cause an unbalanced blade can toss a spindle in no time flat and they set up funny vibratons that seem to wreck the idler bearings as well and a new idler is close to $ 100 down here .
Also the blades tend to self tighten in use so undoing the nut / bolt regularly means they will come off with a breaker bar or small battery impact.
Leave them on for a full season and it is a cut me off job .
Even the 1" rattle gun hanging off the Boomwade is beaten several times a year and it becomes an all day job with the oxy or angle grinder .

Some contractors run different blade for different customers lawns to get a better cut .
This is why I suggested you get a few sets together and run them side by side to see which one suits what you are cutting and how you are cutting.
And there is no blade on the planet that will cut more than 1/2 off the top of the lawn traveling at full speed.
IT might also be worth checking that the engine is running 3600 rpm as well be cause 100 rpm makes a big difference to the airflow under the deck & the finish of the cut.
Toro puts out a really nice manual called THE Quality of Cut manual 492-4763 which goes into detail about deck types and blades and setting , worth a read & it if all over the web.
One of the nice Toro agents might even post a direct link to the lattest version .
You might find you need a winter set & a summer set .
And don't be afraid to try a few different flute heights .
I use a lot of different mowers and by mistake filled 2 pr of high lifts to my 34" Cox which cause the deck to overload & the belt to slip.
Changed to 2 pr of flats and it cuts much faster .

 

[Nordo]

Thanks Bert.
Couldn't download the Toro "The Quality of Cut", but I'll keep trying.
Even when my grass gets fairly long, there is only a few small patches that you could call thick.

I'm only mowing my own 5acre paddock, so can't really afford to buy several sets of blades.
So I'm going to go with the XHT H-F-CW blades.
I just have to learn to be more diligent when picking up sticks, and to sharpen regularly.
At least the mower gets a thorough clean after every mow, including the pre-filter on the air cleaner.

Thanks again for all your help and advice.

 

[bertsmobile1]

You really keep at least 2 sets of blades
One sharp & ready to fit the other on the mower so you can just swap them quickly the instant they start to cut bad.
Most of the Ebay vendos will do a deal on 3 sets
And go to Super cheap & nasty car parts or Cunnings and get a 4' long air duster to clean your mower with.
At a pinch you can blow the deck down with a leaf blower.
I cut holes in the spindle pulley covers of my customers mowers so the duster nozel can be inserted to blow the grass clippings away.
I do 4 to 6 burned mowers per season from grass on the deck catching fire

 

[Nordo]

Thanks bert.
I'll get two sets of new blades.
I already have a Ryobi blower which I use to clean the mower (quick and easy).
The second time I cleaned the mower, I realised that lifting seat revealed a whole new area to clean.
Thanks for the tip on the pulley covers. I've wondered if anything was collecting under them.