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I purchased a Craftsman Pro 46" riding mower with Kohler engine about a year ago as I purchased a house on 1 acre and have eventually installed 29,000 square feet of lawn, Perennial Ryegrass. I live about 50 miles north of Seattle WA. We have an in-ground irrigation system and I have it set to run Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday and I typically mow on Saturday. In the beginning the mower bagged pretty well even mowing at full speed but after a couple of months I noticed the chute would clog up. I have the two-bag Craftsman bag system. Even last Summer when we had hot weather, unless I went REALLY slow and/or took only a half cut, about every two bags full the chute would clog. This is really a drag because often, the grass is damp due to our rain. I notice that the hard cover on the bagger has a screen which I assume allows for air flow out of the bagger to keep that clean and free of grass and keep the bags clean as I assume air needs to flow out of the bags to keep the air flowing as well for maximum bagging.

Does anyone else have this problem and if so have you found a fix for it? I was wondering if somehow modifying the hard cover on the bagger to allow more airflow would help this issue.

Thanks,
Absolutebeginner

You need high lift blades. You will have either 2 in 1 or 3 in1 blades. No model number was given so I can not get you a part number.

Most grass collectors are efficient when the grass is dry, moist/ wet grass will almost always clog the deck then the discharge chute.

Boobala said:

Most grass collectors are efficient when the grass is dry, moist/ wet grass will almost always clog the deck then the discharge chute.

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That's been my experience last 50 years or so.
Also going through stuff with a lot of sap. Around my place now is mostly brome taking over, that stuff will plug up anything.

BlazNT said:

You need high lift blades. You will have either 2 in 1 or 3 in1 blades. No model number was given so I can not get you a part number.

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Sorry about that. My model is 247.270390. Looking at a blade set I took off the mower recently, they have "74-04290" stamped in the metal. These are the same blades the mower came with. I also have a spare set and they have "-04244A" (maybe the "74" is implied by the dash?) stamped on the metal on one end and "16M302A" on the other end. Their shape is exactly the same as the ones with 74-04290. These look pretty "high lift" to me but if there are blades that have more lift I am happy to try them.

I have included side and end views of the blades.

Thanks,
Don

Boobala said:

Most grass collectors are efficient when the grass is dry, moist/ wet grass will almost always clog the deck then the discharge chute.

Click to expand...

Yes, it is impossible to bag when the grass is very wet as it was last week. I gave up after only a couple of passes. But this was happening last Summer when we had a string of about 30 days with temps above 70 and NO RAIN.

JohnFM said:

That's been my experience last 50 years or so.
Also going through stuff with a lot of sap. Around my place now is mostly brome taking over, that stuff will plug up anything.

Click to expand...

No sap or brome here. Just Perrenial Ryegrass and some Fescue (trying to get rid of the latter by overseeding the former). Picture is a panorama with my neighbor on the north to the left and to the south on the right (border is dwarf boxwoods).

The blades you have are 2 in 1. High lift they are not. Universal 335757 Hi Lift Blade
https://www.jackssmallengines.com/jacks-parts-lookup/part/universal/335757

I am glad to hear they worked so far. The ULR issue should not bother you anymore now that you have posted 5 times.