If this is a rider and not a ZTR whatever you don't let the leaves pile up around the muffler. I had one customer with a four month old JD S180 that wished he didn't as it costed him $2300 to repair the damage from the resulting fire.
Dixie Chopper has setup that two blades they have an x blade and an h or a t blade. Never cared for it myself but never mowed with it long enough to know how it would work.