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Mower discharge chute, up or down?

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23K views 41 replies 22 participants last post by  surveyor  
#1 · (Edited)
Just curious looking for opinions on having the chute up or the shoot down when mowing. I know it should be down for safety but also wondering if with the chute up if it helps with throwing clippings farther and stop some of the clumps of grass in yard after some heavy cutting. :usa
 
#2 ·
Do you mean the mower chute or discharge guard? If so, I leave it down as much as I can when around buildings, gardens, pools, landscaping, etc. But I’ll leave it up if I’m nowhere near a road and out in the open. :good2:
 
#14 ·
Sorry, plastic discharge guard I guess. Not sure what your talking about when you say mower chute.:banghead:
 
#7 ·
Edit to add - oops...here I am in a sub-compact thread again.....
That's okay. This question applies to any size tractor with a mower deck.
 
#5 · (Edited)
I always go with the chute down, ain't worth the risk with the blades moving at 205 MPH setting something flying.

Had a little 1" X 6" oak stick blast thru the deflector chute of my Z Trak, it and part of the chute landed 30 feet away.

The problem is a design flaw and also the chute on the 7 Iron deck being way too thin. (I have corrected the Deere design flaw since.)

Did a bunch of calculations just for the heck of it and figured out from the ballistic formula used in shooting sports, the little stick weighing
only 1.92 ounces, will hit at 168.55 foot pounds of energy when moving at 205 MPH.

Anyway you look at it, being hit by something with an inertial mass of 168 pounds at 205 MPH is not a good thing.

Lots of kinetic energy to be adsorbed when it goes splat against something or somebody.

That's just a little stick, think about a rock, piece of metal, etc., etc. weighing a little more.

Like I said, ain't worth the risk of hurting somebody with the chute up.
 
#6 ·
That's why I **LOOOVE** my mulch kit. I ain't got no time for no chute!! Trim close on the left - trim close on the right. Mow next to the cars on the right - mow next to the cars on the left... nut'n come'n outta my deck except air. :)
 
#17 ·
Everything said above ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ love the mulching kit for the same reasons. :good2:
 
#8 ·
I’m waiting on the OP to answer my original question to make sure. If it’s what I believe he’s asking, I’ll move it to the appropriate forum. :good2:
 
#18 ·
When I mowed with my 345 48, I had it bungied up all the time because I liked the grass spread further and I have a pin oak tree precisely 50 inches from a fence on the east side of my property that it would just fit between. My 60 on the 455 doesn't and the schute is bolted solid and I haven't removed it. It mows great with it down so I'm happy to leave it that way. Now, my father on the other hand mows with his bungied up and has sent rocks through the back window of one of his cars and a picture window in his house. Logic would tell me that the first incident and certainly the second would change this behavior but nope. :gizmo:
 
#21 ·
Shoot, I mean chute, i'm sooooo embarrassed. I did mean shoot as shoot out clippings. But not the shoot when I should have spelled "chute". Oh well.....:hide2: Thanks Diesel Shadow for fixing my goof!!!
 
#22 · (Edited)
Well since some guys have answered the question I guess I'll answer it too. :laugh: I have a small rope, twice the size of twine, tied to mine and run it through the loader bracket hole then up to the loader control and tied off there. That way I can raise the chute if I want to and lower it when I want to. Around the house, barn, vehicles and road way I leave it down. And in normal cuttings I'll leave it down because if the wind catches the clippings it's always blowing at me so the clippings end up on me. Once I'm away from all them places where things can and have gone bad I'll raise it if the grass is tall enough to bale, like it was today. So today most of my mowing was done with it up. Even a mulch kit wouldn't have helped my mowing today. At least I don't think it would. Not sure as I've never had one but my grass hasn't been mowed for 9 or ten days as we had rain some time during the day or night for 9 days straight. My yard/field will look brown for the next 3 or 4 mowing's with all that dead grass clippings. Last year I made 13 piles of the stuff and hauled it to my mulch pile. I'm not doing that again, it can look brown.
 
#24 ·
I'm with Levi on this, on all my mowers I have always attached a light chain or heavy cord to the discharge chute and the other end somewhere that I can reach it from the seat. That way the chute is down normally but if I need to raise it temporarily to get close to something like a tree on that side it's no problem, just pull it up and hold it up as long as needed and then let it back down.
 
#26 ·
I agree, if it weren't for the mulch kit I would leave it down. my neighbor across the road was mowing one day and his chute is always up, anyway, he threw a rock probably 90 ft and broke one of our front windows.:banghead::banghead:
 
#28 ·
Anyone want my chute?:) It's brand new, never been used.:) Where I use my tractor for mowing, what I cut, and how I cut, safety in my situation anyway, is not part of the equation. It's been that way since the tractor was new 10 years ago.

I totally agree there are situations where the chute is a very necessary item.
 
#34 ·
When,, or possibly,, who will be the first to convert a side discharge mid-mount mower to a rear discharge??

A little work with a torch, and the dumb side discharge opening will become a non-issue.

Rear finish mowers have been rear discharge for many years now,, they work much better than side discharge.

This Woods five foot mower tends to clump grass at the discharge opening,,,

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This Woods six foot mower just evenly disperses tall grass across the entire rear of the deck,,

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Pulling a rear discharge mower uses WAY less horsepower.
The JD 855 pulls a 5 foot side discharge, and a 6 foot rear discharge mower about the same.
Getting the clippings out quickly demands WAY less horsepower.

The other huge benefit to rear discharge is that you can trim with both sides,,, :bigthumb:
 
#36 ·
If you want to mow your country place with it up or off , fine . If in town the deflector should be down . What pisses me off is the lawn service people buzzing around throwing rocks , sticks , beer cans , at you with that loaded gun . Church across the street had a rammy jackass mowing . Fired a piece of landscape rock through my garage door . 2 ft to the left it could have hit my grandson , we were in the garage . So I let him no what I thought about things and was rewarded with 2 days in the gray bar Hilton . Kevin .
 
#38 ·
Amen. I always hold my breath when I'm in the car and go past some dude mowing right at the edge of the road with the chute up and debris flying out onto the road. I always expect to hear a CLUNK as I pass by.
 
#42 ·
For my new Z930M I picked up one of these by Power Chute. I mow a little around some businesses and there is no way you should mow without a chute blocker if people are around. It's expensive but could save a lot in the long run.
It has an actuator operated by a foot pedal.
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