Convert Change to MULCHING Mower Cheap or Free? Modify Stock Blades | Block Chute | 6 Tests! Can We? 

You didn't block off the chute. On your tractor, the chute is a permanent feature of the mower deck. You removed the plastic chute extension and blocked off that, but what's happening is grass is going in the metal chute section and then dropping down there. You need to craft a plug that blocks off the actual chute inside on the mower deck side. For mulching, you need the edge of the mower deck maintain a curve near the blade tips all the way around. This keeps the grass lofted for multiple cuts before it drops. On some push mowers that have optional mulching, they'll give you a plastic plug that you install either in the chute or in the bagging area. You might be able to make something very similar to the chute cap you already made, but fold it so it installs inside the chute. If you don't want to bend it, you might to good enough by leaving the mounting holes as slots (so you can adjust slightly) and just make sure that the blade can rotate without hitting your plug. There will still be some space for grass to catch, but maybe not enough to matter. Definitely more work and a bit more fiddly, but quite a bit cheaper than a new mower deck...

Thanks SO much for this! I was about to try the exact same upgrade of blocking off the discharge shoot with a piece of sheet metal and buying a set of mulching blades from Amazon and thought it would get the effect you were after, but thanks to your very informative video I did not go through with this as it would have been a huge disappointment. After reading the comments, I now understand that the larger 60-in mulching zero radius mowers that don't leave any grass trails have their decks shaped specifically for this along with the blade layout. Again, thank you very much for this video!

Yea that was a cool video. Great thought process sometimes things don't work out. But we don't know until we try.

Well that is done with a ridding mower but if you use on your push mower it would work out great 👍 good information great video

Thanks for sharing what does not work. I see you put lots of effort into your tests! Now I don't have to try that experiment myself.

Fun experiment, but looking at a typical mulching kit (or a dedicated mulching deck), the entire deck is formed differently to change the airflow to keep the grass suspended inside the deck longer.

Sheet metal on inside shute side clear of the blades. Follow the circle this won't give them the room to move across the side to where the shute was. Push mower with mulch plug does this and removes the extra area the clippings can move to.

Maybe you should balance the blades also ??? Does not take that long fella.

Thanks , you saved my time i was thinking to just block it with stock blades , so i assuming I should buy full mulching kit

Why didn't you test the purchased blades to see if their design was actually effective and determine if the problem was the design or just the home- made execution?

Enjoyed it! You are a Scintist 😅