Thank you for this! Not many others talk about their blade setups on RU-vid. I'm going to have to try your favorite blade combo. We've got crazy growth here in Ohio too.
The best info on youtube about this subject. Addressing the very points I've been wanting to know. Cutting fast growing Spring and early Summer grass, whether bagging or side discharge, can be a real hassle. Plugged chutes or clumps of clippings all over the lawn. This may be the answer for my business to try in order to alleviate or reduce those problems on many of my lawns. Thanks for the info.
Lightweight is good and what did I use it for it’s a lawnmower ru-vid.comUgkxTPN04aT-Qdjr_KS3ql7ng8wnU3wwsCqk also recommend Yes it is lightweight so hence not as robust as our old one. But if you take care it does the job really well.
I weld the 4 corners of the X.. just the corners. Mine is just a 42", only 4 blades, not 6. Welding keeps the two blades closer together. A little rough on the Clutch and belt when starting, but no failures yet. Big Fan of the X blades, huge improvment in leaf suction. Mine has been heavily modified for Super Vac suction. 4 high lifts and the trailer hitch chrome is coming off.
Very good video! I did want to just pause it to say. Not buying something from someone because you dislike them or because you don't want to support them is a very good reason not to buy something from somewhere. Many things that exist and we complain about are there because people kept buying a thing from someone they probably shouldn't have.
Randy's new motto (I can fix a lot of things, stupidity is not one of them) This is great information for the people that want to run X blades. Great video!!! BTW Keep the classic intro.
I can relate to the S__T talk. I hear it all the time about going from conventional oil to synthetic (AMSOIL), and I even triple the time between oil changes. There are guys out there that wouldn't dare switch, but I have a 4Runner with almost 300K on it and have been running the AMSOIL since 2008 and changing the oil at 15K instead of 5K, it's a 2007. Glad I came across this, never have ran the X Blade setup, but I will now!! Thanks!! One more thing, that 4Runner, still runs like a new one!
When I clicked I never knew people were stacking blades and was thinking the blades are at different height so I am not understanding how you will get a better cut. But the point is not about the cut it is about getting a better broadcast on discharge. Now I get it.
Great job showing and telling, never used x blades I’ll try it sometime. Well thanks for showing telling have a good one see ya on the next video see ya bye.
Been tinkering with dual blade setups I made and bought since the 70's on riders,zero turn and even push mowers and often drilled them for 2- 1/4" bolts to hold in place.Never really found a combo that really made a difference. I now have a Scag Cheetah 61"deck with mulch kit that is the best I've seen on leaves as long as they are dry here in PA but is worthless if the least bit wet even with the side discharge open.
After this video I just ordered the kit and new blades. I know you say not to use the gator blades, but with what you and a few other videos I have seen say it seems to be what I am looking for. I don't mow for a living just my yard. I got some chemicals from my work last year. one of the things my work makes is all that stuff. But I put it on my yard last year and now the grass grows like weeds the whole yard so it clogs and spits out big piles and I'm sick of it with my rider. So I'm getting them to try and save me time while mowing. So if it shoots out as pretty much saw dust and doesn't clump and clog I will be super happy. But if it acts up I will try the combo of blades you suggest.
Welding also changes the molecular composition of the metal and it can fracture at the weld with high centrifugal force. If the blades are not balanced it can be a higher risk.Use the adapter and be safer.
Bit like when you over heat a set of blades in the sharpening process ,the bit that goes blue or gets the hottest will wear out the quickest or chip out.heat is not good for blades .
Thanks for that great tutorial on x blades I’ve been a Walker man for the last 13 years and haven’t even run versa blades which I need to but now I have the Scag v ride 2 and now I see the benefit of running those!! Thanks again oh and nice cameo appearance by Billy 🤣🤣😎
They aren't kidding when they say "not for residential machines". I tried them on a raptor SD 42". The extra weight and tendency for one side to scalp as the bottom blade will be lower caused the spindle bearings to wear out. The difference in cut quality wasn't enough to warrant the added wear and tear. A set of good high lift blades work just about as well. But, your mower and the grass you're cutting will make the difference. I cut thick grass, sandy yards, weedy yards, healthy yards...Basically every type of grass/yard. If your business works yards that are mostly the same type of grass or quality, then a certain blade setup will work better. If your customers have every kind of yard under the sun, then no one setup will be the best.
hello all. yall. i bought a bad boy with a 54 inch deck back in 2014 new. i never liked the cut it gives. allways going over to get a clean look. i just installed the x blade set up from ballards and its like i bought a new mower.im not bull shitting. i cut my acreage in half the time and it looks good too. the hassel of going over it looks to be gone. only used once, but i have more to mow out back around the pond. im impressed, to put it mildly. 115.00 for the set i would buy again. was not paid to review....
I use x blades on my 61 inch bobcat I use too sets of gator blades works for me I blow down side walks and drive ways with them it mulches anything that gets under the machine I love them mine are from Ballard love them
I run Hi lift and Gators atop. Benefits really show when blasting leaves or post dethatch. Was hoping this would slow any blade wear and tear. They wear just as fast as only one blade. Overall, I have found that running 'X-Blades' and finding that sweet spot on the RPMs delivers a superior cut to just one blade and WOT. Great video!! Stay safe.
The advantage of not using the bracket is that if you hit something, the blade gives, and you save your mower. The brackets do give some desirable vertical displacement of the blades. The welding is so close to the center of rotation that it does not impact much, but it still completely removes your ability to sharpen your blades on a real sharpener.
With the Ballard dual blade adaptors I added high lifts on the lower and mulch blades on the upper later last summer on a 52” deck on my Toro 522xi garden tractor. A cold engine is NOT going to get 6 blades spinning without dying. A local mower mechanic about 5 years without asking me bypassed all of the safety switches. So what I do is release the tensioner lever on the tractor mule drive, turn on the PTO, get off again and close the tensioner lever on the mule drive slowly and get on and mow. Once the engine is warmed up I can just restart the deck with the PTO. The deck blades are 18” long with 1/2” center bolts. The Ballard dual blade adaptors have a 5/8” hole. The spindle bolts is what centers the blades. Two weeks ago I hit the mushroom top of a water utility pipe and the lower blade on the left spindle spun about 30 degrees and bent. I removed the lower blade and put just one blade back on that left spindle and now it’s easier to start the deck. I have a few videos on them on my channel. I mow a rural lawn twice a month and the grass gets really tall in the spring.
I mowed with Dixie Chopper mowers from 1994 to 2016. I used x-blades quite often. DC had a manual blade clutch then which allowed blade engagement at low RPM. I run Hustler & Wright now and seldom use the x-blades.
thank you so much. I learnt so much. I ran my x blades this past weekend and o man beautiful! I also think sharp blades are another factor that is very important. Im going to save up and buy the Rbg 712.
Just put a set on my 36 Wright. Going to have to switch to 2 medium lift blades. Right now I have a medium and a gator. Have to say the moment I had 4 blades instead of 2 I was blow away by the cut quality improvement. Very please with x blades so far
Have you ever experimented with the Meg-Mo or Cutlass bush hog type of blade? Their style of blade is pretty similar to the x-blade setup and they claim substantially improved mulching performance with their system.
Oddly enough i have a 22 bad boy maverick hd efi honda and the dealer said the opposite never engage the blades from full throttle it's set up to do so i would engage half throttle and it would engage pretty rough so i addressed it and they ask was i using part throttle or less they said no that's hard on it lol im tempted to run x blades but unsure still but appreciate the detailed info it helped
I’m a residential guy. But I have the Scag hurricane mulch kit on my machine. I mulch all year around. I just prefer to naturally recycle my nitrogen back into the ground rather then bag, but I guess I should try side discharging. Anyway. I have noticed an improvement with mulch my lawn using the x blade setup with a mulch blade on top. Just wanted to share my experience with this setup for a mulching deck.
Have you ever gone back after a few days to check the cut of the straw? For me this is an eye opening moment. I discovered that even with a new blade sharp as can be the straw was torn and flossed not "cut". I had a lot of trouble keeping the blades sharp since the area would take about 1-2 days to mow and after 2-3 weeks the blades were rounded and in dismay. I spend a lot of time and money on blades so my boss was not very happy. Thinking to my self.....hummm experiment! I took a triplet of old "worn out" blades, no outer corner and completely trashed for this experiment. Doing a "sharpening" with a remaining edge about 1-2 mm but straight. To my surprise they cut better than new and lasted twice as long. Now you know my little secret. This is with a triple rotor mulching deck where a stone smashes all rotors ,-)
@@CountrysideStrong Yes because you use a side discharging deck..! Very different with a true mulching deck. I had to work in an area with 8 rows of apartment blocks and a lot of trees, playgrounds and glass every where etc. nearly impossible to use a side deck. I did have the option for a small exit out the back but never used it because it left thick stripes.
They definitely have a time and place, not something I'd run all year round though. My one issue when I did run them was the vibration, I thought I was balancing my blades well enough.. pretty sure I need to up my game there by the sounds hah
WOW a wealth of information here. I'm just now hearing of this X blade thing. I have an older Yazoo/Kees 48 inch deck and want to run X blades. Where can I get the different types of blades you mentioned. I'm in Apex,NC near Raleigh.and I'm fixin to start mowing grass yea I'm runnin a little behind on my mowing so my grass is longer than what you mentioned. I normally get my blades from a regional company called Agri Supply. I was going to get the Gator blades but you mentioned you didn't think it made a difference. Anyway I hope you read this and let me know where you get your blades THANKS!!
One thing iv noticed here in Wisconsin is that I found was that it was pulling up grass grass clippings from the week before and And throw back on top. I used medium lift with gator on top. Also noticed it pick up stones and throw them using the mower to blow off.
Great video. common sense goes a long way with a lot of things. I use the all American sharpener it does the job for me considering I do this part time.
I bought a set of x blade adapters last year, ran them on my hustler x-one on 2 yards, accidentally hit a couple tree roots that were sticking up too high and ended up bending 2 of the blades and sheared the side tabs that hold the blade in place off of the adapters.
So on our 36 inch walk behinds we ran all sorts of blades. Best one we've found is the Snapper ninja blade. It's essentially a factory x style blade. We run them on every walk behind we run and have neve had an issue with them. You may want to look at them just to try.
i run the gator blades on my jd s130,and i think the xblades it will just cut the grass more and cut the clippings down is all i think the gator blades already cut the grass up finer with a mulching cover,but good idea for less clippings,thanks
You probably had other issues along the way or a very old clutch but I've been doing this over 23 years and probably 30 different mowers without an issue
Thank you for the video it was extremely informative to me I have a Toro 34 in zero-g mower that I just bought last year I put the mulching kit on it because I like to chop everything up into a fine powder and return it to the soil I live in Florida so the grass I cut St Augustine a much thicker hearty or grass then the Kentucky Bluegrass and fine Fescue that you have up where you are my question is my mower is a two blade mower are the x-blade as effective on my type of mower as they would be on one of your commercial mowers I just mow my own yard I'm not in the business thank you again for all the information
Great information! I don't have a commercial zt, I have a 54 inch Toro my ride timecutter, 24 hp Toro motor, do you think this equipment would handle x blade setup? I'm in west central Fl. and the sand will blast and cut right through the lift blades, cutting bahia grass, sharpening 2 possibly 3 times and replacement needed. Usually using gator blades be cause the lift blades last a bit longer. I know it isn't your area but your feed back would be great, I'm open to other`s experiences in my area.Thanks for the review and sharing your experience
Yep you guys go through blades like crazy down there my uncle owns a lawn care business he's had for over 40 years in Clearwater Florida. I'm not sure because I don't know who makes that engine on Toro I know Toro does not make their own engines they just put their stickers on them but it really doesn't have that much to do with the engine it's more of that type of spindles you have of whether they can handle the abuse like that. I can't say for sure but knowing me I would try it anyway just to find out the important thing with running explains is that you always engage at half throttle
@@CountrysideStrong Thanks for the reply, yep Tampa area, reply blast the blades, The Toro I have has the fab deck with sealed bearings, heavy home owner, or light commercial mower. My first zt, 54 inch cut. Replaced 42 inch 13 year craftsman lawn tractor lol, still smokes and runs, 1/3 the time for 2 acre property. Blades are definitely an issue no matter the mower down here. Thanks again for the review, and response. I will experiment with the x blade setup...I didn't know about such a setup, but now that I do, lol
Like I said in the video it's not for everybody but in extreme conditions it helps out a lot if you run them you'll see what I'm talking about it mulches stuff up way smaller and shoot stuff out way further so it makes it easier if you're not bagging
Do you think a cheap residential grade riding mower could handle x blades? I have a 17.5hp 42 inch MTD POS. I’m wondering if it has enough power to run them, or if the spindles, belt, and deck would hold up the the additional stress?
Yep if you want to mulch, run the Gator blades only, if you want to do anything but mulch the X-Blade will work great, trying to mix high lift blades with a mulching blade is NEVER going to work right LOL. On my old SCAG 36" walk behind I just run X-Blades both being standard lift blades, does great, and a better cut I think for heavy mowing it does great.
Late to the party here, Long ago, I was given an old Heckinger (?spelling?) 20 inch push mower that didn't have a normal blade, but a disc with 4 cutters attached onto angled sections (for lift) and LOVED the way that thing cut. Ever since, I have wanted to try doing this on a larger machine. I never dared to try due to the fear of the blades shifting, or damaging other deck driveline components (clutch, belts spindles) But my fear of that has been put to bed. Now I have a new Husqvarna 54 inch ZTR, with a 23 or 24 HP Kawasaki V-twin with less than 30 hours on the clock. Would you recommend attempting a X-blade setup with that? Also I have an older, 50 inch, 17 hp, Gravely Pro-50 walk-behind. I want to try it on that, but that has a 2-belt system. The main 5/8 belt comes from the clutch and runs the center and inner (non discharge side) blade. A secondary 1/2 belt runs from the center spindle to the outer blade. Weird. That worries me. I think the pulley on the outer spindle has been changed to the 1/2 width, as the info I have seen says it's supposed to be another 5/8 belt. Once I sort that out, how about X-blades on that? I just don't want to f--k anything up, or myself, or others. On a side note: What monster engages the deck at full throttle? That's like revving up a stationary truck to 6 grand, and dumping the clutch. YIKES! I get to between 1/3 and half throttle before pulling the button, then slowly throttle up. Hell, I even slowly throttle down to at least half before disengaging the deck..
I've always had success running high lifts and mulching x blades. Mulching on top, high lifts on bottom. I also didn't know there was a lot of hate for Corey Ballard. Makes no sense to me
Great video. I have had the hardest time on Toro’s website trying to figure out which one is short tail and long tail for my 40” grandstand. These 14” blades are a hassle to find.
Have you ever run x blade setup without the bracket? What style blades do you use? Have you ever heard of someone welding the blades in an x formation before? I wonder if the weld would make it out of balance. What do you use to sharpen your blades?
Great video. Recently purchased bagger for my Scag TT2 and not impressed with results. Thinking about trying x blades. What combination do you suggest running with the bagger for maximum pickup?
Have you ever ran a offset blade on the top? So that both cutting edges are at the same exact height? Only reason I ask is because my bobcat walk behind uses 1/2" offset blades and most mowers run a flat blade. Between the thickness of that x-adapter and the thickness of the bottom blade, you can get a 1/2" offset blade on top and have both cutting edges at the same exact height. It worked freaking amazing on my Bobcat. Only problem was its a 15 horse kawi and a 52" cut. Not much power to spin all that metal.
Last year I had bought a yard machine zero turn mower 42 in cut deck. And I've been thinking about doing a x blade setup on it. The high lift n low lift I'd like to do. But I do have one question about it. How well would a yard machine zero turn mower be with x blades before I even invest within doing so.
Very informational video, I have a toro 5030 zero turn I have a lot of grass build up under my belt guards Do nu think that I should take them off or what?
5:05 this crazy rant about balance balance balance weight. 5:50 proceeds to wire wheel material off the balanced adapter. Didnt check to see if it is balanced now
There is no balance adapter. It's literally a spacer and that's it 🤦, I literally took built up grass off the blade because it'll never balance correctly with built up grass and mud. Think before you comment.
Blades at two different heights makes no sense to me. The bottom blade still cuts all the grass at finish height. This would make more sense if the top blade were offset down to the bottom blade height.
It doesn’t have to make sense, it just works. The bottom blade cuts at your desired height, then throws it up into the top blade mulching it further, resulting into near dust coming out of the deck. This the purpose of it. It’s simply for moving grass, leaves, etc as small as you can get it.
Can I ask what brand high lift you’re using. I struggling finding 18”. 5/8 hole .203 thick. And what is the lift 1.25” or bigger. Standard is 1”. Thanks love the video
Won’t be using them again, used for about a year and had to replace all my spindles on my Graverly 60. Loved the cut and discharge but the cost benefit doesn’t work for me
@@CountrysideStrong Not a bigger issue just didn’t see value in replacing spindles once a year just to run 6 blades when the graverly cuts well without it.
@@CountrysideStrong not saying it’s not possible but from all my research and even working with gravely it all pointed to to the blades being the source fortunately for me after covering the cost on the front end graverly did reimbursed me out of what they a good faith program but I but that’s bc the mower was only 14 months old
I've noticed mulching blades can tend to be loud. Does using these x blade adapters make the mower significantly louder since it's 2x the blades (all things equal)?
I hear what you are saying about the spindles, and greasing them, but the only mower I know that uses roller bearings is Skag. I have grease fittings on my mower, but it as sealed bearings. What's the point of wasting grease?
If it has grease fittings and you don't grease them you're going to find out what the point is eventually. A lot of manufacturers now are going to greaseless mowers and I'm just not a fan I would rather grease them and know it's in there
Countryside I agree with what you are saying. However my point was that you can't grease a sealed bearing through a Zert fitting the grease falls into the chamber, and lays there until it melts on top of the bottom sealed bearing. I squirt grease in mine in hopes that it may cool the bearing a bit.
@@CountrysideStrong yes,gravely had x blades as stock equipment. Years ago I had 2 gravely model L walk behind tractors that had the 30” mower with the x blades. They were an absolute beast of a mower. I run the Ballard adapters and x blades on my hustler ztr.no problems whatsoever. It has a Kawasaki engine on it which those engines are gas hogs anyway so the x blades using more fuel isn’t a deal breaker
I just brought a Ex-mark Radius S 60". It doesn't have the lift or discharge that my old Lazer-X 52" commercial deck mower had. The blades on my new mower have the hexagon spindle, 20-1/2" long x 2-1/2" wide with a 15/16" center hole. I need help on deciding what to do Countryside. I would really like cut up all the leaves I in the fall but still keep lawn striped. Please help me decide what blades run. Gators, Super Hi-lift, regular lift, X-Blades and/or Combination of all.
High lifts will give you the best stripe and stripe is 90% what height you cut at. The higher the better. You're gonna have to give and take. You're not gonna get both as good as you want
Good morning,CountrySide Strong have a question? I got a Great Dane Stand up 52’and walk behind Bunton 36’ and a 61’ Zero Bunton which blades would be great for all these mower running the X Blades style?
I just had to take mine off because the cut quality was horrible and i was getting a lot of vibration and resistance. It's almost as if the blades were spinning slower causing a lot of grass to be sticking up. I bring everything to my local mower shop and they spent hours trying to figure out the issue. nobody could figure it out and i spent $600 trying to get them to diagnose what could be causing it. i put straight blades on the bottom and gator blades on the top because thats what they recommended. maybe they should all be the same blade? idk i'm just so frustrated with these
I work for stupid is and stupid does at an HOA in western rural Washington and they had me wait till the end of April to start mowing so now I'm mowing five to six foot tall grass in a lot of places. I was wondering if this setup would be good for roadside banks and for the tall grass and what would be the least amount of horse power that should be used. I have two kubota zero turns, 48 and a 54 with Kohler engines and 22.5 and 23.5 horses. Anyway, this is what I've been wondering about this season so many thanks my friend.
Ok! for my experience with double blading. I did it during crabgrass season In order to get it to cut better and thrown out better and not clump. Stupid me. Everyone knows the more wet crabgrass mulches the more it slings little balls of it. So When it’s all said and done I did not see a huge improvement on cut quality and it didn’t help for clumping either and I think what happens is, in my mind, those three extra blades take up more room under the deck so it actually if anything hurt the cut quality because all the clippings and the extra blades get in the way of each other. I run mid mount John Deeres and yes they do not have super deep decks so this might work better on other brands of mowers, I don’t know. The other thing is, it works the engine so much harder and burns a lot more gas as you mention. Now, I did use them In leaf season and I put double gator blades on, John Deere blades droop downward so I put a set of straight blades on the bottom, a set of John Deere gators on top and they cut almost at the exact same level, and they did mulch oak leaves a little better but again, mulching leaves takes so much power as it is and this about doubled it. So in the end I gave up double blading. In heavy fescue and Bermuda, it pulled it so hard because all the huge amount of clippings and blades fills up the deck and so it did not cut as well as expected.
