Double Blades (Not what you think) :)

[Scraper]

Okay...not what you thought...I was wondering now that we've hashed and rehashed this topic, how many of you do not use double blades after all the benefits have been mentioned? I for one am a convert and don't believe I'll ever NOT use double blades except when it is very dry as the dust clouds are too much at times. If you are not using them, why not?

[River Hill]

I have tried double blades with a few different combinations. Maybe it is just my mower but, the best blades I have found are Exmark's high lift-solid air foil. I do agree the doubles chop up grass better, but I get alot of blow out with doubles, alot of grass stuck under the deck, and the clippings don't blend in as well. When I say the clippings don't bend in well, they seem to just lay on top. Also, my mower has more of a tendency to scalp as the blades hang a little below the baffles. For you information I have a Exmark Truf Tracer Hp 48" with 17hp Kawi. I have another one with ECS on order. If anyone has any suggestions I would be open to them.

[kutnkru]

I have not tried them and I dont know if i will or will not this fall.

I think that unless we have a fall season where the leaves all come down in two days that I will not be putting the extra set onto the decks.

For seasonal maintenance our properties really dont get that far out of hand where I think we need to compenasate for the lack of judgement on our part - no offense intended for those of you who are successfully using this method for mowing. :)

I have tossed and toiled with the idea of them and truthfully find that they will only benefit our operation during heavy accumualtions of leaves (if it happens) in the fall.

If the leaves dont come down in a down pour, I will be one of the few who sticks with the old adage "If It Aint Broke - Dont Fix It".

Got by without 'em before and just may continue to get by without em still.

Kris

[Runner]

You may want to try lowering your anti-scalp rollers one notch. This shou8ld be done as soon as you get the machine anyway. As far as the clippings laying on top more, I think that's just initial. They may not fall down quite as fast because they are lighter, but they do settle. Not only that, but because they are only a fraction of the length when cut with doubles as opposed to without, they also setle deeper and more rapidly decompose.

[TLS]

I use them in the fall for cleanups on my Lazer. I use singles the rest of the time. Its just alot harder to start them up with the electric clutch than it was on the Dixie. Plus I feel that the cut on the Lazer is great as it is. It does cut better with doubles, but the lowered cutting height and blowout along with more of a tendency to bog in tall grass, had me switch back to singles. I may try them this week to knock down all the tall grass from the rain, dont know yet. But for leaves, doubles are a must!

Final verdict......UNDECIDED yet!

[BRL]

Final Verdict: SOLD!!

Since switching to doubles I have been able to single cut those lawns where I used to have to double cut during the heavy fast spring growth. Striping looks better with the doubles. Using them for leaf clean ups is amazing. I can't remember exactly how much now, but last fall I decreased the amount of leaves I had to haul away by over half from years past. Just mulch 'em in. For those of you with blow out problems, make sure your deck has a positive pitch. With single blades you won't notice a slight negative pitch as much, but with the doubles, you'll notice it. When I first started doubles I had that problem, I adjusted the deck and now its fine.

[Charles]

I dont use them for most of the reasons above. Cant lower the scalp wheels on my lazer anymore than they are and the doubles dig into the ground as we cut lower around here. Just not worth the extra wear on the mower for me either. My 23hp lazer seems to lose to much power trying to push the extra weight to do leaves also and bogs in high grass.

[grassyfras]

my dealer sadit hey dont do doubles for exmarks just cub cadets and some other mower so i decided to forget about it i would like to try them

[Charles]

grassyfras, you put 2 blades together and BOOM! you got double blades for a lazer

[SJR Lawncare]

I tried the doubles on my Gravely 50 WB last year, & the extra weight of the 2nd set of blades really put a hurting on the engine & the damn thing sounded like a helicopter attack. So I quickly took them off & never tried them again. I now have a new Scag 52 hydro WB that I am considering trying the doubles on. What do ya think??

SJR

[Chip]

I have been using doubles for about a week now on my new dixie. this past Saturday I did a clean-up for a customer that had oak leaves all around his house since last fall. He said I could pile them in the back corner of his property. I had my helper blow them away from the beds and house and I mulched them. He has 3 rather large oaks in his fenced in yard. When he sees they are gone and not a leaf added to his pile I'm sure he will wonder what I did with them. I can't believe I made them disapear in about 20k sq/ft of grass without getting any in the pool. It took less than 20 min to mulch maybe 45 to blow out of beds and around house.:D

[crew]

I'm off the double blade thing this year except during cleanups. For all the reasons stated above plus-
i'm sick of sharpening 18 blades twice a week rather than 12
Had to replace the cluth on a lazer with less than 200 hours at the end of last season.
The extra length on the spindle bolts is just enough to make them hit the gate hinges when loading and unloading thereby slightly moving spindle housing resulting in blades hitting together!!! You want a freak out - wack a couple blades together at full speed under your ass a couple times.
This time of year we are doubling everything anyway.

[Wood Lawn Man]

SJR...I run doubles on all my Scag's, including my new 21 hp 52" wb. The cut is perfect, and I rarely have to bag. As for you guys having problems with blowout on your Lazers and other riders, you need to replace the single 1.25" spacer with four .25" spacers. These spacers with the addition of your second blade should put the blades back at the original cutting heigth, and leave the blades inside the baffles.

[TLS]

The Lazers don use blade spacers like the SCAG's and Dixies.

[joshua]

been running doubles all season, love em i tried 1 day not running them and i had to bag on the 2nd cut because the clipping weren't mulched enough, with doubles i don't see any clippings and i feel they give the lawn a deeper looking stripe. only thing i'm sad about is the fact that i can't run them on the lawzer when i have the ultra vac on this fall the rep. said the grass and leaves will be mulch to fine and clog the shoot, which it did when i put the ultra vac on to test it on my lawn.

[Avery]

Have never had a good reason to try them. We use Atomic high lifts. Have never had to double cut anything (unless my guys did one and did not tell me). 90% of what we cut is Bermuda. Clippings are fine and disperse well if you have a good mower to start with. No way to justify the added expense and labor of running doubles. Plus the dealer says it is not the best thing for the mower.

Just my opinion. :cool:

[Eric ELM]

Crew, you don't have to sharpen the top blade but about 2 times a month. The top blade doesn't do any cutting, just chopping up of the clippings, so it doesn't need to be razor sharp each day, just the bottom one I change each day.

If the bolts hit the trailer, attach a 2x6 across the back of the trailer at the point your tires are at just before the bolts would hit and it will lift the front of your machine up enough for the bolts to clear things.

Clutch, sorry :( I don't have to worry about my electric clutch on my DC's, but my 430 JD still has the original in it, but it hasn't mowed much in the past 7 years. I did use it as a main mower for 3 years before I finally wised up and got ZTR's. :)

[muxx]

How do you go about double blades on a Lazer? I have never heard of it. Just put 2 blades on at a time? Is there any certain way to do that??

[lawrence stone]

Those doubles saved my azz this week. Rain and sunshine makes bluegrass grow 4+ inches a week with just 2 lbs of N per year TOTAL.

I have two twin 52" Toros that run doubles full time. Just turn up speed to adjust for the added spindle mass. The new bigger sulky casters make a big improvement in ride and less drag.

The twin blades are the way to go but you have to have a twin cylinder engine and the needed torque to handle doubles.

[Eric ELM]

I hear ya Larry, this Bluegrass is loving this weather. I have been cutting tall wet grass all week and I have double high lifts on, but it takes some power to run them. The Yanmar can do it and does a great job of it too. :)

I posted a picture this evening that I took after a rain storm today of a lawn I mowed with the double high lifts on the 2001 Lawn Pic. thread. It was tall too, but to top it all, some lawns are still seeding big time. I'm ready for this seeding to stop anytime now. Wet seeds and Gators = Mush, this is why I went to highlifts.

[rdh]

eric thanks for telling us about the gators and seed i had probles with my deck gloging and i will try dbl high lifts tomorrow.

[MATTHEW]

How would you put doubles on a Toro? The blade fits
into a slot in the skid plate and it all fits in
the holder. If there are two blades, won't they
slide around?

[John DiMartino]

I dont use doubles now.If i had a strong engine,Id run them all the time.The 25hp kohler just doesnt have the power running doubles on a 60" deck.The only combo that has acceptable power is a lo-lift/gator,which cant be run in the morning dew or rain without plugging.I ran double lo-lifts and it just labors big time,and burns about 2GPH of fuel.With single hi lifts it burns about 1.25-1.5GPH.The cut quality (doubles)seems to be better in wet,or extremely thick grass only,in normal cuts the singles are fine,and allow me to run wide open without bogging.The machine is just so much more responsive,and lively with singles,I use them whenever i can get away with it.

[jnjnlc]

I put doubles on last year and did not like them. I tried them again about a week ago and they are still on (Toro 44" ZTR SFS Deck).

However, I was really mad today because of the blow out. I was getting more grass on me that in the yard. I was ready to rip them of right there in the middle of mowing. I learned an important lesson at that time though. I got down and looked under my deck. I had mowed a wet yard earlier that morning and I had grass caked on the front edge of the deck. No wonder I was getting so much blow out. The clippings could not discharge out the side. I cleaned the deck and things got much better. The next yard I did after this was one I do every other week. He has mostly crab grass and it was 6+ inches. I just knew I was going have to double cut it. Nope, clippings were so fine that I did not need to double cut.

I think I will stick with them for a while.

[Alan]

I ran doubles (25hp Exmark/60") all last summer and so far this year. Pulled them the other day as the dust was just too bad. When we get some moisture back in the ground I'll put them back on.

[bababooie]

can i use doubles on a 14hp kaw.or isnt there enough power?

[Toroguy]

Havnt tried it yet. 16 horse briggs may not have the power. I'll give it a try one of these days.

[captdevo]

I've been running doubles on my Walker 16hp kohler with a 52" deck for a few seasons and it has been just fine. I get a little blow out when it's dry, but the cut makes up for it..