My homemade chute blocker

[farmboy1285]

I Have had plans to build on of these for a while, and finally got around to building one. I designed it so that it fits right into the holes that hold the discharge deflector on, and was able to reuse the oem spring from the deflector. By no means is this thing perfect, but it works halfway decently, and definitely is better than just discharging everything. Right now I just have it rigged up with a bungee so that I just pull the bungee up and wrap it around the oil reservoir and that hold it out of the way. Here are a few pics
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk178/farmboy1285/Picture165.jpg
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk178/farmboy1285/Picture168.jpg
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk178/farmboy1285/Picture166.jpg
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk178/farmboy1285/Picture164.jpg
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk178/farmboy1285/Picture167.jpg

I will try and post some pics of how it work tomorrow. LMK what you guys think.

[02DURAMAX]

looks good!

[Lawn Freak]

Hope it works out for ya
Looks good

[Junior M]

Ok, stupid question, what is the advantage of having one? and isnt the purpose to not blow the grass out as far or as much grass as far as without it? (i hope that makes sense)

[easycareacres]

nice job easy to copy view out there holes there to join on also.

Yes they are great we cant use ours with out them blow road sides, stop directing grass into gardens etc.

[DLAWNS]

I think that it came out pretty nice. I'd love to see how it works.

[STIHL GUY]

looks good i want to make one for my mower

[old oak lawn]

not to jack your trend but I thought i would post a pic of 1 i made for my toro 2 years ago. you can open or close it from seat and it has a middle setting /not in pic/ that deflects grass down. [wheel is removed bacuse i am replaceing hydro lines ]

[farmboy1285]

not to jack your trend but I thought i would post a pic of 1 i made for my toro 2 years ago. you can open or close it from seat and it has a middle setting /not in pic/ that deflects grass down. [wheel is removed bacuse i am replaceing hydro lines ]

Hey no problem I was hoping that some other people would post some pics of their homemade chute blockers, yours looks great, I think you put a little more time and design than I did:laugh:.

[old oak lawn]

I went to a Dixie chopper dealer and copied the way their handle is to open and close it. its a simple design but hard to get it working correct. handle is spring loaded and locks into a pin in all 3 settings.

[farmboy1285]

Ok, stupid question, what is the advantage of having one? and isnt the purpose to not blow the grass out as far or as much grass as far as without it? (i hope that makes sense)

I built my mainly so that I can grind up leaves better and so that I can get up close to thing with out blowing grass everywhere.
Overall Im happy with it because it has saved me lots of time and energy, but it is by no means perfect, when I built it the blocker I accidently made it about 1/8" to close to the blades so the blade would hit it:cry:. so I just used a bolt to space the chute blocker just far enough from the blade, but that makes a gap between the blocker and the mower deck(you can see the bolt in pic 3 and the gap in pic 1). Im thinking about building one with larger mesh so I get better air flow and hopefully the grass wont clog in the mesh (in pic 2 you can see all the grass that is clogged in the chute blocker)

I took the day off today so no pics of the lawns but I will be sure to get some tomorrow, I may even try a video.

[farmboy1285]

I went to a Dixie chopper dealer and copied the way their handle is to open and close it. its a simple design but hard to get it working correct. handle is spring loaded and locks into a pin in all 3 settings.

haha ya the whole lever connected to a rod then connected to another thingie can get pretty confusing, I was going to build an elaborate system to lift the snow blade I built for the front of an old lawn tractor, but after about an hour of head scratching I threw in the towel and figured out how lift it with a rope and spring system.

[farmboy1285]

Some pics from today:
The first lawn only had a few leaves in it but here goes anyway
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk178/farmboy1285/Picture012.jpg
After first mow with chute blocker down
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk178/farmboy1285/Picture013.jpg
The line of debris blow out from the gap I mentioned before
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk178/farmboy1285/Picture014.jpg
After the second mow with the chute blocker up to disperse the line of debris
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk178/farmboy1285/Picture015.jpg
A quick shot as I was driving away
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk178/farmboy1285/Picture016.jpg
The second yard had a HEAVY amount of leaves
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk178/farmboy1285/Picture017.jpg
After I blew the leaves from the street into the yard
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk178/farmboy1285/Picture018.jpg
Pssh who needs a leaf plow
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk178/farmboy1285/Picture019.jpg
After a few passes with the chute blocker to grind things up, I forgot to take a pic after I went over the yard with the chute blocker up
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk178/farmboy1285/Picture020.jpg
The back yard had about a 2" cover of leaves everywhere
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk178/farmboy1285/Picture023.jpg
and the after
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk178/farmboy1285/Picture024.jpg

I had wrestling conditioning and it rained just as I was finishing yard # 2 so I only got two yards done today:cry: so thats all the pics for today

[stewartje]

I see a paw print over your hands in one of the pictures. I love my Great Dane!!

[South Florida Lawns]

man how old is that Toro?

[PowerEquipmentWarehouse]

We carry a product called a blade blocker, and it has a handle. Units are specific to walk behind or riding units. check us out a www.power41.com. Thanks, Lisa

[farmboy1285]

We carry a product called a blade blocker, and it has a handle. Units are specific to walk behind or riding units. check us out a www.power41.com. Thanks, Lisa

Thanks, but no thanks, Im way to cheap to buy something, especially when I have a welder. I know my chute blocker isnt the best out there, but Im fine with that.

[Mickhippy]

Dont know if these will help you but Im working on a blocker myself...
I got the local trailer shop to roll the sheet so it would fit around the deck better, but I could of just cut it shorter.
I was given an old, damaged chute deflector so I used the hinge from that to attach it to the deck, with a little angle iron. It sits flush with the deck but I might add some rubber to fill the gap.
There aren't enough holes in it and it keeps lifting from the force from blade etc so Im adding the re bar off cuts for weight. I have made some of those holes "slots" now but its still not enough to hold it closed. I'll just keep adding weight as it also gives it strength.
I will just use some rope to open/close it.
All up cost so far... Au $10
I know the pics aren't great but hope it helps...

[Junior M]

I built my mainly so that I can grind up leaves better and so that I can get up close to thing with out blowing grass everywhere.
Overall Im happy with it because it has saved me lots of time and energy, but it is by no means perfect, when I built it the blocker I accidently made it about 1/8" to close to the blades so the blade would hit it:cry:. so I just used a bolt to space the chute blocker just far enough from the blade, but that makes a gap between the blocker and the mower deck(you can see the bolt in pic 3 and the gap in pic 1). Im thinking about building one with larger mesh so I get better air flow and hopefully the grass wont clog in the mesh (in pic 2 you can see all the grass that is clogged in the chute blocker)

I took the day off today so no pics of the lawns but I will be sure to get some tomorrow, I may even try a video.
Thats exactly the answer to my problems!!

I need one too. Can you guy give some more detail on construction of the shoot blocker you've made?

[farmboy1285]

Thats exactly the answer to my problems!!

I need one too. Can you guy give some more detail on construction of the shoot blocker you've made?

I didnt even bother going to the metal scap yard to get my steel for this project, everything was bought from Home depot. It just 1/2" mesh, and I think its 1" angle iron. What kind of mower are you building it for, can you post a pic of the discharge chute, we may be able to help you more then.

[Junior M]

I didnt even bother going to the metal scap yard to get my steel for this project, everything was bought from Home depot. It just 1/2" mesh, and I think its 1" angle iron. What kind of mower are you building it for, can you post a pic of the discharge chute, we may be able to help you more then.
Its a John Deere z245, yes its homeowner equipment but its my first and its better than a rider...


I'll get some pics in the next day or two when I get it out to change the oil and put it up for the winter, everything here is done with, I think I have my yard and one more to cut and that is to knock down the weeds that are still standing... I'll see if I can find some on the internet and post them..

[farmboy1285]

Im gonna take my great dane out to my farm tommorrow and see if I cant fab up a bracket so that I can use the bagger off my encore walkbehinds. I will try and post some pics.

[farmboy1285]

Im gonna take my great dane out to my farm tommorrow and see if I cant fab up a bracket so that I can use the bagger off my encore walkbehinds. I will try and post some pics.

Okay so I worked for about 3 hours on Saturday night (shows what my social life is like:laugh:) and fabbed up a bracket for my bagger to fit on my great dane. It worked pretty well except that the bagger hangs down pretty low. But then I had to go and mess it up:cry:. I was backing up a hill and the bagger caught on the turf and it slipped off the mower, of course still having the blades on the bracket go chewed up pretty good:cry:. So its back to the drawing board, thank god I didnt mess up my blades, just goes to show that great danes can go through any thing, including steel:weightlifter::weightlifter::laugh:. I will post some pics tonight.

[farmboy1285]

Okay so the chute blocker saved me lots of time in the leaf season and I have really come to rely on it alot for not blowing grass into mulch and whatnot. It was defently worth the small investment.

Part 2 of the post is that I built a better adapter for my great dane to use my encore bagger. I built it completly out of stuff I had laying around and with all the fab work and painting I have about 3 hours of work in it. Here are a couple pics. I figured I would post it here instead of starting a new thread.

From the side:
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk178/farmboy1285/BaggerAdapter.jpg

From the side with the adapter off: Ill explain what everything is (From left to right) The red pin is the front mount, the rectangular area without a bottom is where the grass blows from the chute to the bagger, next is the piece of pipe that has two pieces or steel running parrel to the back of the adapter that is where the pin on the encore bagger slides into, and the final thing is the pin that slids into the rear mount on the mower.
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk178/farmboy1285/BaggerAdapter1.jpg

From the top: (the side with the red pin is the front)
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk178/farmboy1285/BaggerAdapter2.jpg


From the back:
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk178/farmboy1285/RearmountforBagger.jpg

Here is the Rear mount:
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk178/farmboy1285/RearMountforBagger2.jpg

From the front:
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk178/farmboy1285/FrontmountforBagger.jpg

The front mount:
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk178/farmboy1285/FrontmountforBagger2.jpg

The mower with the bagger in place:
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk178/farmboy1285/GreatdaneBagger1.jpg

Like the Chute Blocker this thing is not perfect but it works really well and it was much cheaper than buying an accelerator bagger.