Blades

[badbart]

I'm not so much a commercial mowing company as I mostly just mow the farm I live on, with the occasional side jobs. I mostly do large acreage with a John Deere 997 72" mower or a Massey Ferguson with a 6' Lands Pride bush hog. On the 997 we usually get 30-40 hours of service from the factory blades purchased from the local JD dealer. These blades are usually worn down and unservicable after 30 or so hours here in the sandy north Florida soil, especially with the dry spell we've had over the past year. My brother was sold a set of "European" blades last July by the same dealer and told to try them and see how we like them. I don't know what brand these blades are but they were not painted, as the usual factory blades are, in black. These blades are just bare metal silver, do not rust, and have held their shape (no rounding off at the tips) for over 100 hours without being sharpened. Has anyone else run across these blades? They are phenomenal!

 

[weeze]

do they make them for my JD mower? i'd like to try them lol. mine last 50-75hrs before the sails wear out.

 

[badbart]

Check with your local JD dealer and see. If he doesn't know anything about them have them contact Greensouth. That's who we got them from. I'm sure they could give them the part number.

 

[professional]

I have a 997 and I use dealer supplied blades. I noticed a huge wear difference when I switched from the high lift blades to mulching blades. I have always had the mulch kit on it since the day I bought it, but used the high lift in the beginning because I thought they would cut better. I've not noticed any difference in the cut quality. This year, I tried something different, I run all of my equipment at about 3/4 throttle. I save the extra throttle for the occasional tough spots. Everything, including the blades, last a lot longer. Uses about .6 gal. of fuel per hour as opposed to .9 at WOT. I get about 150 hrs. out of a set of blades now. Used to be about 100. I was getting about 50 with the high lift when I was running WOT. I cut at 3 3/4".

 

[ryan alyssa]

Are the hours your getting out of the blades sharpend I between the hours you are getting out of them

 

[professional]

Absolutely, I was sharpening them every week, but now, every two weeks. I put about 12 to 14 hrs a week on the 997. I use it on specific large jobs. There are quite a few other jobs it could be used on, but I choose to use the walk behind because the clients I have seem to appreciate the extra care I appear to be taking by doing it that way. In fact, I sharpen all of my mowing blades every two weeks now.

 

[badbart]

Are the hours your getting out of the blades sharpend I between the hours you are getting out of them

These blades could have been sharpened at about 50 hours for a manicured lawn cut, but as I use it mostly for pasture grass, it wasn't needed. It leaves stragglers now, but they have 107 hours on them. So, no, mine have not been sharpened.

 

[weeze]

yeah i sharpen them about 3-4 times during their use...maybe every 20hrs or so...by that time the sails start to crack right where the bend is so to avoid having the sails snap off i have to toss them out and buy a new set of blades.

 

[badbart]

yeah i sharpen them about 3-4 times during their use...maybe every 20hrs or so...by that time the sails start to crack right where the bend is so to avoid having the sails snap off i have to toss them out and buy a new set of blades.

That won't be an issue with these blades.

 

[weeze]

yeah if i could find them lol. do they sell them online anywhere?