Specify double blades?

I have read a lot about double blades on a mower in this forum lately. Could someone tell me how you do this? I work part time at a dealer and service shop and asked our mechanic about this he didn't think it was a good idea. I have a 44"Toro walk behind and a 48"Toro outfront Z can double blades be put on any mower? or does it have to be designed for them.

 

I have Toro's also and wondered myself about double blades with our blade cradles. I have never had much of a problem with just high lift blades or gators, but I would like to try doubles just for the heck of it. My worry is LIABILITY. Blade comes off and hurts someone, we are doing something the mower was not designed for by the maker.

According to what I could find in the archieves, I have not read about any deck damages or mishaps, so I am willing to try myself. The Toro posts I could find made total sense to use a spacer, like a washer or lock nut, between the cradle and other blade. I like the lock nut idea, would help hold the "X" pattern, I would think. Only thing I did not understand is where this is at, second blade below the cradle or second blade ontop of the cradle next to the spindle! I guess it would not matter.

I do know that after I see how it looks and I can measure the blade and spacer I will be going and getting new longer bolts, only makes sense to me. Loss of thread means loss of holding power as well as added stress to bolt with added wieght and leverage on bolt ends.

 

Welcome Lawn Cruiser from another fairly new member. What you're going to find is that the regulars have been posting on this topic for a while so they're hesitant to jump in again. I've been running a commercial mower for the past two seasons and following the topic of double blades on this forum for the past year [although I lurked and just recently joined]. What I have found is:

1] Check EricELM's web site - he's the master of XX
2] Many, many listings found under search [above right]
3] Not one dealer, mechanic or local operator I've talked to has tried this, most of them think it will either wreck the spindles, idlers or engine and none of them think it will make a difference in cut
4] I'm going to try it as soon as I get my new ZTR, unless I'm getting a perfect cut without it.

I don't know what the answer is, but once you search this topic, I think you'll find that those who use them on this site either love them or are indifferent to the results. I can't think of one post I've read where they caused problems or damage. Good luck.

Will M.

 

You have to cut the cradles on Toro units to get the proper set up for running double.

 

This thread has posts about the Toro and doubles.
http://www.lawnsite.com/showthread.php?threadid=3822
This thread has 70 posts on doubles. http://www.lawnsite.com/showthread.php?threadid=442
This one has 29 posts on doubles. http://www.lawnsite.com/showthread.php?threadid=2
There are more if you want me to find them.

 

Somebody had posted a part number previously but I misplaced it so if you have it it would be appreciated.

 

Thanks Eric for the info on double blades. I did do a search but didn't get the results that you showed me. I do have a question that I din't see in the links about doubles. It looks easy to do for my 44"Toro but my 48"is one of the 355 outfront Z's and it has counter rotating blades so mounting doubles would cause them to hit, because they use a geared transmision for the blades. Would it be possible to either cut a set of blades down so they don't hit or to find a little shorter blade that would fit?

 

Use the wheel horse tractor to do the final pick up last time out.

With the 44" run the bolt thru the scalp cup then thru a gator blade then thru one 5/8 flat washer then thru a hi lift mounted in the cradle.

There is no need cut the cradles. The only time I use double blades is in leaf grinding season.

The photos in the link were taken on 10/20. This is the first of 3 leaf grinding sessions so perfection is not an issue. The lawn was just double cut to provide those results.

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=1209854&a=9499568

There is way too much weight on the spindles with that (shreddit blade and gator combo). A shreddit blade alone weights 3x more than a oem. The deck needed so much power it actually slowed down the ground speed.

This week the set up with the 52 will be a gator on the bottom and a hi lift on the top. The gator cuts then shreads the matter then the hi lift sends the crap into orbit out the discharge. This is not a machine to use in tight areas where throwing debris in landscape beds is an issue.

For the ultimate tight area leaf grinder see my thread about my 48" toro recycler machine.

 

You could use a shorter blade on top, because it doesn't do any cutting, it just chops. What I used to find these threads was CRADLE in the search feature.