Anybody have a Dixie Chopper? If so, have you ever used their X-Blades? Any insight would be appreciated. I bought a DC Silver Eagle with standard high-lift blades this past spring. I'm considering purchasing X-Blades in preparation for leave mulching this fall.

Bavaria wrote:http://bestlawn.info/equipment/lawn-tractors-t3226-40.html

Thanks for the link. No talk about x-blades though.

pm barley

Yeah I have a Silver Eagle. I still like it, but if I had to do over again, I would have bought an Exmark. Dixie Choppers are just not made for mulching. The decks are made for side discharge (if you look under your deck, it's one big area. The Exmarks have separate mulching chambers).

Dixie sells something called "Magic Mulcher" which is basically a piece you bolt onto the spindles that has chains that are supposed to reduce clumping. Not sure how well that works. Closing the OCDC causes windrows. I bought some "Terminator" blades from Tracks Plus (kinda like Gators, but discontinued) in the hopes that they would help with mulching. I'm not too sure how differently they perform than the regular high-lifts. I have not tried the x-blades. Go to the Dixie Chopper website and ask them your questions using their "contact us" form. They replied fairly quickly for me.

Thanks Barely.

I have also noticed that with the OCDC down it does wind-row. Full open it does an excellent job diffusing the grass clippings - provided you don't cut off too much, but that's a no-no anyway right?
Exmark does make very nice equipment. Although I do love my DC, I'd take an Exmark given the opportunity. Another REALLY nice machine is SCAG. My neighbor has a 2011 SCAG Cheetah. He let me operate once this summer...very nice! I kinda liked it better than my DC, but I about had a heart attach when he told me the price...so I'll keep my used DC for now.

Back to the X-Blades; I've heard some guys will run the X just on the discharge side to conserve power. I've also heard some guys will run it just on the trim side. Another tip I was told by a Design Engineer from Dixie Chopper is to run a 1/4" reverse pitch on the deck (high in front, low in back). His words exactly:

" ¼” reverse pitch will help a little with striping, it should also help with your quality of cut. If you think about it, all of your cutting is being accomplished with the very front edge of the blade, because as the mower moves over the grass, the blade is higher in the back (he's referring to my question on std pitch), so it isn’t doing any cutting. If you use reverse pitch, the front cuts the grass once, and the then the back cuts it again."

I think I'm going to just buy a set of X-Blades and see what happens.

My x-blades showed up today. I got them installed this evening after work. Once installed, I checked the deck for level. Of course it was off, so I spent an excessive amount of time getting that squared away. I didn't get it perfect, but within 1/32" on each corner and I figure that's good enough. Anyway, I had to take it out for a test run. HOLY COW! They're frickin' LOUD! Sounds like a helicopter trying to take off under the deck. A little annoying...the most annoying part is the fact I can hear a modulating wha-wha-wha.

...all that said, they seem to work pretty good. The real test will be when the leaves start falling (very soon - trees have turned). I set the front lip of the deck as far down as it'll go, I pitched 1/4" with the front higher than the back, put both spacers on the bottom of the blades (blades as close to deck as possible), and put the OCDC down. I'm ready for mulching leaves.

Hammbone wrote:...put both spacers on the bottom of the blades (blades as close to deck as possible...

When I first tried to put the blades as close to the deck as possible, the blades hit the wiper baffle with an awful crunch/thud. How did you manage that? Did you take the wiper baffle off? That's what I eneded up doing.

Barley wrote:...the blades hit the wiper baffle with an awful crunch/thud. How did you manage that? Did you take the wiper baffle off? That's what I eneded up doing.

By "wiper baffle" I assume you're talking about the adjustable/removable baffle on the front edge of the deck? If so, I lowered this as low as it would go in the slots. The blades cleared it. However, the left side twist blade was barely rubbing the back left edge of the deck (non-removable curved baffle) when I turned the blades by hand. Upon investigation, I noticed it was primarily rubbing some matted up grass clippings. So I scraped all the nasty stuff from the deck and that cleared things up. At this point I don't think I'm hitting anything, although the clearances are VERY tight!

MAN these things create a LOT of lift! I'm glad I didn't use anything but the twist blade for the second blade! The back edge of that X-Blade looks like a NASCAR spoiler! It's just about vertical!

The wiper baffle is a a solid piece of metal bolted on to the underside of the deck that kinda separates the discharge chute into two separate chutes. If you lift the OCDC and look into the chute you should see the edge of it. My model is a 2009, so maybe they got rid of it for later year models. Anyway, the first time I raised my blades, I didn't check for clearance, and when I started the blades it made the most awful sound. The baffle took the worst of the damage. I just leave it off now. According to DC, the wiper baffle is supposed to "wipe" the blades clean of any clumping, and help with discharge distance.

ahhh, I know what you're talking about now. No mine does not have one, but mine is older than yours. My Silver Eagle is a 2005. I think there were some significant design changes that rolled out in 2008.