I spoke to the guys at SuTech; they are so nice its hard to be pissed at the mower. They are sending me some spare bolts. I picked up the impact wrench from Sears today and will hopefully put the new blades on tomorrow (and cut either Sunday or Monday).

What kind of gun did you get? Was is electric or battery? How much are they if you don't mind me asking?

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simpson wrote:What kind of gun did you get? Was is electric or battery? How much are they if you don't mind me asking?

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Battery, on sale for $119.

I use a 3/8 battery impact for work. I use it non stop all day. I change out the battery at least twice a day. Im sure you will like it.

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The impact wrench was/is great. Ran inside to tell my wife how great it was, she was busy on the phone with a friend and laughed at me. Tried to tell the kids how great it was and they gave me one of those special looks.

I had to re-read the manual, its a pretty complicated process to remove the blades as there is a nut all the way through the top of the frame. Now that I've done it once it won't be a problem. I also fixed the bolt that sheared and built myself a ramp. Can't wait to mow on Monday afternoon.

lol the special look. I get that all the time but its from the girlfriend

I have the 3/8 14.4v and 1/2 18v inch impacts from Snap-on I'm sure somebody makes it for them, I've had them for about 3-4 years(newer version) They are great. Thought I would mention the Snap-on guy told me you can get the internal batteries replaced for $40.00 if it's the same type. He goes to a Battery Warehouse on Old Baltimore Pike in Newark De. I'm sure some of you have battery warehouses around. A lot cheaper than replacing the whole thing. I usually carry 2 to switch off. The 1/2" will take lugs off cars & trucks. Also have 1/4" and 3/8 drill as well. Some have drop lights u can use the same battery.

So I mowed today with the new blades, bolt and ramp. Mulching does seem to be better, no little piles at the turns, even in the thicker grass. The ramp was great. The real test will be about 5 weeks from now when the leaves start coming down (my peak is usually first week in November).

So about 3 weeks after using the mulching blades I decided to clean the deck - WOW, what a difference. More build-up in 3 weeks than I had had in 2 months with the older blades. If it weren't so early I'd have brought out the power washer. The combination of non-stop rain and the better mulching of the blades (of that wetter grass) made for some nice green cement.

I hate to do it because I want to mulch in the leaves pretty soon, but I'm going to remove the mulch baffle on my ZTR and do side discharge with gator blades. It is kind of a pain because the baffle is more than just a covering of the discharge chute and also does not allow me to run gator blades with it. But it is so wet right now that a good deal of clippings just coat the undersides of the deck, like it is with yours.

Another update, today I lowered the back wheels to the 3" setting, I had to adjust the engage lever to compensate a bit, but the cut does look better (notwithstanding the dealer who said it works better with the rear higher). I also noticed that it held on the slopes much, much better when going lateral instead of perpendicular. I was able to mow at 30 degrees without a problem and even a few areas that were close to 45 (with some real muscle work). I'm going to 2.5" Friday.

So it turns out that I've been mowing 1/4" lower than I thought all year. Today I decided I had to go up to 2.75" because what I thought was 2.5" was too low (turns out it was 2.25", which when using a heavy mower like this on water soaked soil could end up as low as 1.75" in areas with depressions). I brought the entire deck back to 3" (which is a real chore), took off the top plate and removed one of the blades.

Upon closer inspection, what I thought was a blade spacer was really a washer. I pulled out the parts list and it turns out the default from the factory (or how the dealer put it together) had the spacer above the blades, so all summer when I couldn't figure out why 3.5" was a bit low, I was at 3.25". I didn't have the energy to put the deck back to 2.5" and move the blade spacers on all three blades, so for now I'm going to stick with 2.75" and maybe go to 2.5" in November.

So I mulched quite a bit of leaves today, but the real test was the blanket of pine needles by my front door. I'm talking a solid brown carpet so dense you can't see the grass. I had to make 2-3 passes, but the SuTech really chopped them up. One of the main reasons I got this beast was for this time of year and its proving itself out.

jg, what do you think of this?
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I'm in the market for a used commercial walk-behind. I tend to bleed John Deere green and am looking ad JD walk behinds but this looks like a relative bargain.

My plan is to get a good walk-behind for striping, etc. and just use the lawn tractor for snowblowing and pulling the lawn cart when weed the gardens and the mulching.

lawnandgarden wrote:jg, what do you think of this?
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I'm in the market for a used commercial walk-behind. I tend to bleed John Deere green and am looking ad JD walk behinds but this looks like a relative bargain.

My plan is to get a good walk-behind for striping, etc. and just use the lawn tractor for snowblowing and pulling the lawn cart when weed the gardens and the mulching.

For $440 it would seem hard to go wrong. Keep in mind that this is not like a Honda or Toro. Changing cutting heights is a chore (although the more you do it the easier it gets) and you need an impact wrench to change the blades. That being said, if you are somewhat handy you can get the hang of it quickly. Its certainly made mulching leaves a lot easier. The extra 12" cuts down mowing time.

Find out which blades he has, you want the high lift mulching ones (they look like gators). I'm really looking forward to next May with it, my Honda would get bogged down in the thick/wet may grass and I had to do a lot of overlapping.

Also, this mower doesn't stripe at all (although you could make your own striper). No reverse and it weighs a lot. It is a beast, however. Its also not a true zero turn, although close and the transmission is 3 speeds. You can feather the controls to get speeds somewhat in the middle of the three gears, just takes some time.

Thanks for the feedback. Looks like it's not the machine for me.

This is by far the best time to buy used commercial equipement as landscapers are dumping them. Used trailers too.....

lawnandgarden wrote:Thanks for the feedback. Looks like it's not the machine for me.

This is by far the best time to buy used commercial equipement as landscapers are dumping them. Used trailers too.....

Couldn't hurt to ask why he is selling - would be curious to hear the feedback.

I just had to make another post; this mower is saving me a ton of time mulching leaves. The extra 12" in deck width is a big help, as is the power. Sometimes I'm a bit lazy and don't quite spread everything out evenly so I have piles that are 10-12" of thick compressed leaves from blowing them into one area. The Honda would stall if I hit that head on, this machine just goes through without a stutter.

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I'm currently begging my wife....

snachs wrote:http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/grd/2904234792.html

I'm currently begging my wife....

Looks like its in good shape. That's a decent price.