Push Mower modifciations?

I'll keep this short. I live in NC. Its rained like crazy this year. The number of times the grass has been dry is approximately zero, and its growing fast as hell. Cutting it sucks because the discharge chute on my lawnmower clogs about every 20 feet. And I'm cutting it more than once a week. This is a relatively new Honda mower with a sharp blade.

If I lift up the chute/deflector/plastic thing, I noticed the discharge hole in the deck is only about 60% the size of the chute. Any reason I couldn't enlarge this to equal the size of the chute? I imagine it would certainly help prevent clogging.

Make sure to brace up around the area you cut, then. Thats a weak point on the mower deck and can flex. Mine did it bad enough that it started hitting the edge of the blade on occasion.

I never use the bagger (always use the mulcher), so did a little cutting, grinding, and welding, and now have a mower that only mulches.

Sounds like you need to mow even more often. We've had a ton of rain this summer in OK too.

Typically by the end of July the grass goes dormant and you don't have to mow again until September. The last few months I've been cutting the grass every 4 days.

4 days.

Man I was hoping for a blacked out mower with flames, a set of chrome wheels and a custom chrome exhaust shooting out the side.

I are disappoint

will this work?

I'm trying to cut more often... but its hard to do when its always berkeleying raining. Yesterday was 5 days between cuts.

I gave up mowing... Far easy to pay someone $50/wk to mow our yard. Doesn't help the mower broke this year....

A new deck is $150... A new mower is $250...

Less grass, move native plants. I like the long "playing field" of grass, but folks tend have grass in places they don't really utilize.

Ranger50 wrote: I gave up mowing... Far easy to pay someone $50/wk to mow our yard. Doesn't help the mower broke this year.... A new deck is $150... A new mower is $250...

Yikes. That's what my buddy charges to do it as well. I realized $150-200 a month out of my car budget for 2.5 hours of time wasn't worth it.

z31maniac wrote: Yikes. That's what my buddy charges to do it as well. I realized $150-200 a month out of my car budget for 2.5 hours of time wasn't worth it.

Yup. $200/month for 4 months/year invested is approx $11,700 in 10 years, or $35,000 after 20 years.

That said, I would like to find a neighborhood kid to give $25 to do it occasionally when I'm going away for the weekend or swamped with other work.

I'm at 5 hrs mowing the yard each time... Plus I don't have 2mo to have $250 saved to buy a new mower....Or the time.....

At this point in time, the better option is to farm this task out.

Some time back I saw a push mower which was 3 regular mowers bolted together with two pieces of angle steel across the top of the decks to reinforce it. You can find mowers at yard sales for $20-$30 all the time too. If you motor's still good, buy one with a dead motor and do some engine swappin'.

I had that same issue with my old pusher over by the septic systems magical grass growing area. I made a fiberglass chute that has huge by large and it still did the same E36 M3. I ended up getting a rider with more power. No matter what I did, the deck just couldn't handle that volume of clippings unless I went at a snail's pace.

OP - Tie the plastic deflector back with a bungee cord. This helps on mine when the grass is wet.

TRoglodyte wrote: OP - Tie the plastic deflector back with a bungee cord. This helps on mine when the grass is wet.

This.

If its really windy, you'll have a face full of grass, but it should stop it from blocking.

Power is definitely not the issue. The mower still runs (and cuts) fine when clogged - at least for another 100 feet or so. Problem is the massive balls of grass it leaves around since they can't be discharged.

I can't tie the defelector back - its a removeable piece (when you remove it, the plastic part retaining it falls down to cover the hole to convert to mulching). If I try to pull it up, it will just fall off. I guess I could tie the mulching door back.

FWIW, none of the grass is clogged inside the plastic chute, its clogged in the opening cut into the steel deck.

If you have a mulching blade on it, back up a few feet and mow forward again. That is how I would have to clean out everything from underneath the deck. Also if you look at my picture, that bungee cord is there to hold the door open and no chute.

Just how close to the ground are you cutting?

It does not have a mulching blade right now.

I'm cutting at approx. the middle setting for deck height, maybe one notch lower. I think there are 7 notches, and I'm on #3.

I used to just grab a 4-foot long stick from the side yard to use as a "chute prod". The grass would clog up the chute and I'd poke the clog with the stick until it cleared out. One stick lasted for about five cleanings then you'd need another stick. Simple, probably dangerous, but effective.

I solved the problem permanently by getting dual blade a lawn tractor.

Dad and I broke down and went in together on a ZTR this year. Wish we would have done it years ago. 60" deck makes for quick yard work. Doesn't care about wet grass either.

I took the discharge chute off and just let the grass fly out the opening. I welded a small rod across the bottom for strength and to keep away from the blade. Works great.

The chute part is to stop/slow/deflect any potential projectiles (rocks, nuts and bolts, etc) the mower might pick up. Alter it at your own liability.

With the proper modifications, you can teach that bitch to run on nitro-methane.