Mowing Bx belly mower guard

[Maestro71]

Anyone take the guard of their mower? It's a pain in my yard, lots of trees. I didn't know how dangerous they are without it, I've just used it for the fourth time. Thanks.

 

[like2wheel]

I took the spring out of mine, & it spends most of its life flipped up and out of the way.

I do remember once when I was done mowing, I noticed that the side window was shattered in my wife's SUV.
Pretty sure it was related...

 

[Jay4200]

I still have mine on, but I crunch it almost every time out on something. I still don't know why they exist...

 

[jesseb3@att.net]

I have a small rope with a hook tied onto my tractor. The hook passes through a hole I drilled in the end of the chute. 99% of the time the chute is up, but when I'm mowing near people or cars, I drop it. Otherwise, I'd have accidentally ripped it off on something.

 

[dodge man]

I took mine off but I have the mulch kit which blocks the chute off. I always cringe when I drive by someone mowing along the road and I drive by them with no chute deflector on their mower. Its there for a reason, to keep the thing from throwing debris. I know they are a pain but in my opinion they should be left in place unless you are mowing a wide open area with nothing around.

 

[TripleR]

I have a small rope with a hook tied onto my tractor. The hook passes through a hole I drilled in the end of the chute. 99% of the time the chute is up, but when I'm mowing near people or cars, I drop it. Otherwise, I'd have accidentally ripped it off on something.

Same here, we have no neighbors, but keep it down near the house or close to the road, I've seen too much stuff thron out an open chute to be comfortable removing ours.

 

[dougtrr2]

I am out on a small acreage with 6 acres of forest. I took mine off before I ever put the mower on. As far as it stuck out I new it would get torn off very quickly. Never hit anything with things thrown out the chute yet. If I am near the road I stop mowing as cars go by.

Doug in SW IA

 

[HeLa]

i took mine off for a bit but recently re-installed it. while it is cool to see one of my pup's tennis balls fly a hundred feet or better when the mower finds it in tall grass, the idea of more damaging projectiles coming out with that kind of speed does concern me. additionally, and probably more importantly, the idea of the blades spinning that close to such a large unprotected opening is frightening. think of someone walking up to the machine and stepping a bit too close before the blades stop completely! seems like a quick way to lose a toe.

i have found that the guard is VERY resilient when brushing up against trees and the like. a small bungee works great for the limited times when i can't have it down, i.e. when running through my garden gate or catching up on mowing very tall grass that i'd like to blow out a bit farther.

 

[maddog69]

Took it off first thing....no trouble as I have no neighbors

 

[Mowbizz]

Mowed with it most of the summer but it needed to go when I built my garage because where I have to drive the tractor on one side of the garage was narrow so instead of trying to thread the needle with the guard in place, I took it off...grass flies out of the mower a LOT better now and no catching the guard on anything any more...also took off the pulley guards on top of the deck...they just gathered clippings under them anyway...oh yeah...also no neighbors and I don't mow near the road. Anyone want to buy some guards? :laughing:

 

[RaydaKub]

...also took off the pulley guards on top of the deck...they just gathered clippings under them anyway...

I bet the grass still accumulates around the pulleys with the guards off. I bet they designed and put them on the mower for a very good reason though.

 

[moriboy]

I'm just going to cut mine back about 4 or 5 inches...

 

[Mowbizz]

I bet the grass still accumulates around the pulleys with the guards off. I bet they designed and put them on the mower for a very good reason though.

Yes, some grass still accumulates there but at least I can SEE it and when the mower is off , I can clear the clippings with a lot less effort than undoing the guards every time...I imagine the purpose of the guards is to keep "loose things" whatever they may be, off of the spinning pulleys so nothing gets sucked into the spindles.

 

[dodge man]

Yes, some grass still accumulates there but at least I can SEE it and when the mower is off , I can clear the clippings with a lot less effort than undoing the guards every time...I imagine the purpose of the guards is to keep "loose things" whatever they may be, off of the spinning pulleys so nothing gets sucked into the spindles.

Yes, like your fingers.

 

[RaydaKub]

Yes, like your fingers.

I was gonna say "feet" just because of the proximity, but I like your answer better.

 

[oldballs]

Sometimes when I mow some overgrown fields of the neighbors, I tie it up. But on a windy dry day, the debris blows in my face and all over the machine. Generally I mow with the chute guard down. It is flexible enough that it bends when close to a tree stump. One time, mowing along an embankment, a hunk of tree root was shot 60 feet thru the storm window of my house, even with the chute down.

 

[xtruckerbob]

I have the guard still on our BX 2670 and after 31 years the guard is still on the old G3200 as well as the covers for the pulleys which I still use weekly to mow the area you would not want to put a new mower. I have a rope and raise the guard in tall grass only to keep it from balling up and only when I mow away from the house and road. I hate the way the guard windrows the tall grass. We also have a Komander ZTR series has a much better guard which lay the grass out much better. Wished the BX had it.

 

[sandyc]

I took the spring off and use a bunji (sp?) cord to keep it up when I mow in the fields. Other than that I keep the chute down to avoid damage to cars/people/things.

 

[radioman]

I use a bungie cord to hold it up. When kids are outside or Im near the road. I let it down. simple as that. I used to leave it down all the time, but the tall grass clumps up too much and I keep hitting things with plastic chute. I really dont want to buy a new one just becuase I hit something the wrong way and i cant use it anymore till new one comes in - so bungee cord it is.