Mowing New Oregon Gator Mulching Blades Scraping Deck

jerkyboy · May 21, 2017

So I just got a set of Oregon Gator mulching blades to replace my worn out Kubota blades. I bought them for my 48" BX1500 deck because I read a lot of good reviews. They are much more beefy than the OEM units and appear to be of good quality. I was psyched to test them out today but as soon as I engaged the mowing deck I could hear a very slight rubbing of the deck. As soon as I started mowing and hit any uneven ground, the scraping was more pronounced. Major bummer

Anyone else have a similar or better experience? Hopefully I can return them for a refund...and just in case anyone is questioning, I definitely installed them correctly.

tjkubota93 · May 21, 2017

I put some on mine (bx 1860 48")and had no trouble. They were not the part # for my tractor, Oregon didn't make one for it. I did it off measurements.

Unless you have a fine cut deck, I don't recall that Oregon makes a blade for your tractor.

jerkyboy · May 21, 2017

Deck is a RCK48-15BX...x-ref'd part on Oregon's site and ordered three 391-617s per spec.

Gem99ultra · May 24, 2017

jerkyboy said:
So I just got a set of Oregon Gator mulching blades to replace my worn out Kubota blades. I bought them for my 48" BX1500 deck because I read a lot of good reviews. They are much more beefy than the OEM units and appear to be of good quality. I was psyched to test them out today but as soon as I engaged the mowing deck I could hear a very slight rubbing of the deck. As soon as I started mowing and hit any uneven ground, the scraping was more pronounced. Major bummer Anyone else have a similar or better experience? Hopefully I can return them for a refund...and just in case anyone is questioning, I definitely installed them correctly.

Perhaps your spindles are worn allowing the blades to wobble? The blades sound great - I'd be inclined to pursue the problem before giving up on the blades. Besides, if you have worn spindles you'll probably be replacing those in the near future anyway.

RickB · May 24, 2017

Maybe your deck shell is bent.

kenr74 · May 24, 2017

Do you see scraping? I know they make some noise compared to a flat blade but the teeth shouldn't make them tall enough to rub on the deck.

I would look at spindles being loose. As thick as they are I wouldn't expect the blades to be flexing much.

tjkubota93 · May 24, 2017

RickB said:
Maybe your deck shell is bent.

Mine was, and my tractor is fairly new. I happened to notice it while changing blades and beat it back straight.

2458n · May 24, 2017

How about a fender washer to move them down a bit.

jerkyboy · May 28, 2017

One of the blades was scraping the deck a tiny bit...ground it down about a 32nd and working like a champ now. Thanks for the input.

RjCorazza · May 30, 2017

Glad you're set... Late in seeing this post, but I had a similar experience with my zd326 and Gator Blades several seasons ago. They were just barely nicking the deck and I just let it go. I recall it them "wearing in" after a few minutes, then a couple of deck flexes later stopped altogether. You are going to like these blades!