I run two Scag mowers, a Turf Tiger and a Cheetah. I agree that they are beasts. One is 16 years old and the other about 10 years. Knock-on-wood, over the years all I've done for maintenance is engine oil changes, hydro oil changes, gear oil changes, grease appropriately, sharpen blades, changed out one blade belt and add gas. Finish mow around 6 acres. Last I knew, Scag offered 5 different styles of blades for all different cutting conditions which includes a mulching set that requires a block-off plate for the discharge chute. Our Turf Tiger has the conventional deck and the Cheetah has the Velocity deck. IMHO, the Velocity deck is a great improvement over the conventional deck for better grass discharge and less clumping in damp conditions and high grass mowing. I run a standard set of blades on the Velocity deck and high-lift blades on the Turf Tiger. Scag's high-lift blades are designed for wet conditions. However, I have found that in higher grass they have less tendency to clump on the conventional deck then standard blades. One thing that you want to check is the baffles on the deck. If they aren't set right for your mowing conditions, performance will suffer and you will probably be covered with grass clippings if you can mow at decent ground travel speed. First Scag that I bought, dealer had a new setup guy. I had run Scags before and never had a problem with clumping (in proper cutting conditions) and being covered with grass clippings. Looked in the manual and realized that the baffles weren't installed correctly.
I have had really good luck running standard Scag blades on our Velocity deck. What I did was talk to my local Scag dealer about blade selection. He recommended the high-lift blades for the conventional deck. If you have a decent size Scag dealer locally, it might be worth stopping there and talking to them about your blade selection. Also, Scag mowers are pretty popular around here. I usually see landscape services filling up their trailered Scags at local gas stations. Sometimes I strike up a conversation with the operators. They are a pretty good source of information, also.
