DIY Chute Blocker for ZD326?

[Suburban Plowboy]

I have enjoyed using my side discharge as the world's greatest leaf blower, but I am tired of having it shoot junk out all the time. It necessitates a lot of turns to avoid showering the house with debris, for example.

I started looking for factory chute blockers, and it looks like either they don't fit, they have to be substantially modified, or people who have used them say they're junk. And the cheapest one I've seen that isn't a Chinese mystery product costs $260.

The prices seem asinine to me, especially since people say a lot of these products aren't very good. It's $20 worth of steel plate, a couple of welds, and some cheap hardware.

If I have to modify it myself, the high price seems even more ridiculous.

Has anyone here made a chute blocker for a big zero-turn? I'm planning to do it. I would be happy to blow $150 on a factory model, which is more than they should cost, but there don't seem to be any out there.

Looks like a half-day project, apart from letting paint dry.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

The web is full of guys who have made their own chute blockers. Here's a great one a guy made in his garage with minimal tooling. Looks like it came from a factory.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

Here is one for a BX.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

Okay; so no one cares about my idea. When did that ever stop me?

I went out and took a look at my deck. It appears I already have most of the materials I need. I have a sheet of 10-gauge steel, which is most of it, and I have some 1/4" steel I can cut the hinge parts out of pretty easily.

Now I'm trying to figure out whether this flap needs a spring.

If I don't have something to prevent the flap from, well, flapping, it will flap. I see other people using springs. It looks like might be a pain finding exactly the right spring. Also, if I use a spring, I'll have to use a shaft that runs from one end of the flap to the other, because the type of spring that will work has to be long, with the axis parallel to the mower's path. It will have to wrap around the shaft.

What if I use a magnet? A magnet should prevent flapping without forcing me to choose a spring and fiddle with it to get the right tension.

I don't know if it will work, but it sounds good. I'm going to check McMaster-Carr for springs anyway.

I'll need a way to lift the flap. Some people use cords, but that seems a little ghetto to me. Maybe I can rig up a cable like a bicycle brake cable and put the lever on my right-hand motion control lever.

This looks really simple, which makes me wonder why manufacturers are making such bad products and charging so much.

 

[Bentrim]

https://www.mowersatjacks.com/accessorieslist/brand/advanced-chute-system/zero-turn-accessory-type/discharge-chute-blockers

Each different model fits only certain machines click each model to check. Still high priced but may be cheaper than cobbling up something that may or may not work.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

I checked into those. There are a tiny handful of brands, so I checked them all. Ballard's doesn't make one that fits my mower, and people say they're junk anyway.

The DIY jobs are actually just fine. Many are better than the flimsy factory products.

It's not rocket science. A flap, a hinge, a spring, and means of opening and closing the flap.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

I learned something new. It's easy to make an electric chute blocker.

People are using electric window motors for this purpose. You create a simple two-part linkage to connect the motor's shaft to the flap, and you wire the switch to your ignition. The starter isn't going to be running at the same time as the flap motor, so it shouldn't cause a problem.

This is pretty cool, because it avoids most of the fabrication involved in a mechanical system, and you can put the switch anywhere you want.

Modern window motors don't need limit switches because they stop when they hit resistance. The only possible issue is speed, but that can be adjusted with cheap parts.

I have seen people complaining because electric flaps don't close tightly. The play in the motors allows them to hang loose, allowing crud to escape. This can be addressed with a couple of magnets.

It's pretty neat.

I don't understand why chute blocker manufacturers are charging up to $400 for contraptions that could be sold profitably for $100. They are stimulating a lot of backyard inventors to make better products for nothing or nearly nothing. If there were a good factory kit for a pre-2010 ZD326, and it sold for under $150, I would buy it, but no such kit exists.

Here is a video of a very nice electric DIY blocker.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

A chute blocker company has admitted defeat and started selling electric blockers with window motors.

 

[Richard001]

I learned something new. It's easy to make an electric chute blocker.

People are using electric window motors for this purpose. You create a simple two-part linkage to connect the motor's shaft to the flap, and you wire the switch to your ignition. The starter isn't going to be running at the same time as the flap motor, so it shouldn't cause a problem.

This is pretty cool, because it avoids most of the fabrication involved in a mechanical system, and you can put the switch anywhere you want.

Modern window motors don't need limit switches because they stop when they hit resistance. The only possible issue is speed, but that can be adjusted with cheap parts.

I have seen people complaining because electric flaps don't close tightly. The play in the motors allows them to hang loose, allowing crud to escape. This can be addressed with a couple of magnets.

It's pretty neat.

I don't understand why chute blocker manufacturers are charging up to $400 for contraptions that could be sold profitably for $100. They are stimulating a lot of backyard inventors to make better products for nothing or nearly nothing. If there were a good factory kit for a pre-2010 ZD326, and it sold for under $150, I would buy it, but no such kit exists.

Here is a video of a very nice electric DIY blocker.

It would have been better if he had shown how he connected the lever to the window motor.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

The comments say he used a tack weld.