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.