Deere says it is 63" without the bagger, but with the deflector down. I suspect the size with a PowerFlow bagger is slightly more. If you have a 5' opening it won't fit. If it is 6', it might just fit. I generally remove the PF head. It takes about a min to remove or replace it and is not too heavy.

 

The PowerFlow blower sticks out quite far from the side of the deck. The bagger also doesn't sit in the center of the tractor. It's offset to meet up with the discharge tube, so it also hangs off the right side, although not as far as the PowerFlow unit.

Here are a couple of pictures I was able to find on the Internet (on this page under the MCS accessories). It looks like the 2021 100-series/200-series bagger unit with the X300-series PowerFlow blower. Just eyeballing it from the picture, I'd agree that 5 feet is probably too tight but 6 feet should be OK.

 

Thanks Frogmore and Green Machine. My shed opening is 5 foot. I cut about an acre, the extra width is a time saver. I’ll investigate the ease of removal of bagger head to store in shed. I’ll try to find a dealer, not many left near me, Deere is sold mostly in Home Depot and Lowe’s (in the north of Boston area) and the bagger is an accessory not on display.

 

If anybody has that PowerFlow blower, maybe they can measure how far it hangs off the side of the deck. Should be the same one that's used with an X300-series and a 48" deck. That appears to be the widest part of the system. It's hard to tell from those pics whether or not the bagger would stick out past the end of the deck if the PF blower wasn't there. A 48" deck is about 52" across not counting the plastic deflector.

Cutting an acre, you'll be emptying those bags multiple times in one mowing session. If you have a place where you can just back up the tractor and dump the clippings, they make a version of the rear material collection system that has a simple drop chute instead of bags. That same Web site claims it fits on an S240.

 

Love the idea of drop chute and I can drive in drop. If anyone has the measurements of power blower I’d sure appreciate the info

 

It's not going to fit with a 5 foot opening. I have a 6 foot opening. I can fit my X534 with 48X deck and the double bag stuff, but with the head and chute removed. It might fit the power head too, but it would be right at the limit and no room for being off at all.

I have found removing the tube is easy. Once that is off, lower the deck, release the belt tension lever, lift the cover and the belt comes off easily, rotate the power head away from the deck, lift up the power head, put it away, lift up the z-bar, put it away.

Takes almost longer to write it, than to do it.

 

I will say that the bagger is big and makes the machine much less maneuverable. I only use it for leaves. It also fills up quickly. With leaves there is a fair amount of blowout.

I suppose it depends on your lawn, but I would suggest mulching. I do that with my 21" mower. It came set up that way. I tried it and didn't hate it, so left it that way. The rest of the property I just side discharge and find that works for me. Your needs/desires might be different. But, the bags do fill up quickly. The big dumping MCS is heavy. You will need front weight for that. You also can't easily tell when it is full, so you will overfill it and possibly clog it, which is fun to fix. With the bags, I get into the habit of feeling them to tell how full they are. It is much better to empty them before even one bag is full.

 

This past year I used TerraKing leaf bag for the heavy leaf deposits. Using the bag, you remove mower bags, slip TerraKing over the frame of the mower leaf catcher, secure with the ties and start mowing. Great for leaves, not grass clippings. Wonder if it will work with Deere 42”

 

Mulching does slow things down a bit. You either need to slow your ground speed, or you need to overlap your passes a greater amount. This gives the blades time to finely chop up and process the clippings.

For the last three years, I have been experimenting with different methods of collecting leaves. We have about 50 very mature trees (Willow, oak, maple, box elder, hackberry, and a black walnut). I have figured out a “poor man’s” cyclone rake method. I have an LA135 with the 42” Edge deck. Last year, I installed high lift blades instead of the mulching blades. I removed the mulching kit for the fall. I used a combination of side discharge AND bagging (it has the two bag attachment). So, I start on the outside, with the discharge pointed toward the inside of the yard. I mow in a clockwise pattern, spiraling toward the center. I just keep discharging toward the center, until there are just to many leaves to process. By this point, most of the leaves have been processed 3-4 times, and are generally quite fine. At that point, I shut off the blades and install the chute, and bag until the bags are full. They are VERY NOTICEABLY heavier using this method, indicating that I am picking up more material for a given distance. Once I have picked up the very finely chopped material (usually two passes), I stop the baldes and pull the chute back off, and go back to discharging until there is too much material again. Repeat this until yard is done!

The year before, I only used the bagger. It took me a total of 12 hours over 1.5 days to bag my yard. Using the method above, I cut that down to about five hours, and had much finer material collected. I will be using that method from now on.

I like the idea of a Cyclone Rake, but I would only really need it a few weeks per year, so it’s a lot of money, and I would need a place to store it. My method above seems like a good compromise.

 

I don have anything close to the number of trees, especially after an outbreak of Gypsy moth 2 years ago which killed eight large oaks on my neighbors property (leaves fall in my yard). When I have large gatherings of leaves, I either rake them on to a tarp and lug to the edge of the property or recently last year use the Terraking bag. you can let it drag on ground or attach a trailer and lay it in top. Just empty before full unless you are very strong, bag easily weights 150 pound if full.

 

Today I ordered the X350 42” mower. Frustrating morning of cutting (and stopping) the lawn….did it for my mental health. Thanks for advice on engine and size!

 

Congrats on the purchase! I'm sure you will be pleased.

 

Congrats!
The 42" doesn't require the PowerFlow unit for bagging; instead you use a simple tube from the discharge.

 

Congrats on the new tractor!

We don't have a forest like some people. But I get away with just mulching my leaves each week. Which is how I mow anyhow. The mulching kit for my machine (with baffles) was a lot cheaper than the bagger, and does a nice job.

I've done it this way with multiple tractors, it's worked nicely for our leaves situation. No matter how nice the bagger, it's still likely slower than just mulching, IMO.

I recognize this won't work for everyone, of course. But it might be worth trying.

 

Congrats on the new tractor!

We don't have a forest like some people. But I get away with just mulching my leaves each week. Which is how I mow anyhow. The mulching kit for my machine (with baffles) was a lot cheaper than the bagger, and does a nice job.

I've done it this way with multiple tractors, it's worked nicely for our leaves situation. No matter how nice the bagger, it's still likely slower than just mulching, IMO.

I recognize this won't work for everyone, of course. But it might be worth trying.

I absolutely understand that. I don't discharge or bag for the whole season. By the end of this month, I will have the mulch kit re-installed, and then I will be mulching until late September. The mulch kit will easily handle the handfuls of leaves that fall throughout the summer, and the slowed growth of the grass during summer months helps, too. The first year I was in this house, I did try to mulch the fall leaves, and it was a disastrous mess. The chopped up leaves left a very heavy layer that rendered the grass invisible. It was like someone laid a leaf colored tarp over the grass!

 

On my older machine with 42"C Edge deck, there are two mulching options; 1 is the little mulch plug that came with the deck. It is basically just a cover that goes over the discharge exit on the right side of the deck, and is held on with two rubber straps. 2 is the kit I have (which was left by the previous owner of the machine), and is a plug and baffle assembly that installs under the deck. It supposedly helps redirect clippings for maximum mulch effect. I have not used the regular mulch plug cover, so I have no comparison first hand, but this kit does seem to work pretty well:

Everything on my deck is manual, there is no mulch control or anything like that. Your deck might be (and probably is) a better design than mine and may give very satisfactory results without any other accessories. I would try it and see how you like it before making any other purchases.