Mine's off because I have the mulch kit installed. It was more than a bit annoying not being able to get on/off from the right, plus it was hard to see the edge of the deck when trimming on the right side.

 

Ditto. IF I were to remove the mulch kit (fat chance), I would reinstall the discharge chute.

 

mg: :lalala: :hide: no comment :sidelaugh

 

I have an unused one for an '08 x360 if anyone is needing one. :thThumbsU

 

Ditto for a '09 x320...

 

With a mulch kit I understand. All others...a stupid thing to do. I saw a video of a "thrown object test" once where they throw nails under a mower deck...not pretty.

 

Who would let someone close enough to their mower deck to toss nails under it? That's no "test". Flapper or no, stuff is going to come out of there if you hit it just right and that goes for every mower I've ever run since 1954. I think the JD design flapper for the 48C was nothing more than a way to get the clippings to lay out more even. No clumping.

Yes, I have mine on for lawn mowing, but not when not mowing towards the bushes down along the road. Then it's up on the auto latching/unlatching bungee locker. Once that machine comes off the trailer at your place it's your call and nobody else's whether the flapper disappears or hangs there.

 

I got a couple floating around under the shop bench if you need one..

:lalala::lalala::lalala::lalala:

 

on my commercial mower there is none and it spreads the grass better, but i did throw a stick through the siding once. scared the crap out of me. it was only three feet away from the mower. I find the flaps should be on a cable from the dash. that way it goes down for saftey, and up to throw the grass evenly across the yard.

 

I also use the auto latching/unlatching bungee locker:trink40: instead of taking it off. slkpk

 

Well I like the idea of them, and use it whenever possable. they can be a real PITA though!! But they do cut down on things being flung far. The JD Im using now I rigged this up.. Kinda the best of bolth worlds.. Its down most of the time, but easy to lift when mowing near stuff.

 

I did the exact same thing....great minds think alike lol. I just wanted to cut closer to the right edge when cutting along my rail fence towards the ditch. So this permits me to lift the flap, and get in nice and close. They should make this available to all lawn tractors.

 

My new tractor had one that stuck out over 12 inches...
I took it off and put on chains like the highway tractors...
That dint work out so good.
So I made a short one out of diamond plate and its working great.

 

none of the mower decks that I have, have them.... They are all older than me and I bought them used of course... PO took it off.


I just let every on know that there is absolutely no approaching me from my right side unless I shut the tractor down. I also made it clear if you want my attention, wave your arms... Don't come near me until the deck is disengaged and I have acknowledged you.

 

Excellent rules!!!

 

I drilled a little hole in the flap on my murray so I can hook a bungee to it. the 50" on my MTD doesnt have one and doesnt need one.

 

I have been wanting to do that for 4 years. I need to raise it to get through my gate. I came up with the idea to do that, just never did it. I guess my idea was not original. It will be done for Saturdays mow.

 

I've had mine off on previous tractors before and the only thing that bugs me is that we live out in the country and cutting on a windy day. I end up with more grass on me than on the ground. So I just leave it on. My dad was driving down the road one day and the idiot neighbour was cutting grass beside the road discharging it on the road. Well at the time my dad went by he launched a stone and just about went right thru the door of the car. He was all upset that dad made him pay for the body work. Why can't these knucle heads use some common sense and blow it away from the roads.

 

Tally up another bungee cord, as has been the case on all my machines...

 

My flap would actually flip up and under my running board. When we were developing our land I mowed with it up as it lays the grass out a lot nicer. I have seen it SHOOT stuff 150' including rocks. We are on an acreage and we dont have houses withing "shooting" distance but now that our house is here I mow with it in the normal position because the biggest single expense on our new house was the check we wrote for the Marvin Windows !

Not ready to shoot a rock through them yet

 

The 2 decks I have do not have a flap on either one. They have never had one. One is from 1969 and the other is from 1970. They are both Bolens decks.
Dave

 

Mower deck flaps or what ever you may call them probably resulted from what happen in a southern part of Kansas City back in early 1970. On this day in mid May 1970, a man went out to get his newspaper, a neighbor saw the man collapse to the ground. The neighbor rushed across the street to help the man. He was dead when the ambulance came. During the autopsy they found a 4" nail in his heart. After some investigating, a neighbor four houses down the street was mowing his yard at the time. They determine the mower picked up the nail and shot it four hundred feet into the man's heart.

 

They determine the mower picked up the nail and shot it four hundred feet into the man's heart.

What are the odd's ?

Best they could not do that again if they tried !

 

I too run the bungee cord flap ajustment. UP to spread out the clippings if the grass is short and I'm going to leave the clippings lay and DOWN whenever I need to use my lawn sweeper for picking up the cllippings since the flap makes a nice windrow.

 

I remember hearing a story a few years ago about a highway department mowing tractor working the interstate and a blade came off. Went through a minivan and killed at least two. Not an urban legend. I heard it myself on the local news station. Hard to say if the plastic discharge would stop a blade that came loose but I figure it is there for a reason. That is one safety device I don't mess with.

 

I won't mow without the deflectors, and thank God my neighbor has the sence to use them too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_jD4775jNA

 

I do some mowing with the deflector up and thank God I don't have any neighbors.

 

I remove the cover on my old GT after it got torn. Prior to that I had a string tied to the cover. One end at the far end of the cover. The other to the tractor near the steering wheel. I was able to pull the string to lift the cover to get through tight spaces and whenever the cover would be in risk of being damaged while moving. From my opening sentence you can tell I forgot to lift it once.

 

This is what I'm talking about... It works just as good as the long rubber one but it dont get in my way....

 

I don't have any tight spots, so now issue there. All mine still have the factory shield in place.
The T-15 I picked up this last fall didn't have one, so I used a chunk of feed conveyor belt to make one. Works great. Left it long, so it droops slightly at the edge. That slows down the rocks or sticks or whatever. But it still rides above the ground, so I'm not leaving a grass windrow. :fing32:

Same thing they use on new ZTR's, and I can get too close to stuff and not hurt the chute or the tree. :trink40:

 

My dad took them off every JD listed below ( old farm land sprays it out more even, with no one around) BUT with my new Gators I can leave it on because there is little or no clipping to spread !!!!!!!!
Colony- BTW my X520 used to look like that but I mowed wet with the Gators and virtually no mess, no clumps no more crap in the tires,( used to wrap around the tire and spin off later) but some Mowhawking ( fair trade to me) Hey it was 9 to 12 inches tall

 

Looks like I'm in the minority but I leave mine on. I don't care how good my kids (all under 6 years old) know the rules about how to approach me on the tractor, one of them is bound to have a stupid moment like all kids and come up on the wrong side. I also had the misfortune of shooting a rock through the back window on my parents truck 25 years ago when I was mowing the lawn with the old 111 that had a busted flap.I learned my lesson. I got a refresher back in 96 operating a Kershaw Klearway with the front mower attachment. We used it for clearing right of ways for utility companies in the area. I had a blade break on a stump, shoot into and out of the right front tire that was ballasted, and impale itself in a tree about 50 yards away. The foreman didn't believe me until he saw it.The picture below is the same model but not the actual machine I operated, just so you get the idea.

While this is a lot bigger machine then what we all use in our yards, it's a good reminder of how dangerous spinning blades can be.