New to me x530 with 54 in deck and have a question

I have bought several tractors with the PowerFlo heads and they are interchangeable between the 54 and the 48-inch decks. You will need the double pulley for your deck and the other small items that come with the PowerFlow system. You may have an issue with the length of the chute though. I do not know if the 530 deck to catcher is longer than the 360.

I would think that the measurements would be off slightly so at the least you would probably need a slightly longer belt. The distance from the pulley that you mount on the deck spindle to drive the power flow unit will be slightly further from the chute opening on the side of the deck. The blades are a little longer than 1/3 of the total cutting width for overlap, so a blade for a 48" deck is a little over 16" long, and on a 54" deck it is a little over 18" long. So the difference in distance from the center of the pulley to the edge of the deck is going to be about half the difference in length between the two blade lengths, or about 1" further on the 54" deck than on the 48" deck.

After spending some time today trying to get the power flow attached I realized it just isn't going to fit. And after speaking with a John Deere Service Tech he advised me of the same thing. The power flow 48 will not match up to the 54 inch Edge Deck. He advised that I need the power flow for the 54 in deck and there really is no other way around it. He advises that the chutes and bagger will work, it's just the power flow unit that will not. They are about $600. new so I guess I'm onto plan B for now. I will keep watch for a used one down the road.
Thanks to all of your comments and assistance. Greatly appreciated.

Bakerman1949 said:

After spending some time today trying to get the power flow attached I realized it just isn't going to fit. And after speaking with a John Deere Service Tech he advised me of the same thing. The power flow 48 will not match up to the 54 inch Edge Deck. He advised that I need the power flow for the 54 in deck and there really is no other way around it. He advises that the chutes and bagger will work, it's just the power flow unit that will not. They are about $600. new so I guess I'm onto plan B for now. I will keep watch for a used one down the road.
Thanks to all of your comments and assistance. Greatly appreciated.

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As long as you are having to look, maybe consider a Cyclone Rake. It will offset the cost of the PowerFlow unit and remove the extra weight on the discharge side of the deck and I feel get a better unit, since it holds a lot more and can dump if you have a ravine or hole you want to fill. I bought a Cyclone Rake that was initially used on a Kubota Zero Turn. I made it fit my Scotts L17.542, 42” deck, then modified it to fit my X738 with 54” deck. I skipped attaching it to the X360, 48” deck, since it had the mulching kit installed. I used it for just mowing. The X738 is used for mowing, leaf pickup, spreading fertilizer/lime, snow blowing, and occasionally use the blade to level leaf piles or gravel on my son’s driveway.

It all depends on what comes up first. A lot of the used PowerFlow units get sold with the tractor or once in a while with a deck.

Bakerman1949 said:

After spending some time today trying to get the power flow attached I realized it just isn't going to fit. And after speaking with a John Deere Service Tech he advised me of the same thing. The power flow 48 will not match up to the 54 inch Edge Deck. He advised that I need the power flow for the 54 in deck and there really is no other way around it. He advises that the chutes and bagger will work, it's just the power flow unit that will not. They are about $600. new so I guess I'm onto plan B for now. I will keep watch for a used one down the road.
Thanks to all of your comments and assistance. Greatly appreciated.

Click to expand...

When you say it isn’t going to fit, what is different other than the belt length? Deck depth would be the other thing I would expect to cause an issue.

RT3360 said:

As long as you are having to look, maybe consider a Cyclone Rake. It will offset the cost of the PowerFlow unit and remove the extra weight on the discharge side of the deck and I feel get a better unit, since it holds a lot more and can dump if you have a ravine or hole you want to fill. I bought a Cyclone Rake that was initially used on a Kubota Zero Turn. I made it fit my Scotts L17.542, 42” deck, then modified it to fit my X738 with 54” deck. I skipped attaching it to the X360, 48” deck, since it had the mulching kit installed. I used it for just mowing. The X738 is used for mowing, leaf pickup, spreading fertilizer/lime, snow blowing, and occasionally use the blade to level leaf piles or gravel on my son’s driveway.

It all depends on what comes up first. A lot of the used PowerFlow units get sold with the tractor or once in a while with a deck.

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Early on I looked at those before I got the Power flow. Problem is I have no place to dump, short of loading everything on my utility trailer and hauling if off to the dump, or I can put the leaves and clippings into garbage cans and let the town pick them up once a week. I have done both, but its always 16 or so garbage cans out to the curb. Gets old in a hurry. A least the power flow grinds them down and I can load them up easier without as many cans if I put them out and less bulk if I haul them away. Doesn't seem like there would be a easy way to unload the cyclone rake and then reload to the utility trailer.
Good though, Thanks

RT3360 said:

When you say it isn’t going to fit, what is different other than the belt length? Deck depth would be the other thing I would expect to cause an issue.

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The housing doesn't go all the way into the deck discharge opening. The small rod that's on the left of the unit is supposed to go into the wheel housing block and its about 3 to 4 inches short of hitting the hole. I even tried taking the grass flap off to see if that would help, but it didn't. Even though the deck is bigger I would guess that the housing for the power flow 54 inch is not as deep. My plan B is when leaf time comes I am just going to mount my deck from the 48" and mount the power flow on that and use the 48 for cleanup. That worked great previous years on my x360 so should be ok on the 530.
Thanks!

Bakerman1949 said:

….. the power flow unit that will not. They are about $600.

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If you look at a parts breakdown, $600 isn't to bad. The housing of mine wore through on the bottom, and I looked into replacing just the housing (after repairing it for several seasons). It was only $150 more to get the entire Powerflow head with turbine, pulleys, belt and mounting bar. It would have cost almost $875 to have bought those separately.

I still have the old one, it still works, just not as efficiently. PM me and I'll send pics to show you the worn parts, if you're interested in it.

Bakerman1949 said:

Early on I looked at those before I got the Power flow. Problem is I have no place to dump, short of loading everything on my utility trailer and hauling if off to the dump, or I can put the leaves and clippings into garbage cans and let the town pick them up once a week. I have done both, but its always 16 or so garbage cans out to the curb. Gets old in a hurry. A least the power flow grinds them down and I can load them up easier without as many cans if I put them out and less bulk if I haul them away. Doesn't seem like there would be a easy way to unload the cyclone rake and then reload to the utility trailer.
Good though, Thanks

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Something I have seen, but can’t remember where, was where a user put boxes inside the lawn-vac. If you had some the right size, maybe you could slide the leaf bag over them, then turn them upside down to empty into the bag. Plastic waste basket would be about the right size. It would be even better if you had a frame to hold the bag upright and just fill them while sitting in the Cyclone Rake. Then just drive to the curb, slide the bags out, and leave them at the curb. Surprisingly, the Cyclone Rake packs material tighter than you can pack leaves in a bag. I understand the hassle. I mow a widow’s trailer park lot with a push mower with a bagger. Always a pain to dump the clippings into a bag. Come Fall it will be an even bigger task and I’ll have to figure out the same issue.

The Cyclone Rake does have a set of hoses, one to suck material out of the unit and one to blow it into a trailer/truck bed, works best if they are enclosed. It’s intended for emptying the unit over a wall. The hose to empty the unit is the same one used for cleaning out window wells, flower beds, etc. it’s called the Estate something or other. I have half of one, 15-20’ long plus a wand I got from a friend that was left over from a trac-vac or something like that after it was damaged when his barn roof calapsed from snow load. It works for what I need.

Fortunately I have a chunk of woods alongside the drive to my detached garage and all across the back of the backyard for me to put leaves. Makes emptying the unit fairly easy with the bigger tractor and picks up leaves a lot faster than it was with the 42” deck. However, the smaller deck did a cleaner job, just not if the leaves got too deep. Then they just started piling up in front of the deck.

My friend has the Z10 Cyclone Rake on his Kubota BX2380 with 54” deck. What a beast. Leaves can never get too deep. He had a huge hole between his two driveways that finally got filled up with leaves. This year he started planting a flower garden in it. He used my Mantis tiller and was blown away with the ease and how good the dirt has become with all the years of mulch.

Just other thoughts that might click for you. Each situation has its limitations as you have already found for your use. Best of luck with your search.