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Today I want to talk about the mulch kit on the zero turn lawn mowers. I’ll show you my experiences using my Hustler Raptor SD, 60-in tractor. I recently published a video on the bagging system for this mower and in the end returned it because it is not made for collecting large quantities of grass that this 60-in wide mower can produce. As an alternative, I picked up the mulch kit.
You may have seen in my last video, I originally had the bagger system installed on this mower. It worked great with short dry grass, but when cutting grass over an inch long, the system struggled and I spent more time cleaning out chute clogs than mowing. When I checked in with the manufacture, they said the bagger is not meant for residential use on the 60-in deck because it cannot handle the huge amount of clippings. It’s mainly used for very frequently mowed lawns, like golf courses. I swapped out the bagger for the mulcher, and I’m super excited to try it out. Here are my expectations when cutting my lawn weekly:
1. I should be able to mow at full speed with no issues. No over loaded deck and little to no grass clippings behind.
2. I don’t expect to be able to mow at full speed in deeper grass. I’m hoping for maybe half speed and again, little to no clippings. I don’t mind mowing the areas that grow faster more frequently for that clean lawn look with no dead clippings around.
Next let’s look at a quick time-lapse of the kit getting installed. Each blade area has its own divider with only a little gap under a small section of the divider.
Ok, let’s start our first mowing test. We’re going to cut off about 1-3 inches of grass and 3 deck heights.
We take this test up a notch and have some fun but lowering the deck to its lowest setting and see how it performs.
Next, we’ll test how the mulcher performs with various grass lengths using a constant deck height. I get the best airflow and cuts at this level here, but we’ll test it across different grass heights.
Starting off, I’m going to drive at full speed through this grass.
As you can see, cutting this long grass at full speed doesn’t allow the mulcher time to properly cut the grass.
Let’s try cutting the same grass length again, but at a quarter the speed.
If the deck does get overloaded in a fast growing area, I will press the lever to raise the deck, to release some of the mulch and even hold the lever so I’m not cutting as much is that spot.
Now it’s time for the maneuverability test. Here, we’ll compare the mulcher’s ability to perform in a various degrees of turns, side to side, in reverse and stopping.
Our next couple of tests bring us into the fall of the year.
First, we are going to hit some dried leaves. A little mulch did escape from under the deck but for the most part, the mulcher just destroys these. Looking back, it did a perfect job.
Now, we’ll see if the mulcher can get rid of these dead sunflowers. I’ll set this in fast forward, and again, another amazing job. I had to hit them a couple times because they worked their way into the grass, but once the mulcher got a hold of them, they just disappeared. I couldn’t be happier.
I hope that you found this information helpful on how my mulcher works on my zero-turn mower. If so, give me a thumbs up and also subscribe to see what else I’m up to on the acreage.
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:35 Recap & Expectations
00:58 Mulch Kit Tour
01:48 Test - Deck Heights
05:27 Test - Grass Heights
07:43 Test - Maneuverability
11:24 Test - Leaves & Sunflowers
12:02 Conclusion