Grass chute upgrade

[sumpnfishy]

Has anyone come up with better grass chutes for their mower? I've had my Kommander Z121s for a couple of years now and the chute keeps getting torn up. I keep patching it with other pieces of hard plastic but it only lasts a few mows. I've seen sturdy types on other mowers made of thick rubber so I know there are better designs out there. I don't want to just buy another from the dealer to have it get torn up too. If I take it completely off I get more facefulls of grass on windy days. Looking for either DIY or aftermarket that doesn't cost a lot of $$$. Any suggestions welcome.
Thanks!
Dennis

 

[lugbolt]

Nothing that I know of. I primarily work with L&G stuff and the dealer sells about a hundred or so Kommanders a year. Sell about 3 chutes a year. It doesn't take very long for most owners to figure out how to avoid tearing things up once they figure out the cost and probably more importantly the inconvenience of having to replace it. That spring is the hardest part.

Another option may be a mulching kit. Install the kit and that gives you the option of removing the chute altogether. BUT with mulching, you'll have to stay on top of your blades (they need to be SHARP...not just halfway sharp either, the tips need to be square and not rounded), you may not be able to cut quite as much grass in one pass, and it certainly can't mulch very well when it's damp or wet. Must be dry. Lots of folks here buy into the mulching idea and it works awesome if the conditions are right, but if it's wet or the blades get a little worn, mulching is not a good option.

There is the advanced chute system; replaces the plastic chute with a metal guard that can be flipped up for regular side discharge, down for "mulching" (although that doesn't work very well), or halfway between. I don't care for it myself, not for what it costs and how it fits the Kommander 48" and 54" decks.

 

[Jpatrick]

I definitely also recommend the mulch option. I've been getting away with 1 sharpening per season, but that's pushing it. I'd never go back to a chute.

 

[Kubota Newbie]

So on my old cadet one of the best things I ever did to the deck (chute was part of the deck shell) was cut the chute off. No...I didn't just leave it off, I welded a hinge on it so I could flip it up for additional clearance or where I wanted it to spread tall clippings better. You already have the hinge arrangement. Just take the spring out so you can flip the chute up out of the way when needed. You could even install a small eye bolt and a tether or lanyard that you could reach from the seat.
On the cadet I had to install a stop bolt so it didn't flip too far back over toward the tractor.