Bagger has too much “blow by”

[Ron Parente]

Just got a new CC Lt46 lawn tractor with CC bagger, mainly to pick up leaves. I got two surprises: first it handles heavy accumulations of leaves much better than my old JD rug did, but second it throws so much more out the front of the mower deck before it even had a chance of being sucked up into the bagger. I’m looking for any way to minimize this, such as putting a brush sweep like those used on doors across the front of the mower. Are there other (better) solutions anyone has tried with success?

thanks.mRon

 

[spndncash]

check the chute for obstructions. did you buy it from a dealer of from a big box store? if you bought it from the big box store you should read the tractor manual and the bagger manual and make sure it was set up correctly. deck "leveling" is where I would start - I would expect a brush in front to act like a broom accumulating leaves in front of the deck and not allowing them to enter the deck

 

[Ron Parente]

check the chute for obstructions. did you buy it from a dealer of from a big box store? if you bought it from the big box store you should read the tractor manual and the bagger manual and make sure it was set up correctly. deck "leveling" is where I would start - I would expect a brush in front to act like a broom accumulating leaves in front of the deck and not allowing them to enter the deck

 

[Ron Parente]

Got it from a dealer. The blade tips are approximately 1/4” below top deck bottom. Leveling is okay. Chute is actually much less likely to clog than my old one.

I’m only considering about a 1” brush rather than something that extends all the way to the ground. Only want to reduce the opening a bit for exactly the reason you suggested. I don’t expect to pick up everything but right now it looks like less than 50% goes up the chute.

 

[kmcconaughey]

One thing to check is if the exhaust is blowing the leaves at all. If so you may want to add an elbow to the exhaust outlet to aim the exhaust up or more to the side. Just don't use anything overly restrictive as an elbow/deflector. A gradual swept style 45° elbow rather than a sharp turn 90° elbow for example.

 

[spndncash]

I guess one other thought. I had (sold about a month ago) an ariens 1742. it had a timed deck and an optional bagger. the bagger system required the high lift blades which created a lot more air flow - neither the mower nor the bagger came with the high lift blades. I had to buy those separate.

 

[Ron Parente]

Thanks for all the good ideas. I’ll check them out tomorrow. I don’t think it’s engine exhaust since I can see leaves escaping pretty much all across the front of the mower deck. The high lift blades are a good bet.

 

[jstich]

Have you considered just running over the leaves a second time?

 

[Ron Parente]

I wish two passes would do it, but even though it picks up well without clogging when there is a thick accumulation of leaves, the less there are the more likely they will not be picked up, not even after 4 passes! I still need to find out if I have the high lift blades or not. Maybe that will help.