“Better” blades for JD Lawn tractor?

Until I round up a couple free mowers to get the #discomower operational, I’ll be cutting roughly 15 acres of hay/weeds with our JD lawn tractor. I’ve got 20-30 hours of hard use on it, and it’s due for a blade sharpening. 

But I’m wondering if there’s a “better than stock” option for blades that I could slap on while the stock ones are being sharpened. Any thoughts?

I think they are called gator blades, have some extra lift to them. My mower came with them, i wanted a 2nd set to do what your doing, extras to use while sharpening other set. The difference between the gator blades and the cheaper normal replacements i bought was stupid. The better blades are very much worth it. 

These, or some like it. http://en.oregonproducts.com/pro/products/oep/G6.htm

poopshovel again said:

I’ll be cutting roughly 15 acres of hay/weeds with our JD lawn tractor.

Holy cow, that's a lot of grass.  Any chance it can be turned into something that doesn't need mowing?

stuart in mn said:

poopshovel again said:

I’ll be cutting roughly 15 acres of hay/weeds with our JD lawn tractor.

 

Holy cow, that's a lot of grass.  Any chance it can be turned into something that doesn't need mowing?

 

Yeah. The status quo is homeboy comes and collects the hay 1-2 times a year, but all that hay is kinda berkeleying up the frisbee golf course. When we move there full time, we’ll likely have cattle, goats, marsupials, etc. In the meantime, I just need to cut the E36 M3 before it gets unmanageable.

In reply to TJL :

Cool. Thanks!

Gator blades. 

TJL said:

These, or some like it. http://en.oregonproducts.com/pro/products/oep/G6.htm

I may try some of those.  The blades on my little JD tractor must be made out of butter.  They don't hold an edge very long, and they have a few nicks in them.  I swear I never mow over anything harder than twigs.

I bought my dad a pair of Gator blades at the beginning of last mowing season. He has a 42" Craftsman rider that he uses to mow the 330'x75' back yard. The yard has two pine trees that drop a ton of cones, needles and small branches. The Gator blades are about 3 times thicker than normal mower blades. They are super heavy so you gotta be cognizant when engaging the blades; give them time to get all that mass moving. Once they are up to speed, they chew through anything though. It's pretty damn impressive. They also handle long, wet grass really well too.

So, “Gator Blades” FTW. But they have “G3, G5, and G6” models. Any thoughts there?

In reply to poopshovel again :

When I bought them, I got the "G3" model. I didn't know that they have different models and I have no idea what the differences are. Sorry.

Is there a better way to sharpen blades than clamping them to a workbench and using an angle grinder?  I'm confused by this part, "while the stock ones are being sharpened".

bigeyedfish said:

Is there a better way to sharpen blades than clamping them to a workbench and using an angle grinder?  I'm confused by this part, "while the stock ones are being sharpened".

I just give them a pass on a bench grinder and call it a day. 

they see so much material to cut that the advantage of putting a nice finished edge on it would last about half a cut I think. 

In reply to bigeyedfish :

Hour and a half round trip to AMP where 90% of my tools now live, or 5 minute ride to the guy that does small engine repair/blade sharpening.

bigeyedfish said:

Is there a better way to sharpen blades than clamping them to a workbench and using an angle grinder?  I'm confused by this part, "while the stock ones are being sharpened".

Well technically you are supposed to make sure they are balanced after sharpening them too but who does that!