Gravely HD ZT Zero Turn bagging system review. Worth it??? You may be surprised...
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- Опубліковано 10 жов 2021
- Today we're doing a review of the Gravely power bagging system for my Gravely ZT HD 60" mower. Is it worth the price tag?
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Lauren and I bought an abandoned farm in 2020. We're working on cleaning up and clearing out the land to turn it back into a vibrant working homestead/farm in order to produce healthy foods as well as have a little fun along the way!
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Here is the list of equipment we use on our farm:
Tractor: Kioti DK6010SEHST with KL5521 Loader
Box Blade: Ideal BB6SDID
Pallet Forks: HLA Attachments HD4248
Mower: Gravely ZT HD 60" with FR730V Kawasaki engine
Subsoiler: Countyline
Backhoe: Kioti KB2485
Drag Harrow: Loyal ATV 4'x4'
Chainsaw: Stihl MS462
Log Splitter: Champion 27 Ton Log Splitter
DIY Leaf Collection System
Thanks for watching! Any advice and how to fix the issues I'm having? Be sure to subscribe for future farm fun with this link bit.ly/2YWNN7T
I know this is out of date as you moved one with some of the issues. I have the exact same mower and bagger, along with the exact same issues you call out. Figured for reference my resolves here would be helpful.
1. As far as belt chatter, I replaced the spring with a stronger one. Helps a little. Heard of replacing with all thread, but that just creates problems. That belt is like $80 at the dealer so you want to give it some give.
2. Clogging. Mine clogs, but only when the bags are full keep the bags from getting crammed full and no clogging. When mine does clog I can normally reach up under the deck and unclog, and in worse case, remove the hose. Never had to take the actua blower off.
3. Bag size. Yes the bags are small. If I remember 2 cuft each. You can upgrade to 3cuft bags but the dealer warned it might make the mower tippy when the larger bags are full. I have a 15gal sprayer contraption on the front of the mower so it adds extra counterweight besides the weight kit that is included with the blower.
4. Hoses slipping off. The clamps I got with mine where junk. You can get upgrade clamps that look more like a regular hose clamp, just have the find the correct direction of spiral. The upgraded clamps along with roughing the hard black plastic tubes with a wire wheel a little, no more slipping off.
5. Screen loose in the one side, same as mine. Couple of tie wraps and problem solved.
Scalping 6-12" wet grass wouldn't bag with any mower..
thank you for sharing, you just saved me a lot of money becouse i was going to buy two for my company
I’ve been using similar bagging system for about 3 years and only time mine has clogged up at bottom has been when grass was wet. Also helps to mow twice per week at 2.0-2.25”. I’ve had similar issues with bags filling up fast and blow out at the back. Enjoyed the video!
Thanks, Mark! What size is your mower?
Cant wait to pick up my bobcat zero turn and leaf bagger after Christmas. Starting off this fall has been rough but I know it’s going to get better
Hey for the clogging with grass, you just can't mow wet grass I've found. The other thing is is that my impeller gets plugged all the time but I can pop the hose off and just reach my arm down in and kick it out that way or grab it and pull it out from above, but my impeller is a older model that is more vertical. I live in an area with Spanish moss, and the moss will get wrapped around the spindle of the impeller and I have to tear that off to because it starts to choke it down. I actually keep a small paring knife on the mower to reach down into cut the moss off.
Yes I think your screen is defective and they should have to fix it, but you may do as someone else suggested, get some other type mesh to mount over there yourself. It may save you the headache of having to argue with the manufacturer or dealer / retailer.
I bought an Ariens bagger for my Gravely mower probably nine years ago, it cost $1,100 and it has three large bags, not quite as large as yours but THREE of them. I'm glad I can reach in from the top on mine because mine does not come off as easily as yours. There is no lever for loosening the belt, you have to get a screwdriver and wedge it and hope nothing pops loose so you don't get stabbed in the hand. You also have to have a degree from Starfleet Academy to get it back on, and to attach the collecting system on the back. It took me 3 hours to take mine off the first time and I swore that I would never take it off again once I got it back on. I bought a second mower just so I could use one for mowing and one for bagging. A bagger for a mower like that is a pain in the neck, but raking is even worse. And raking won't do a thing for grass clippings, you just have to keep mowing those up until they disappear. I know I could use a mulching blade to "get rid" of clippings and leaves but I mostly use the bagger to collect clippings and leaves for mulch and composting, nothing works better in my opinion. It's worth the fight I think.
Oh and thanks to the gentleman who recommended taking the flutter out of the belt to help with clogging, mine definitely does that and I'm going to look into trying to tighten it up a little bit.
You're right on the wet grass. Anything wet just clogs it real quick! One thing I think I'm noticing is that with the 60" deck it's just a lot of material to try and get through that opening and into the impeller. Seems the best thing to do is either go extremely slow, or go faster and do it twice at different heights. I did took the flutter out of mine as recommended, still clogged, but again was wet leaves. The saga continues!
THANK YOU.... for the review.
Thanks for watching!
Those powered baggers are always beasts for cleaning up some leaves
Hi, Thanks for the review as I enjoy watching others use equipment I own too. I have the HD ZT 48" with the kawasaki F691v/23hp.
I bought mine 6/2020 and opted also for the bagger which I thought was expensive @ $1499.00 but see I actually got a good deal. I was second guessing my purchase of the bagger but after I installed it it's a keeper. I see and can understand your dislikes but have opinions of my own that may give you hope. The window is a good idea but give it up because I had a JD with bagger and window which worked until after the first cut. Between an occasional small stick, acorns and what not the window becomes useless if you know what I mean. At some point it gets scored up to the point it looks like the rest of the bagger. The screen issue I don't have so this points to a DEFECT they need to come clean with. Now the clogging is several fold. Yes the deck is large but you also took an aggressive cut and possibly at too fast a pace for it to work properly but, here's the main kicker. After I installed my bagger I watched the belt system and as I do commend them for the design with ease of removal but it is actually a design flaw. If you observe the belt with covers removed you'll notice way to much belt flutter. I was actually watching the belt sheave at the lever used to remove the belt, moving along with the belt flutter which is basically telling me the belt will have slippage when enough material needs to be passed back to the bagger and the blade will need to do its work. I removed the lever and instead used a short piece of 3/8" threaded rod with four nuts to keep the belt tensioned to the point of ZERO flutter. To remove the blower takes 2 extra minutes using two 1/2" open end wreches and I have a perfectly working bagger. I have never clogged my bagger period. If you want a picture let me know where to send as I have before and after proof.
Thanks for watching! You're right, I looked at my old John Deere bagger with a window and the plastic is pretty clouded over. I'll have to try the 3/8" threaded rod and see how that does. Thanks for the idea! I've stared at that flutter a lot, but didn't think about taking it out. I even talked to the dealer about it and their response was "it is what it is". Hopefully that helps solve my problems!
Is like to see!
I have a Gravely ZT44 HD with the same bagging attachment and my lid screen also blew out on as well. brought the bagger attachment into the dealer to fix the issue and they added more fasteners to secure the screen and it has been good ever since their repair. Do you have a p/n for the larger size bags for this bagger?
I have a "arians apex 60 inch" same thing as a gravley from mu understanding.
Would this be the bagger that goes on mine? They said at the dealership i had one option. If so idk if i want to spend 2000$ thats what they told me to. Just trying to find a nice bagger
If you could combine the Cyclone rake tow behind trailer with the power head on the deck, I think you would have a solid solution.
That would definitely turbo charge the mower. I made a homemade Cyclone type catchment system, just without the extra engine. Works pretty well!
Great video thank you ! Also thinking about bagger for mine h and at 2k might be better off with another option for leaves.
I’d get a cyclone or something similar for leaves. Definitely needs some extra suction power.
I have had all brands of mowers and everytime i clog my chute it's because i have bagged in wet conditions or tried to feed the leafs too fast.
1/17/22, @Curtis, I have a new Gravely ZT since last May; I got an Ohio Steel lawn sweeper that I hitch up to it; works like a charm w/leaves! Where I live, you scoop up leaves & dump them @ the curb & the town scoops them up w/a clam & a dump truck Next thing I'll get come spring is an aerator.
That’s great! There are some towns around me that do leaf cleanup. Mine just head to the compost. Aerator is definitely on my list as well when I get to renovating the lawn! I’m just trying to figure out if I should get one for the mower or the tractor.
@@Curtis1824 👍😆10/30/22, I got an aerator; works like a charm; saves me a lot of work.
Awesome!
🤣👎Get rid of that clumsy thing❗I got a leaf sweeper, you just hitch it up (got a hitch on your machine?), adjust the pitch, the spiral brush inside spins backwards as you move. Picks up everything, then just dump the hopper. It's cheaper/better/easier 2use❗👍😉 Step down the hitch as the mount tends to be higher on a ZT than a tractor.
Got rid of the bagging system on my 60 HD. Too much work. Installed mulch kit 3 years ago. Works great. Highly recommended.
Any problems with building up too thick of a layer of cut grass?
It's the wet grass mow at end of day due to those conditions
Good video man I think with your overgrown areas mow without the bagger 1st then hook up bagger and mow again sucking up clippings it may not clog
I've tried that a few times. Seems to be hit or miss. I have a feeling it's just too much grass in general with the 60" deck for the small opening of the chute.
Is it still working halfway out with it 2 years later 🤔
They have metal screens for gutter systems that would probably work good for that plastic screen that keeps popping out
I’ll have to look in to that. Thanks!
I wish you would have shown the two pins, how they come out and go back in.
A trailer i use occasionally to transport the mower to a remote property is only a few inches wider than the regular deck..
How easy would it be to remove the side chute device to temporarily get it out of the way for trailering then a quick reinstall
It's really easy. All you do is take the cover off the belt, pop the belt, remove a pin and lift it off. It probably takes longer to unscrew the nut holding the covers on than anything else. I take mine off all the time.
Wow killer bagger system !!! Doesn't like that wet grass tho
Clogging can be avoided, but there are a few things involved. Sharp blades is number 1. I notice how long the clippings are and I think sharp blades would help mince it up a lot better. Next is the fact it's wet, so you can't take a full bite like that with a bagger on. You could if it was short grass, but your grass is pretty tall so there's just too many clippings for the deck to process. That should solve your clogging issue. Next is the screen....I may be wrong but it looks like you might be filling the bags too full. The way the airflow is designed, the leaves just fall in the bags via gravity so there's no real force being applied to compact them. With light, fluffy leaves the bags will fill up really quick, and you just have to manually compact them or dump them more often. In your defense, that screen shouldn't be coming loose like that so definitely a weak design. One trick you can use to help speed the whole process up is to run over the leaves once or twice BEFORE installing the bagger to mulch them a bit. Then when you bag them, the smaller pieces will compact better in the bags AND take up less space. I know it sounds like that would take longer, but it doesn't because you'll be dumping that much less often. Sharp blades though....you'd be surprised how much difference that makes. Not only will they cut things up better but they do it easier, meaning the engine doesn't work as hard which means the blade tip speed remains higher which means the belt will run faster which means a little more suction:-) Also in regards to blades, high lift blades will create better suction but mulching blades will chop things up finer, so I use medium lift blades for leaves to have a happy medium. 100 ways to skin a cat, but hopefully that helps. Last thing....I use an Accelerator grass catcher with my Gravely which is around $500 and doesn't require all the assembly and extra pulley. It doesn't hold quite as much but it actually does compact the waste and it's metal, so you can really pack it in. After using the legit bagger system on my John Deere for a couple years I opted for the Accelerator on my Gravely and I'm glad I did. Sucks the leaves up better than my John Deere and soooo much less fooling around.
Hi Mike, I completely agree that the grass was long and wet. Unfortunately sometimes the weather and timing doesn't quite cooperate for when I need to mow. This was definitely an extreme look at things. One thing I've been wondering is with the 60" deck is it just too much material in general to try and go through the powerhead and into the bagger? I've had it also clog mowing off an inch of dry grass with sharp blades. I'll probably try switching up the blades this year and see if that helps at all. Tightening the powerhead up, which I did in another video, definitely helped a little bit as well as the DIY leaf catcher I made. Nothing is ever going to be perfect, but it would be nice not to have to mow everything three times just to get some grass picked up. Thanks for watching and I appreciate all the feedback! Mowing season is almost back!
Seems as though the clogs are caused by cutting too much wet grass. I'm no expert but would love to see a video of cutting 1/3 of the grass blade height and dry grass.
Ya, I think you may be expecting to cut too deep/too fast. I would guess: green grass is a lot stickier than dry leaves getting mulched. My very old, 16hp Snapper rider without a secondary blower looks to be pretty much equal to your rig. (Snapper switched to twin bags because the big, single bag I have is waaay too heavy when packed.) The single 33" blade also has larger wingtips than my 3-blade, ZT Kubota ..the chute is smooth, so perhaps with less resistance, it works better ..for the size. I have an extra bagging set, with twin bags I got off CL and am making a mod for the Kubota to see how well it works. (I am not expecting it to be better than the Snapper.). Thanks for posting. Jim
Hope it all works out well for you and thanks for watching!
If you run mulching blades that might increase capacity by cutting leaves finer maybe .
Definitely something to try for next year!
Looking forward to your cart upgrade. I’ve seen those on UA-cam for other systems. My guess: marketing said “we need a bag system.” Engineering and production said “this is what we came up with.” Marketing: “Great! We can sell that.” Also a guess: customer service says “you’re letting it get too full.” Bigger bags and a window seem essential. Idle musing: would it be easier to mow as usual and develop a rake and bale method that ranchers use on their hay meadows. Probably no help on leaves. On the Gravely design: seems like the impeller can’t keep up with the discharge, and the angle is too sharp. Don’t know a remedy for their poor design, short of gearing the impeller and widening the profile of the whole machine. You may need your own machine shop to redesign it.
Second thought: no gears, but increase the size of the pulley driving the impeller. “Voids your warranty” I’m sure.
Good idea on the pulley! Angle is definitely too sharp. I've had systems on other machines in the past where it is more flat and never had any issues. At least the dump cart will help with the tiny bags. Stay tuned!
@@Curtis1824 you probably realized this: I think the driven pulley should be smaller to rotate faster for a given belt speed. (Ala bike gears). Doh! May make it easier to do.
I'll have to figure out the right combination of sizes to work with the tensioner and belts I have on hand. Might also see if I can make the angle of the powerhead a little less as well. It moves a lot of air, just not enough going through the chute. We'll see how much work that entails though.
@@Curtis1824 Before you go through all that trouble, the clippings are honestly too long, and being wet just amplifies the issue. Need to have sharp blades to chop it up finer and take a smaller bite.....maybe 3/4 bite would be enough. Taking a full bite with wet grass that tall will clog any bagger out there, that's an awful lot for the deck to process so quickly......but that screen setup is definitely a design flaw. I've found that even the commercial mower bagging systems are like an after thought and never designed well enough to work right. As expensive as they are, you'd think they could put a little more thought into it!
Thanks love 48” hd but no bagger for me
I went back and forth between the 48” and 60”. Good mowers!
So I have the Ariens Ikon 52" Deck that I purchased last year and I couldn't justify spending $1300 for the bagging system when you could spend that money on a cyclone rake or DR leaf vac system that has its own independent engine for sucking up those leaves or grass clippings.
Definitely wish I went that route instead!
Walker mower best design, compact self contained bagging system
Those are great mowers!
That's what i am talking about ...
You're mowing wet grass that's 6 to 12" tall down to below 3" and you appeared to be driving at a fast rate. you wonder why the chute is clogging....really....?!! Don't mow wet grass first of all, mow weekly and never cut more than a third of the height off. drive slowly or slower. Also take less than a full width cut. I have a 12 year old gravely 48" and it works great, your mower is fine , how you're using it isn't. As for the hose clamp, they make screw clamps for the hose. For that size hose they're maybe $8 to $12.
The screen blow out can be fixed with small bolts, nuts and washers. The washers will spread the load so go w as large as possible. If you use the mower frequently you'll get a feel for when it's full. The sound changes even when you're wearing ear protection you should hear it. The'window' you want to install is a good idea but
it'll dirty up and be useless
If you use mulching blades on the grass instead of the om blades, it works better and use the om blades on the leaves
Do you know the length from the front of the mower to the end of the bagger?
It's a little over 9 foot to be safe. With the cover lifted up it's maybe 6 inches shorter.
I was thinking thinking about one of these but I think I’ll skip it. Looks like too much of a hassle and frustration. What I’ve been doing that works well is throw the grass inwards. I’ll do my initial cut then I’ll go back and start throwing the cut grass into large squares and keep working the square small the grab a rake and load up the side by side with the grass. I have 3 acres I keep cut.
If you have long clippings your either mowing to short or to long between mows. Fescue really shouldn’t be cut below 3.75” anyway. Should only be takong off 1/3 of grass length per cut.
Great video man, I think I know the reason to your problems, It's clogging and you're having soo much grass because you're cutting you said anywhere from 6in-1foot tall, If that's the case then you need to cut off a higher setting than 2.5in. Notice how you're "lines" aren't the prettiest is due to your Deck Height. My advise try a higher setting, you may have to try a few until you find the best one for the height you're about to cut.
Great Vid tho! Did help my Research haha!
Thanks! It was an extreme test for sure.
I have the exact same setup . I agree . I would say don’t get it . Not worth the hassle until they fix the clogging issue.
But you can get a little wonder are billy goat for same price and do more
Probably could have, but I didn't expect it to not work.
@@Curtis1824 I understand that I bought a s240 can't get a mulching kit or a bag system ...but yours looks like it works it just big
Bummer! Yes, it is big, but thankfully I have the space to store it. Would be a lot of money to store outside!
@@Curtis1824 anybody who buys it can store it inside I would think .... Grind hard play get that money
You know they have bigger bags for that system . They hold twice as much .
You’re trying to cut way to much grass off at once man. And it’s wet grass. Also put a mulching blade on to shred the grass finer. Just my opinion.
I figured this was a worst case scenario for cutting. I agree the grass was a little tall for bagging, but sadly it doesn't work much better on dry grass. Way too much material on a 60" deck trying to go through such a small chute.
It’s to good you need 3 or 4 bags lol 😂 it fills up so damn fast
3 or 4 oversize bags would do the trick! They probably didn't want to deal with putting counterweights on the front of the mower.
@@Curtis1824 they have counter weights it’s behind the gravely logo in the front they go inside it so it’s hidden not all out in the open .
@@jkclawncareandlandscape5880 Had no idea, thanks for the info!
@@Curtis1824 no problem brotha it’s actually a smart design so they are hidden they are long and thin like a mower blade but very heavy lol 😂 they kinda suck to install but once in never have to touch them again
Why bother bagging when you wait 3 weeks between mowing? Mulch or side discharge it and save yourself the annoyance of clogs and emptying bags.
Mow more often you must only mow monthly
How about cutting your grass more often and then you will find out that you won’t have this problem.
If only time allowed for me to do that. Grass cutting at times gets pushed aside for more important tasks.
Jake
You’d think an $8K- $10K mower would perform a little better than that! I just dropped $8K on the exact ZTHD60 as yours without the bagger. I’m going to design my own bagging system as the one you show is clearly too small for a 60” cut. Thanks for the video and not being afraid to show the flaws of what supposed to be Americas greatest mower…Vote Blue, Mow Red!
Thanks for watching! Although, I might add that voting blue is the reason your mower was $8k. Roughly 45% more then I paid when everyone voted red. Good luck with your bagging system design!
Need to get a refund for this machine worthless I see your problem the shut needs to being lat down flat it would work better putting it on a slant that what causing it to stop up but you are still out of 2000 Gran for just a blower that what is wrong because your bags are to small
I know. I've researched a few workarounds as well as some input from others I'm going to try. Stay tuned!
All in all not a good investment.