# Gator G6 blades



## npm (Nov 14, 2012)

Anyone using Oregon gator g6 blades? Need new blades for my Ferris 61" ztr. Any issues with high grass? 25hp kohler enough power?


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## hammerhead (Apr 26, 2012)

they are ok. 25 hp should be enough power. I had mixed results with them. On my residential accounts they work awesome. they mulch great. On PP lawns that are over grown they work so-so. They are very heavy and tough but you loose alot of blade speed so you have to go slower,


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## STARBABY (Apr 12, 2012)

I run them on my john deere 757`s and they work good! as already said you have go slow in taller grass!


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## BPWY (Apr 12, 2012)

They work on my JD 777.

You can sure tell the difference between them and the low lift blades.
The low lift won't discharge high/ thick grass and bog down the mower.


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## Gypsos (Apr 30, 2012)

I love them. They do not bend or tear when I run over rebar. Not that I do that on purpose. It just seems if I am mowing really tall grass there will be a chunk of steel in it I missed. 

They last longer than OEM for me. We have lots of sand here and the lifts on OEMs do not last long at all. Gators are 1/4" thick so the lifts last longer. 

Once the lifts are mostly gone we cut them off and weld a piece of 1/4" thick well pipe on to make new lifts. It doubles the life of the blades for us because we generally have a lot of blade left we can sharpen when the lifts are worn off. 

I do not recommend you do this unless you are a good welder and you are willing to balance the blades after you weld on the new lifts. Doing it wrong or rushing it can ruin your equipment or get someone hurt or both. 

Our next experiment is to get a hold of some 100,000+ PSI welding rods and build up the cutting edge to see if it will hold an edge longer.


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## npm (Nov 14, 2012)

Thanks for the replies.....I'm definitely going to pick a set up.


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## BPWY (Apr 12, 2012)

Another benefit is they chop the grass up more than standard blades.
So the cut grass falls into the carpet sooner and out of sight.


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## npm (Nov 14, 2012)

Just picked a set up .They're mean looking. Going to get on tonight and take them for s spin tomorrow. Is it possible to undersize my blade pullies to gain blade speed or do they need to dpin slow?


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## PropPresPro (Apr 12, 2012)

BPWY said:


> They work on my JD 777.
> 
> You can sure tell the difference between them and the low lift blades.
> The low lift won't discharge high/ thick grass and bog down the mower.


Paul, have you ever tried running mulching type blades on your Walker?


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## BRADSConst (Oct 2, 2012)

npm said:


> Just picked a set up .They're mean looking. Going to get on tonight and take them for s spin tomorrow. Is it possible to undersize my blade pullies to gain blade speed or do they need to dpin slow?


From my old days at Deere, I'd be a little careful jumping the tip speed. If memory serves, 18,000 was the magic number. Anything above that caused additional spindle/bearing wear without improving the performance. I can't speak for a Ferris though.

Make sure you keep everyting balanced.


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## dryBgerG (Feb 1, 2013)

npm said:


> Anyone using Oregon gator g6 blades? Need new blades for my Ferris 61" ztr. Any issues with high grass? 25hp kohler enough power?



25HP on 61" is kinda on the light side now days. I'm running 27HP on a 50" and 52" decks. If available for your machine I'd get G5's same blade just not as thick so they are lighter and won't be as hard on start-up as there is less rotating mass.

G6 .250" thickness vs G5 .203 thickness.


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## npm (Nov 14, 2012)

dryBgerG said:


> 25HP on 61" is kinda on the light side now days. I'm running 27HP on a 50" and 52" decks. If available for your machine I'd get G5's same blade just not as thick so they are lighter and won't be as hard on start-up as there is less rotating mass.
> 
> G6 .250" thickness vs G5 .203 thickness.


that's what I heard that make sure the power is there. I got the g6's I'll see how they go. My next mower is gonna be minimal 27 hp


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## BRADSConst (Oct 2, 2012)

Guys, be very careful on buying based on horsepower alone. I can tell you from personal knowledge that mower and engine manufacturers were sued years back for flat out lying. You would be surprised to find out how these rating are determined. Do you guys run without a muffler? Do you run with nothing but the crankshaft spinning? Do you run aviation grade fuel? What RPM is the engine rated at and what is it actually running at? Displacement numbers are real. Horsepower is relative. Just like is a Subway sub really a footlong???


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## dryBgerG (Feb 1, 2013)

BRADSConst said:


> Guys, be very careful on buying based on horsepower alone. I can tell you from personal knowledge that mower and engine manufacturers were sued years back for flat out lying. You would be surprised to find out how these rating are determined. Do you guys run without a muffler? Do you run with nothing but the crankshaft spinning? Do you run aviation grade fuel? What RPM is the engine rated at and what is it actually running at? Displacement numbers are real. Horsepower is relative. Just like is a Subway sub really a footlong???


Run 1 Generac they give a true rating. Have one Kohler says 27hp really specs out as 23.


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## BPWY (Apr 12, 2012)

PropPresPro said:


> Paul, have you ever tried running mulching type blades on your Walker?







With the bagging deck you have few options for mulching with it. Because of the air flow baffles you simply do not have room for mulching blades. 
There is not a G blade made for the walker bagging decks.

About all you can do is this gizmo...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Walker-mowe...870?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d0da5227e

It works. I bought one used from a Lawnsite member. The cut is not as good as when bagging but its great for when the grass is light.
If you are cutting wide blade grass they work the best, fine stem you may not like the finished look unless its some where that isn't super picky. 
Like apartment complexes that don't really care if they get a million dollar mansion look.


If you buy a true walker mulching deck depending on the year they run a factory 4 blade set up. Those work well. I used to have one.


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## BPWY (Apr 12, 2012)

dryBgerG said:


> 25HP on 61" is kinda on the light side now days. I'm running 27HP on a 50" and 52" decks. If available for your machine I'd get G5's same blade just not as thick so they are lighter and won't be as hard on start-up as there is less rotating mass.
> 
> G6 .250" thickness vs G5 .203 thickness.





npm said:


> that's what I heard that make sure the power is there. I got the g6's I'll see how they go. My next mower is gonna be minimal 27 hp







You'll be fine with the G6. My 777 has a 60" deck and 27 hp. Because of all the mass to get rolling you cannot engage the blades at any thing above an idle. 
I feed the engine about half choke to keep from stalling and then pull the PTO switch and push in the choke.
Other wise you will pop a PTO drive belt in a short time. Yeah...... I've got the T shirt.


I've got two sets of G6s. Used them all last year and into this year. I'll be using them 2 years from now at the rate we are going.


One super important key to them is to keep them sharp!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Other wise they will not recut the grass before discharge. Because of this thread today I was watching my chute more and its cool to watch a _______ storm of grass coming out but as soon as the air leaves it about 2/3s of the grass immediately falls into the carpet. The rest will dry up and disappear in a day or two.

Another key to making the grass disappear on a bank owned is mow high. I never once bagged a blade of grass on a bank owned in 3 years of mowing. Mulched it all, even 3' high grass or 6' weeds. 

Did I mention to keep the G6s sharp?????????


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## BPWY (Apr 12, 2012)

BRADSConst said:


> From my old days at Deere, I'd be a little careful jumping the tip speed. If memory serves, 18,000 was the magic number. Anything above that caused additional spindle/bearing wear without improving the performance. I can't speak for a Ferris though.
> 
> Make sure you keep everyting balanced.





I'm with you, I really doubt there is any need to change pulley size. 

If you feel your blade speed is too low I'd check the top end RPMs with a tach.


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## npm (Nov 14, 2012)

BRADSConst said:


> Guys, be very careful on buying based on horsepower alone. I can tell you from personal knowledge that mower and engine manufacturers were sued years back for flat out lying. You would be surprised to find out how these rating are determined. Do you guys run without a muffler? Do you run with nothing but the crankshaft spinning? Do you run aviation grade fuel? What RPM is the engine rated at and what is it actually running at? Displacement numbers are real. Horsepower is relative. Just like is a Subway sub really a footlong???


Honda engines a few years ago lost a class action lawsuit for false horsepower. Your entering the area I love about engines. What rpm(s) is power being made? stroke? rod length? cam overlap? 

Blade speed..... pulley size? drag? amp draw of pto?

Used to love amplifier watt ratings. Everyone did it differently. One company rated their amplifiers in horsepower lol


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## npm (Nov 14, 2012)

BPWY said:


> You'll be fine with the G6. My 777 has a 60" deck and 27 hp. Because of all the mass to get rolling you cannot engage the blades at any thing above an idle.
> I feed the engine about half choke to keep from stalling and then pull the PTO switch and push in the choke.
> Other wise you will pop a PTO drive belt in a short time. Yeah...... I've got the T shirt.
> 
> ...



Yeah I've learned over the years I generally cut 2.5 -3" in height. Depending on how the grass looks


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## npm (Nov 14, 2012)

BPWY said:


> I'm with you, I really doubt there is any need to change pulley size.
> 
> If you feel your blade speed is too low I'd check the top end RPMs with a tach.


they actually got to speed quicker than my Oregon straight cut blades. Going to test them out tomorrow.


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## BPWY (Apr 12, 2012)

npm said:


> they actually got to speed quicker than my Oregon straight cut blades. Going to test them out tomorrow.






You notice the noise difference? 


They sound different than regular blades.


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## BRADSConst (Oct 2, 2012)

npm said:


> Honda engines a few years ago lost a class action lawsuit for false horsepower. Your entering the area I love about engines. What rpm(s) is power being made? stroke? rod length? cam overlap?
> 
> Blade speed..... pulley size? drag? amp draw of pto?
> 
> Used to love amplifier watt ratings. Everyone did it differently. One company rated their amplifiers in horsepower lol


Deere, Kawasaki, Briggs and others were in that too. At Deere, the ratings were changed to displacement cc numbers and "Horsepower as rated by the engine manufacturer"


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## npm (Nov 14, 2012)

BPWY said:


> You notice the noise difference?
> 
> 
> They sound different than regular blades.


Yes I did. The grass makes like a popcorn noise under the deck. I noticed the volume and strength of air out the discharge


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## npm (Nov 14, 2012)

BRADSConst said:


> Deere, Kawasaki, Briggs and others were in that too. At Deere, the ratings were changed to displacement cc numbers and "Horsepower as rated by the engine manufacturer"


Yeah I noticed that....push mowers say 173 cc and 6.75 hp. A dyno can be fooled very easily (who said the engine has to last).


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