Our Best Step By Step Guide To Attaching a Grass Catcher To Your Mower

To clean mowing clippings from your garden is a time-intensive task that will take longer especially if you have a larger lawn type. 

That's why it's great to have a lawnmower with a grass bagger, these save you time and help your lawn look tidy, as well as having several other benefits. To fit one to your mower depends on the type of grass catcher you want to use, whether side or rear, but most can be fitted in a few simple steps using hooks and clamps. 

To find out how to fit a rear grass catcher or a side grass catcher to your lawnmower, as well as why you should use one, we have put together a simple follow along guide for you to use below.

Why Use a Grass Catcher? 

Before we get into how to fit your grass catchers to your mower to collect grass clippings, let's explore the benefits of using one and why you should fit one on your mower. 

Grass catchers come in three main types, the ones which trail behind for tractors and ride-on mowers, rear discharge collectors and side discharge collectors, all share the same advantages however and are easy to collect and empty.

• They stop contamination and disease - First of all, a grass collection box is useful as it can stop grass clippings from spreading fungus and disease when left to sit on grass over time. Having fewer grass clippings on your lawn also allows you to fertilise and spray pesticides with more ease.
• Keeps your lawn tidy - Having a grass catcher keeps your lawn tidy and stops grass clippings from flying around all over the place making a mess. It saves you time from having to manually clean it too.
• You can reuse the grass clippings - One of the best points about grass collectors is that you can reuse the clippings inside for a compost pile too or even for a new garden you want to plant. This stops them from going to waste left on your lawn to just decompose.

How To Attach a Rear Discharge Grass Catcher 

It is most common to have a mower with a rear discharge for grass discharge collection, to fit one, we have put some simple steps for you to follow down below.

Remember beforehand that you should be taking caution when installing your catcher around the blade area of your mower, also make sure you have a socket wrench, screwdriver and pliers around for this job.

• Step one - First of all, prepare your mower by disconnecting the spark plug, opening the rear discharge door cover area and take the mulching plate out if your mower has one so as it can be ready for the grass catcher to be fitted. 
• Step two - Where you took your mulching plate out, look for hooks and hangers where you will install the grass catcher, clean them and remember where your bagger will go after we set it up next. 
• Step three - Place the soft bag of the catcher onto the metal frame with the stiffer part of the bag on the bottom of the frame for holding the clippings, then install the bag onto where you found the hooks and hangers on your catcher. 
• Step four - Reconnect the spark plug and give your mower a test run, make sure everything is secure and that the bag is collecting clippings well as you mow.

How To Attach a Side Discharge Grass Catcher

Attaching a side discharge grass catcher to your mower is pretty similar to attaching a rear discharge bag, the only difference is that you have to install a chute before the catcher itself so as your clippings will be discharged side on.

We have listed the steps below. 

• Step one - Firstly, disconnect the spark plug and lift the over of the side discharge chute, remove the mulching plate as we did above. 
• Step two - Check the side-discharge area for hooks and bolts as well as clamps so as you can find where you will install the bagger, clean all the hardware hooks so as you ensure your bag will fit seamlessly.
• Step three - Lift the side discharge door and connect the side chute to the device, make sure the side chute is secure and tighten it up so as it will be able to hold the bag properly.
• Step four - Now assemble the bag, start by placing the frame into the bag this time and make sure the hooks are bound onto the bag. Make sure the hard parts of the bag is on the bottom for extra strength when holding the clippings.

Final Words 

Overall, attaching a grass catcher to your mower is a simple process and has a wide range of benefits if you want to have a tidy and healthy lawn.

Whether you decide to have a side rear catcher or a rear grass catcher, both follow a similar fitting process with our steps above and will have you collecting your grass clippings in no time for compost or fertiliser.