Arnold 490-100-005621-Inch Deluxe Universal Detaching Blade for Walk-Behind Mowers

IF you are mechanically savvy, know how to maintenance your lawn mower engine, want to run the life out of your mower, and want to rake and not thatch, this is an OK product.1. YOU CAN BURN UP YOUR LAWN MOWER ENGINE. Even with the least contact, the drag caused by this blade loads down the motor, and strain the clutch (if you have a clutch and not an engine stop). The oil was full on my mower and when I got done I was almost out of oil. I have NEVER seen my mower burn this kind of oil. I probably got it too hot and damaged my motor. I have a special blend of oil in the mower to protect it but it burned that oil up too.UPDATE: My mower is a HONDA HR-214 that is over 20 years old. It already burned oil. I mix STP (to thicken the oil), 60 weight racing oil (again thicker oil), and 5-30 synthetic oil (for synthetic's superior protection). In one hour even with the oil this thick, without smoking, the oil level as almost empty. As the engine heats (over heats) and as there is too great a strain on the engine, you get a greater amount of oil "blow by" past the rings in the cylinder. Had I not checked the oil before I started I would have burned up the motor (running it out of oil) for sure. As I said above, I have NEVER seen that amount of oil consumption in one hour.2. YOU CAN DAMAGE YOUR MOWER BODY. This is a UNIVERSAL blade, meaning IF you are not mechanically savvy, you will not install the blade correctly. You have to center the blade and it is very easy to have it off center where it will be out of balance or hit the side of the mower.I knew how to install it correctly so I was OK, but if you do not know what I am talking about, and how to do it right, do not purchase this product.UPDATE: This blade has a hole in the center of the blade AND two long slotted holes. The slotted holes are so you can mount the blade on mowers with differing widths between the blade mounting bolts. PROBLEM: The slots are too slightly too small for the HONDA mounting bolts. I forced the bolts into the slots, but it did not do the threads on the bolts any good.3. THIS PRODUCE WILL RAKE, BUT NOT THATCH YOUR LAWN. In the winter, after the snows we get a pink mold on the lawn. The solution is the rake the lawn which is why I purchased this product. If you need to thatch you need to go down and rent a power rake. While you are there compare the motor on your mower with the power rake motor and you will know why you cannot thatch with this blade.4. IF YOU USE THIS PRODUCT DO NOT RUN YOUR MOWER FOR MORE THAN 15 MINUTES. This blade even at the lightest engagement with your grass strains the motor. You can hear the motor load down at times. What you do not hear is the motor and clutch is strained ALL THE TIME you are using this blade. You have to run 15 minutes then allow your mower to completely cool down, probably a couple of hours.5. FIRST CUT YOUR LAWN AT THE LOWEST POSSIBLE SETTING. You do not want to double strain your mower by cutting grass and raking at the same time. I cut my grass, but I should have cut it even shorter to reduce the strain on the mower engine. The "fingers" pulls up thatch and the blade re-cuts it6. DO NOT UNDER ANY CONDITION ATTEMPT TO MULCH. YOU MUST BAG OR DISCHARGE THE THATCH THAT YOU PULL UP. If you have a side discharge do not even bag the thatch. Use this blade then install your regular blade and "vacuum" up the thatch.7. ONLY USE THIS BLADE ON A COOL OR COLD DAY. If it is hot outside you will burn up your mower.IF you follow these SEVEN precautions, you MIGHT get away with it and this is IF YOUR LAWN IS NOT HIGHLY THATCHED. JUST REMEMBER, YOU COULD BURN UP YOUR MOWER, OR AT BEST SHORTEN ITS LIFE SIGNIFICANTLY. My mower is a 20 year old Honda and I got lucky this time. I have not mowed my lawn since so I might have burnt up the clutch or damaged my motor and I might have to rebuild it. GOOD LUCK!!UPDATE:8. MAKE SURE YOU CHECK THE OIL IN YOUR MOWER AND MAKE SURE IT IS FULL. Gasoline with up to 10% ethanol (gasohol) or up to 15% MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether), is acceptable. HOWEVER many regular fuels are 86 octane, and for MANY small engines the MINIMUM octane is 87. Running a lower octane fuel can also cause excessive heating, and in the case of using this blade can make the over heat problem worse.SO NOW THERE ARE 8 THINKS TO KNOW/DO IF YOU WANT TO USE THIS BLADE.

Purchased this from amazon & it arrived after a few days. Not sure why so many negative reviews but this thing works great! Perhaps it isn't truly universal (I swore the arnold products site had a lookup page but heck if I can find it now) but got me as it installed very easily on mine.It took me about 5 min to get the old blade removed from my Troy-Bilt 21" (has bigger rear wheels, bagger & Honda engine) and this blade installed. None of the included adapters/washers were needed for this mower, it went on just like the original blade even the anti-spin holes/dimples lined up. It was like it was made for it!Once installed I set the wheels to highest level not knowing what this this was capable of. I slowly tried lower & lower settings on an inconspicuous area of grass testing a small area until I got the results desired: I wanted it to remove all the dead grass but leave as much of the freshly growing grass as possible & that it did!I mowed my front yard at that level, 1st in 1 direction doing 1/2 overlap then in opposite direction (well @ 90 degrees so 1st path was from house to road back & forth then 2nd was side to side parallel to road), again overlapping about 1/2 of each pass. I got 3 grass bags full of dead grass! Very little green at all, I'd say 99% brown dead grass. Wife commented as I went how much greener the yard looked even after just 1 pass.After doing our front yard I checked the plastic 'fingers' were dirty & had some grass bits on them but they certainly were NOT worn down & none were missing. Perhaps people wearing them down are setting the mower too low or hitting a lot of rocks..I had such great results on the front yard I decided to have at our 'spare lot' which I've been mowing but isn't grass but instead weeds I keep to a reasonable height. I've been wanting to plant grass seed but wasn't really looking forward to dealing with the prep. I knew I wanted/needed the deck at a much lower level than for our front yard if I wanted to remove as much of the weeds as possible so I adjusted the wheels, again testing in an area until I got the desired results. 1/2 hour later I was very impressed by the results! I ended up with barely any left on the surface & all the dead/prickly weeds were now bagged. Checking the plastic 'fingers' and they were definitely worn more than doing front yard but a good 2/3 was left which is amazing based on how low I had the mower set. Considering I won't be running it that low more than once I don't see it as a big deal for me since normal use on my front yard didn't seem to cause any noticeable wear at all & that's how I'd be using it normally, maybe every Spring.Observations: I found that I got some scalped areas where the ground was uneven but I wasn't too surprised as that makes sense. Also when doing the lot at the lower setting I ended up with a lot of dust & some stone flying so be careful of your eyes, kids & property nearby. I assume this worked especially well for me since it is Spring & grass has just started to grow again. No doubt if used on fully grown grass it could be less effective. If your engine is bogging down or if you are chewing up dirt I bet the mower is too low and/or living grass is too tall. Use regular blade to mow short before using this blade or better yet try it in the Spring like I did.

I had a previous dethatching blade (the kind with a metal pin on each end) that would not fit on my new mower, so I ordered this one. I installed it and went over my very brown, dead-looking lawn today. It did an absolutely beautiful job, compared to the previous type I used before. It cleared so much crud out of my lawn that it looked clean and green(er) after I was done. During the task, dust went absolutely everywhere. I recommend using a mask when using this product, as it was awful. Yet, I realize that dust is now no longer choking my lawn, so I'm happy!

Easy to install. Bought it to scalp my lawn and that's what it did. I pulled the lawn mower instead of pushing it, so it didn't clog up as much. Then I lifted the mower deck and bagged it with the tines attached.For leaves I wouldn't keep the tines attached as it tends to shoot them out the front.

Didn’t fit my mower properly and it doesn’t really dethatch, just wrecks your lawn.

very good did the job

I was not able to use it on my Lawn Boy as yet,I am waiting for the adopter to arrive thank you Lewis.