Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

My Honda mower is pretty old (15+ years?) but still runs like a champ and always starts on the first pull. It's always ben used for mulching with a single blade though I'm not sure if it's the high lift or not. It's also always cut St. Augustine grass. I've recently bought a house with Buffalo grass which is much finer than St. Augustine and it's having a tough time mulching properly. I get lots of clumping. I have to bag it otherwise my lawn looks terrible when I'm done. Of course bagging is a pain so I'm looking into a dual blade mulching kit I found available through Plano Power Equipment (http://www.planopower.com/). Anyone have experience with it? Do I need to get the kit with the plug (part 06762-VA3-S00) or will just adding the upper blade and spacer (part 06725-VA3-810) give me fine results? The price difference is $17. Both options can be found about 3/4 down the page here: http://www.planopower.com/store/honda/hr215sxa.shtml. I found a thread below via Google as I searched for reviews so I'm hoping some of those folks who offered advice earlier can chime in here. :) http://www.abbysguide.com/ope/discussions/20337-0-1.html Thanks for helping me out!

The mulching plug is no longer made for the HR214 or HR215 Honda. I have been bagging grass for over 20 years and got tired of it and lost a bid for a mulching plug and two mulching blade kits last week which went for $157.00.....best bid I ever lost. I ordered the mulching blade kit ( comes without a plug ....you get a heavy metal spacer, two bolts, two special spring washers, and a mulching blade which mounts above your regular blade.....you should change your regular blade while you're at it ) and just in case I ordered a side-shooter adapter.....I DIDN'T NEED THE  SIDE SHOOTER ADAPTER.
Removed bolts and old blade and blade holder......cleaned everything good and installed mulching blade kit and also new lower blade. Took off rear bag and cut my wet lawn ( pretty wet from morning dew ) two weeks in a row now.
The lawn looks GREAT ( no clumps or problem of any kind ) and after cutting today I looked underneath and there wasn't a blade of grass stuck underneath. Don't go crazy searching or waste your money looking for a plug......you don't need one for a great mulching job.....maybe that's why Honda quit making them.