"Sears 3 Bag Grass Catcher - Owner Review"

By Ron Stultz

7 September 2010

Summary: Not a well made catcher. Very brittle plastic. BUT not sure there is an alternative for the DYS4500 tractor.

Background:

Bought Sears DYS4500 lawn tractor and associated 3 bag grass catcher attachment in 2009.

The Good:

Not much good to say about this Sears product. If attached correctly to mower deck, does collect grass and leaves well.

The Bad:

- Plastic used is very brittle. First chute from mower deck to upper chute assembly split up side on manufacturing seam and this less than 3 months of use.

- Chute is fairly small in diameter and thus clogs easily in heavy grass or leaves. A shame chute is so small as DYS4500 has plenty of horse power to propel grass up a larger diameter chute.

- Lower chute can be a bear to get properly installed on mower deck. Chute will fit on mower deck such that grass or leaves do not shoot out around it but almost a topology problem getting the chute installed correctly.

- "Bags" suffer from poor quality plastic. The plastic used around the top of the bag that fits over the metal tubes of the bagger support bracket are already splitting or cracking out. Sure they will have to be replaced within another season or 2.

- Bagger bracket as shipped from Sears is an awkward sort of contraption that has a wielded hitch pin on it thus prohibiting the use of many lawn tractor attachments when the bagger assembly is installed. Taking the bagger bracket on and off the tractor is not an easy task or certainly not as easy as it should be (I had to modify the bracket to suit my needs. See another topic in this same section.