Five clips and a cable to drop the deck. The cable has a spring clip on the end that makes removal tedious and you have to compress a pulley in order to get some slack. Needle-nose Vise-Grips are your friend in all endeavors.
One 16mm socket to remove the blades and a flat-blade screwdriver and a wire-brush to remove all the caked-up vegetation-gunk that is glommed underneath the deck.
A (futile) trip to Home Depot to discover they didn’t have squat, and then a trip to Tru-Value to find the correct size, shape, and “Made in America” blades — you don’t see that too often anymore these days with steel tools and hardware! And at about only $12 each, cheaper then the non-fitting cheap blades at HD!
The old blades are hacked, but they have enough meat on them for a few more sharpening-cycles on the grinder, and from the new blades I have a pattern to grind-to.
Not Clauswitz 
Thanks. My little MTD 3.5 hp push unit has Mower Envy now.
I need to put a grider to my blade, too. I wonder what the optimum angle and “sharpness” would be for a mower? I can put a 2000 grit edge on it, but that seems kind of overkill.
Something sharp, strong, but won’t roll the edge. And I don’t know the specs for that.
Jim
Sunk New Dawn
Galveston, TX
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I just put about a 45-degree edge on it. That’s what the new ones were like. It will be dull again soon enough!
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That looks like a royal PITA… Reminds me, I need to sharpen my one mower blade… sigh
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It’s easier than it looks, but boy are those old blades dull! The new, fresh ones cut soo much better!
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I suspect my method of lawn mower maintenance wouldn’t do you any good:
Puts “For Sale” sign on mower,
Spreads 25 yards of decorative rock in yard,
Buys extra large bottle of Round Up.
Your mileage may vary.
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Ha! I’ve got weeds up to my waist out there in the Prairie, and industrial strength Round-Up!
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