Aftermarket replacement part — not a genuine OEM part. The squeegee blades and rubber parts on this page are aftermarket replacements made to fit Tennant machines. They are not genuine Tennant parts, we are not affiliated with or endorsed by Tennant, and brand names, model names and part numbers are used for fitment reference only. Confirm dimensions against your own sample or drawing before ordering.
The Tennant T300 sits at the small end of the walk-behind range, and that changes how the blades get bought. Nobody orders a T300 blade set one at a time for a flagship site. They order for a fleet: retail chains, schools, hospitals and contract teams running dozens of compact machines across many locations, where the squeegee assembly is the single most replaced part on the unit.
That buying pattern has a consequence worth stating up front. On a compact machine the blade is short, cheap per piece and easy to ship, which tempts buyers to treat it as a commodity and order on part number alone. Most of the fitment complaints we see on small walk-behinds start exactly there.
Start with what “one set” actually means
One set is one front blade plus one rear blade. On a walk-behind the two are not interchangeable and they do not wear at the same rate. The rear blade carries the water pickup under vacuum and is the piece that sets the replacement interval; the front blade does the bulk of the dirty work and takes most of the abrasion.
Ordering “blades” without specifying front or rear is the most common source of a wrong shipment. Ordering in sets removes the ambiguity, and it also matches how the parts are actually fitted on the machine.
If you are mapping an existing fleet, our cross-reference guide lists the models and brands we already tool, and it is the fastest way to confirm whether the T300 profile is covered or needs new tooling.
The three fitment checks that actually prevent comebacks
Blades rarely fail because the compound was wrong. They fail because they could not be mounted square, and the operator then reports a “bad rubber” problem that no change of grade will ever fix.
| Check | What to confirm | Typical failure |
|---|---|---|
| Profile and thickness | Blade seats fully in the channel without rocking | Wrong thickness flexes instead of wiping, and the machine leaves a trail |
| Hole pitch and slot layout | Matches the existing blade or the frame drawing | The classic “looks identical, will not bolt on” case |
| Hardness | Agreed range, ±5 Shore A, measured on production pieces | Too hard skips over floor texture; too soft folds under vacuum |
Hardness is measured by the ASTM D2240 durometer method. Naming the method matters when you compare quotes: a supplier quoting a bare “65 Shore A” with no test method, or promising a tolerance tighter than ±5, is promising something that will not survive a production batch. Ask for readings taken off production pieces rather than off a compounder’s test coupon — the coupon proves the mixer, the production piece proves the tool.
On exact length, slot positions and thickness for your specific T300 build, we work from a sample or a drawing rather than from a generic chart. Frame revisions and aftermarket squeegee assemblies differ between production runs, so send us the worn blade or a photo of the frame and we will confirm before we ship or cut tooling. Anything we cannot confirm, we will say so instead of guessing.
Pick the grade by floor, not by unit price
The same T300 behaves completely differently on polished retail tile and on a sealed storeroom floor with pallet-jack traffic.
- Natural rubber, 65 ± 5 Shore A — smooth tile, PVC, epoxy. Conforms well to flat floors and gives the cleanest pickup.
- Cast polyurethane, 85 ± 5 Shore A — rough concrete, expansion joints, oily or greasy surfaces, where cut and tear resistance is the whole point.
- Economy gum rubber, 45 ± 5 Shore A — light duty on smooth floors when the buying decision is price-led.
The full trade-off, including where each grade stops making sense, is set out in our material comparison. Two errors are worth repeating. The first is assuming harder is always better: on polished tile a hard blade chatters and streaks, and no amount of down-pressure fixes it. The second is assuming red rubber means a premium brand. Red is pigment; performance is formulation, and the comparison should be made on abrasion loss and tensile figures, not on colour.
Service life in normal commercial duty is typically two to three months per blade — an industry figure rather than a guarantee, and one that moves with cleaning frequency, chemicals, temperature and floor condition. Polyurethane usually gives the longest interval on rough or oily floors, but it is also more sensitive to temperature and operating conditions than natural rubber, so it should be sold with that caveat attached rather than as a flat upgrade.
Leaving a floor wet is not a cosmetic problem either. OSHA’s walking-working surfaces rule is the reference most US facility teams are measured against, and a streaking squeegee is one of the faster ways to fail it.
Why the T300 makes commercial sense for distributors
Compact machines are usually cleaned and serviced by generalist staff rather than a dedicated technician, so blades get changed late and in a hurry. That is good news for a distributor: the reorder cadence is high and predictable. A machine in daily service goes through roughly four to six sets a year, which we break down in our replacement cycle analysis, and the gap against a captive OEM parts channel is where the margin sits — the argument is developed in full in OEM vs aftermarket squeegee blades.
Our standard terms:
- MOQ 20 sets per style for a profile we already tool. Twenty sets is forty blades — enough for a real field trial across several sites, not a warehouse commitment.
- USD 60–120 tooling for a profile we do not hold, waived at 500 sets cumulative.
- Mixed orders allowed, USD 3,000 minimum order value, so a first shipment can cover ten or twelve models instead of betting the whole budget on one.
Agree the claim process before you pay
Blade complaints surface at goods-in, which on a long freight lane can be weeks after manufacture. Settle the process first:
- Claims must be raised within 7 days of receipt, counted from delivery, not dispatch.
- Only the defective pieces are replaced, not the whole batch. Twelve faulty out of two hundred means twelve replacements.
- An unboxing video is required, filmed from before the carton opens and close enough to show the defect.
- Freight on replacement pieces is on the buyer; most importers absorb it by consolidating into the next shipment.
Coverage is for manufacturing defects: damaged or feathered edges, wrong dimensions, defective material, hardness outside the agreed range. It does not cover ordinary wear, fitting damage, or early wear caused by specifying the wrong compound for the floor.
Samples are chargeable, not free, and take 7–15 days to prepare and ship. That window is worth planning around if you are qualifying a new grade ahead of a tender.
Getting a quote
Tell us the machine model, your floor type, and roughly how many units you keep in service. We will confirm the T300 profile against a sample or drawing, recommend a grade, and quote a 20-set trial you can fit before committing to volume. Mixed orders across multiple models are welcome from USD 3,000.
