Mower opinions?

Jarney

Jarney

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Ok, this is waaaaay off topic for a motorcycle forum but thought I would pick your brains anyway before I go registering and posting on a lawncare site that I would probably only visit until I get an idea of what to do.

I may be in the market for a different mower setup. I have over 3 acres to mow and it takes way too long - I'm fed up with spending my free time in the summers mowing. I have about 2 acres that is pretty rough ground and about 1 acre of it occasionally floods so the grass grows pretty fast and thick there. That same 2 acres is just about all open though. The other acre is where the house and barns sit. Not many trees or obstacles overall. It takes a minimum of about 2 hours to mow - not including picking up tree limbs, mowing inside the dog pen - maybe 1/4 acre there, etc. I worked at a golf course for about 8 years but the industrial/commercial stuff may be out of my price range. I passed up a used Jacobsen F10 a few years ago - idiot!!!

Since I've lived here I've used a John Deere Gt 275 - 17hp Kawasaki motor, 48" deck, with 2 Swisher pull behinds. So I've got about 10' of cut but the ground is just too rough in most places or the grass is too thick for me to go at the speeds I want. I'm not looking for a manicured lawn, just something that will keep it knocked down and looking half way decent. I'm tired of all the oil changes, blades, belts, etc.

It seems the next step up is the compact tractor style mowers. I don't care for the zero turns. There's a big price jump from what I have now to the compact tractor style. Doesn't seem to be anything in between. I'm also tired of all the space these mowers take up. That's why I haven't bought a set of gang reels. I know some of them fold up, but I would still need something to pull them with.

Yeah, yeah, I could always buy a horse or goat - and I'm not too concerned about a great tan - I can get that on the bike - I get that stuff all the time.

So do you guys have any suggestions? What do you think of the front mount mowers - as opposed to the belly mounts. I could always just get some cheap tractor and bush hog everything once a month - I'm fed up enough that I may go that route - hahaha. Thanks in advance, sorry about the long post. Later.
 
i use john deere equipment. excellent mowers, but very pricey !!!! i have used front cut tractors, but do not care a whole lot for them ! presently my biggest mower is a john deere z-trac 757 w/ 60inch deck ( belly ) this mower has all the bells & whistles, including one hell of a bagger system. i can cut 2 acres in just under an hour.

not sure what your best tractor would be for your property. what price range are you wanting to stay in ??? give me an idea, & i'll do some research for you ! CHRIS

i needed to edit this post : the 2 acres i can cut in just under an hours time, has no obsticles, just flat land, & i can go at full speed ! normally, 1 acre takes just under an hour with,obsticles! OHH, forgot to mention ! my john deere is also equipted with a 25 hp "KAWASAKI" motor . :D
 
Instead of researching new/different power equipment, why not research a different ground cover? If the only thing you ever do with those parts of your property is cut the grass and watch it grow back, isn't it all self-defeating? I have so little lawn that I use a non-powered reel mower and I still hate to cut the grass. (What I'd really like is a late fifties Sunbeam flip-handle twin-blade electric, but they are not so easy to find these days) A few of my neighbors just have some variety of low ivy for their yards. They never need to cut it except occasionally near the sidewalk and it's green all year long.

Just a thought...
 
I may be able to help you out here... I own a Landscape maint service in phoneix, we service large commerical accounts and I have experience with just about anything that mows. First you need to ID your price range, and weather you want new or used. give me a little info in these areas and I can direct you to product. Oh yeah... and how fast do you want these two acers done??
 
We have a zero turn disiel at the family farm to cut about 6 acres all up and down hills with ground hog holes and everything. Not too bad except when the old man puts it in the ditch and have to drag it back out with the old '41 Farmall M. Another idea might be a quad with a pto and a bushhog behind it. Or a pull behind mower with its own motor, seen those at TCS for about $1000.
 
I use a John Deer 755 4x4 compact with a 5ft belly mower it does a good job and I am capable of letting the grass get fairly high before I cut and it still does a good job.
For those times when I get lazy and really let it grow the bush hog on the 3 point hitch makes short work of it.
We are still slowly getting our lanscape done and these machines are a god send for yard work witha loader on the front and some other attachmentsfor the rear they will save you a lot of back breaking labor
as well they plow snow very well.
Only real downfall to a compact is price in my opinion.
If you look at the smaller machines on offer as of last summer you are looking at no less than $16,000 with a good list of options- loader ,mower, 4x4, small back hoe. there are some smaller cheaper machines out there
but they are almost worthless as a compact and you would be better off looking at the bigger riding mowers on offer instead.
Just to give an Idea of cost
the new machines I have been looking at are the

John Deer 990 28,000
John Deer 3203 24,400
John Deer 3520 25,600
These are all in the 30 to 40 hp range and cost includes loaders, back hoe, and mowers needless to say for now I will have to stay with my old 755 and be happy!
I have looked at some other brands that cost much less but without the knowledge of reliability I have been holding off really looking close although the Kioti in this size range looked very appealing any one know much about them?



Good luck with your search
 
Kubota makes a fine lil toy. If you can find one in your price range you won't be disapointed in the performance. Not sure if you will like the price or the space they take. I have used one many times on my buddies play farm and it performs very well for everything, mowing about 25 acres, tilling a garden, building a dirt bike track, pulling down tree's. I only have experience with the one, but it has worked well for him and has had no problems with it for 4 years now.

If you are thinking John Deere, look at a Kubota and use the spare money for another ZL! :D
 
Heres my 2cents. I have mowed and trimmed around roughly 400,000 headstones and mowed more acres than I care to remember.

Unfortunately if all you want to do is mow then stop reading cuz all I'll recommend is a zero turn, usually a mid mount.(plus and minuses fo reither) For work I currenly havea JD F735 diesel. Love the tractor HATE the mower deck portion. Too weak and everything is welded on. I need bolt on as you can imagine mowing around 1500 headstones a week can be rough on equipment. And the deck is paper thin. Here is what I have learned. This applies to anything front mid etc.

Simple...period **** breaks make it ez to fix

Deep strong welded deck...not formed they get weak at the corners. Deep to take the long grass.

Bolt on items on the deck...Makes it ezer to fix as well as cheaper. Price out a JD deck, fak I can almost buy the whole thing for that.

Full floating deck with ez replaced wheels in the right spot. I'm amazed at the lack of smarts on some of these engineers. "lets make a zero turn mower that won't zero turn cuz we can't get close enuf to the stuff to turn around w/o tearing off a deck wheel.

Over power it and a diesel is nice for the grunt. Liquid cooled

MTD makes damn near everything nowdays. Just get a commercial unit.

Heres a partiial list there are others too. I currently owm a grasshopper fo rmy personal unit. Kubota, simplicity, toro,gravely,laser, again there is more, but these are the ones that I put through hell and back.

Oh yeah and the only trimmer I will use is my 12 year old Echo. it weighs a ton but we've done 400,000 headstones together, with nothing done to it. I have 3 stihls at work the latest and greatest...Crap!!!!
 
Ok guys,
Thanks for all the responses and help.

Price range is going to depend on what I can get out of my mowers, overtime at work for the next month or two and some other stuff I am going to sell this spring. It's looking like the $15000 range is possible and everything I've looked at on the net so far seems to be in that range. If I'm going to spend that kind of money I would prefer something that I can do other stuff with and not just mow with. I would prefer new, but at these prices and what I sell my stuff for, used may be the way I have to go. I'm just trying to find out what would be the best way to reduce my mowing time and what is available out there and for what prices. Most websites don't have accurate prices.

How fast do I want the two acres done? ZL fast - hahaha. Gotta remember though, the ground is pretty rough - it's like mowing speed bumps - the guy that lived here before me used to plow the 2 acres up to avoid mowing. Hmmm, there's an idea........

Rammy - I have 2 of the Swishers - self powered pull behinds. I also have a quad - which is one of the items being sold this spring.

Wuputt - I have a friend with a Kubota BX model (I think it's a BX). He's had it a while and does about 2 acres with it and really likes it. It's sort of like a compact style tractor. So I've been looking at them as well.

I have no idea what a used compact tractor should go for so it's hard to tell what's a good deal and what's not. I also hate the idea of taking on something that I may have to work on all the time - defeats the purpose.

I have to admit, I wasn't a "deere fan" until I got mine, it's really held up - I can't complain. I think a lot of the price is in the name - not unlike some "other" motorcycle manufacturers. There's still nothing wrong with it, I just need a better overall setup. And as far as price goes, it's a good bang for your buck. I paid about $4200 for the deere, $800 for one swisher and $350 for the other about 12 years ago. So for under $5500 I've got over 10' of cut. If the ground was smooth, I would be done in a heartbeat.

Does anyone know anything about the cheapy tractors they sell at Rural King or some of those types of places? I've heard the motors are all made by the same company - they just rebrand them and sell them everywhere. I take it they are not worth the money? I work with a guy who has a New Holland. Is that considered one of the "generics"?

Thanks again guys. Later.
 
Hi Jarney, see if you can find a friend that has the equipment to level out the land then your problems will be solved.
 
Jarney, New Holland had a plant about 20 miles from me. The make a lot of farm equipment, big, big units. Very well known in my area for suburb machinery. One big ass company I'll tell ya.
 
you may want to decide first how long it you want to spend mowing. once you determine how long you want to spend you can calculate what mower ground speed and deck sizing will be required to meet your need.

mow time =ground speed times deck size in inches devided by 99 times effeciency factor 80% being average.

mt=gs x ds /99 x ef

your current mower (est)
5mph x 48in / 99 x .8 = 1.93 acres per hour production

Hustler zero turn mower
10mph x 52 / 99 x .8 = 4.2 ac/hr. production

Based on the discription of your property, Im thinking that the effeciency factory is lower than 80%. Youll have to geuss at that yourself.

here is a link to hustler turf ... these machiens Haul Assss !!! fastest cut bar none. and good durable product.

http://www.hustlerturf.com/Web-content/Index.html
 
New Holland has been around FOREVER! (maybe longer)

US made and another option for ya, plant some alfalfa and sell the hay, Buy another bike!
 
Hey Jarney,

I recently bought a Kubota compact tractor. I am amazed at how strong and capable these little tractors are! Mine is an old 4x4 B7100, but boy does it haul some amount of stuff for me.

If I had 2-3 acres I think a tow behind gang reel would be the way to go. A friend of mine has a golf driving range. He has an 40 year old Massey ferguson tractor to tow his gang reel mower. I think theres 5 reels on it and he can mow 6 acres in well under 2 hours. The reels are configured in a V shape, stacked behind each other to overlap the edges. His grass looks BEAUTIFUL when its done. He has plenty of obstacles but he has the technique down to a fine art. The mower is about 9-10ft across and each reel is about 2ft long. He can really get up some speed with those reel mowers... Theres like a cloud of green dust as he zips around his place..

You would have to do some remedial work first to get your 2 acres level but it would be worth it...imho.

The other option could be to plant a couple of thousand trees and have your own source of fire wood in a few years.....?

I have just under 1 acre of lawn here and it takes me a bit over an hour to mow with my 48" 'White' mower, but ya know... I kind of like the seat time. Put on my Ipod, settle back and just drive. No Kids, No phones, No work... I do some of my best procrasternation when I'm mowing the lawn!!!
 
Thanks for all the info guys.

Blag, we had reels at the golf course where I worked - 5, 7 and 9 gang, for the fairways and roughs. You can really haul butt with them but the maintenance and space they took up was a bit of a pain and the ground needs to be pretty smooth. We used an old Allis Chalmers, Massey's, and the Jacobsen F10's for that stuff. Then we had Jacobsens and Toro's - zero turns - for the greens, tees, and fringes.

Thanks for the formula Bacchus. That may help me compare stuff. I don't quite get the efficiency part - efficiency of what?

Thanks for the info on the New Hollands too.

The zero turns that I've used just don't seem to be very good with rough ground and smoothing my land out is a bit more of a project than I'm willing to take on at this time. I'm thinking the compact tractor style would be more useful and with bigger wheels than most mowers may help roll over the rough ground better.

Thanks again guys, I'll keep researching this and see what I can come up with before spring. Later.
 
How about a old ford 8N tractor,with a 6 or 7 foot mower.These things run for ever and parts are dirt cheap.You see them for about 3k any day of the week.you can mount just about any type mower behind it.Just another option. :good luck:
 
jarney,
the effeciency factor is a variable used to "dial in" real world out put productivity. with out this factor the formula would assume that the mower was run in a straight line without slowing for turns, bumps, or obstacles. 80% is a general figure that is accurate most of the time with average turf areas. yours may require additional slowing.


I can tell you that compact tractors havnt got a chance at keeping up with anything in the Hustler line. their productivity is awesome. cost range is 6 to 12k. At 12k youve got a "muscle mower". The dealer will demo at customers location, at least they do here in phoneix. Highly recomended...

Here is a couple more very important questions...
At what height do you want to mow???
how often do you intend to mow??
 
you could always try to locate the new owner of the ford mustang "jesse james" built on his t.v. show " monster garage" he turned it into a real working lawnmower ! cutting deck out back of car, & open the doors, & 2 reel cutting blades came down. this would help you cut your grass faster ! it just sold on "barret jackson " in jan. for somewhere around $ 8000.00 :stir: CHRIS
 
CHRIS said:
you could always try to locate the new owner of the ford mustang "jesse james" built on his t.v. show " monster garage" he turned it into a real working lawnmower ! cutting deck out back of car, & open the doors, & 2 reel cutting blades came down. this would help you cut your grass faster ! it just sold on "barret jackson " in jan. for somewhere around $ 8000.00 :stir: CHRIS
Click to expand...
:rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf:
That would be cheaper than most of the tractors ,and mowers your looking at. :stir: :rotf:
 
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