Mowing questions

[SaltySteve]

Hello all,
I just moved into a new to me house in south Louisiana sitting on 5 acres of which it is approx 80% clear (grass). I am currently using a JD X300R (42") to cut it which takes 6.5 hours run time. It will also have to handle other light tasks such as grading a 300' driveway. The machine actually cuts it very good if you have the time every week to do it. I need a little advice on upgrading my mower and more importantly, how much weight is considered too much when it comes to mowing lawn. I have been considering a JD 2520 with a mmm but would really like something a little larger. Once you go larger than the 2520 the weight shoots up another 1000lbs. Am I placing too much emphasis on this weight thing? Also I considered a zero turn but ruled it out because of the driveway maint issue. I really can't afford a ztr and a tractor.

Steve...

 

[TripleR]

I personally wouldn't want to go bigger than that for an all around tractor to mow the yard. No, I don't think you are placing too much emphasis on weight. What may look OK just driving across a lawn, can cause significant compaction over time as well as added stress on your grass.

Just my opinion.

 

[Soundguy]

weight's probably not an issue unless you live in soft areas. see my avatar.. that's a 95 hp tractor with a 15' mower that I mow my pasture with... no ruts..

you are right on the cusp where I'd say jump from 25 hp to 30ish hp. would be nice to pull a 5 or 6' mower and mow faster.. to do that I'd want a 30 ( + ) pto hp machine.. 30 will do it for 6' as long as you don't let it get like 7' tall.. etc.

soundguy

 

[jwstewar]

I was in about the same situation as you Steve. Wore a couple of mowers w/ 42" decks out until I could afford to get a tractor. It was taking me about 6 - 7 hours (sometimes longer if it were high) to mow the grass. I bought a New Holland TC-24D. It has a 60" MMM. Took the time down to about 4 - 5 hours. Didn't save me as much time as I had hoped, but at least my repair bills are now non-existent. I've had it since June 2003, and it now has a little over 1300 hours on it. So I still spend a lot of time mowing. I'm thinking something that would allow you to go up to a 72" or 84" deck if you want to finish mow it all. Maybe a nice zero turn and an older used tractor for the gravel driveway?

 

[SaltySteve]

maybe I should clear this up, when I say grass I mean Lawn. There is no hay to make here....

 

[hawkeye08]

When we got the Kubota we have, one of the questions we asked, are we planning on mowing the lawn with it? If we had decided yes, we would have went with the smaller frame B or BX Kubota. Almost the same hp, but much lighter so we could safely mow over drain field (we have very shallow drain field due to clay soil). Since we were not mowing the lawn with the new tractor, we went with the bigger frame (heavier, with FEL, Rimguard).

I've seen some very nice JD tractors in the same size as the Kubota B and BX that would handle the mowing and driveway chores very nice.

 

[SaltySteve]

I hear you on the wear and tear. I really need my X300R for the bagging close to the house so I don't want to wear it out then have to buy a new one and a tractor. I figure I'll buy the tractor now and save my 300. If it just saves me a couple of hours mowing thats fine with me. My main concern is that it will last a while.

 

[TripleR]

I hear you on the wear and tear. I really need my X300R for the bagging close to the house so I don't want to wear it out then have to buy a new one and a tractor. I figure I'll buy the tractor now and save my 300. If it just saves me a couple of hours mowing thats fine with me. My main concern is that it will last a while.

If you are going to keep your lawn mower then I would agree with Soundguy and go with a bigger tractor. I use an L5030 and M8540 for mowing close to my house, just not my yard.

 

[KU Gator]

I have a JD GT245 that we purchased from the previous owner of our home. It has a 54" deck. We live on 3 acres that is pretty open with not many obstacles. I can consistently mow it in 2 hours including trimming one of the ditches and under the grandkids swings/fort. So I think anything with a deck size more suitable to your lot size is going to result in quite a bit of time saved.

If I mow with the Kubota with the 60" deck, it is definitely saves some more time because 1. it is a bigger deck; 2. it will mow quite a bit faster; and 3. the mower doesn't shut off every time you have to back up. But I would guess the savings for me would be like 20 minutes or so.

The Kubota info says the B2x20 series weighs 1550# which I assume is without any attachments and dry of fluids. If the ground is dry when I mow, you can hardly see where I have been. If it is reasonably moist, I see some tire tracks, but they are usually gone within a day or so.

My neighbor traded his JD GT245 he had for a ZTR after he saw me mowing with the Kubota (mower envy). I actually think his ZTR tracks up his yard worse than either of my tractors when the ground is wet. And as you mentioned, all it will do is mow.

 

[SaltySteve]

I was looking at the various ztr specs and it seems that if you go with a commercial model with a good size deck that the weights were running between 1200 and 1450 lbs. That is quite a lot of weight on those small tires. I bet it would track it up a little while damp.

 

[flusher]

Hello all,
I just moved into a new to me house in south Louisiana sitting on 5 acres of which it is approx 80% clear (grass). I am currently using a JD X300R (42") to cut it which takes 6.5 hours run time. It will also have to handle other light tasks such as grading a 300' driveway. The machine actually cuts it very good if you have the time every week to do it. I need a little advice on upgrading my mower and more importantly, how much weight is considered too much when it comes to mowing lawn. I have been considering a JD 2520 with a mmm but would really like something a little larger. Once you go larger than the 2520 the weight shoots up another 1000lbs. Am I placing too much emphasis on this weight thing? Also I considered a zero turn but ruled it out because of the driveway maint issue. I really can't afford a ztr and a tractor.

Steve...

You have 26 hp (engine) and 21 hp (pto) with that JD 2520. Plenty of power for 5 acres. You'd be surprised how much work you can get done with a tractor that size. Go for it.

 

[TigerfaninAR]

I think the 2520 or equivalent is just right for the size of property and more importantly the duties you described. I think its either a ztr or spend the time on the tractor. One other option is a few large shrub/tree beds to cut the amount of grass to be cut. These can look very nice and not a lot of maintenace required. Also any areas that can possibly be cut monthly or so with a brush cutter and not kept manicured?

 

[mostly_gas]

My 1700 weighs 2500# and has a FEL that weighs 800# and have R1 tires. As long as I am careful I do not have a problem with ruts. Having R4 ot Turfs would decrease the rutting issue. Loading the tires would add to the likeliness of creating ruts.

 

[jenkinsph]

I would consider an X748, X749 if mowing is the prime concern or a 2x20 series if you need a small utility tractor. I lived in South Louisiana most of my life and can say the ground is soft and the grass grows very fast. I would lean towards the dedicated X7xx mowers with diesel and preferabley the 7 iron deck and X748.:thumbsup:

 

[whistlepig]

Hello all,
I just moved into a new to me house in south Louisiana sitting on 5 acres of which it is approx 80% clear (grass). I am currently using a JD X300R (42") to cut it which takes 6.5 hours run time. It will also have to handle other light tasks such as grading a 300' driveway. The machine actually cuts it very good if you have the time every week to do it. I need a little advice on upgrading my mower and more importantly, how much weight is considered too much when it comes to mowing lawn. I have been considering a JD 2520 with a mmm but would really like something a little larger. Once you go larger than the 2520 the weight shoots up another 1000lbs. Am I placing too much emphasis on this weight thing? Also I considered a zero turn but ruled it out because of the driveway maint issue. I really can't afford a ztr and a tractor.

Steve...

As far a the weight thing goes we live on good farm ground and the ground is medium soft in the yard. My MF135 Massey that weighed 3200# would rut the yard if it was the least bit too wet. My 2200# Kubota B7800 won't rut the yard unless I take it out there when the ground is really soupy. Turf tires may offset this a bit. I had R1's on the Massey and R4's on the Kubota. I have no experience with turf tires.

 

[SaltySteve]

I can probably get by in the rear corners a month between cutting but the rest is pretty much lawn grade grass so I'm going to keep it up the best I can. If I had to make a decision today I would probably opt for the JD 2520 with MMM. I'm kinda stuck on the JD mmm because of the drive over feature. I'll be alone working most of the time and that seems like an easier way to go. I was trying to sneak in a little larger machine but I think I had better stay small beings it will mostly be a mower. All those videos on you tube also helped convince me that it can get a good amount of work done besides mowing.

 

[KU Gator]

The Kubota B2x20 series also offers a drive over deck. It does require you to raise or lower the deck wheels, hook or unhook some linkages and hook or un-hook the PTO. Probably about a 10 minute proces to install or remove it. But it kind of sounds like your heart is with the green team and nuthin wrong with that.

 

[SaltySteve]

I guess it does seem like im stuck on the green paint, it's just the easiest ones to get data on it seems. I'm stuck overseas right now and all my info is coming from the internet with a very slow connection. having said that, now that I know for sure what size unit i'm looking at I can explore the other brands and compare apples to apples. Before I knew what size I was going with it was just too many variables to compare anything. I will definitely have a look at the Kubotas deck.

 

[fredhargis]

I think your plan has merit. I mow about 4.5 acres with just a few trees using a 29 HP tractor and a 60"MMM. I can do the entire lawn in a little over 3 hours, and that includes using my old Dixon 42" ZTR to trim around the trees and house. If the 2520 looks like it will otherwise do what you want, go for it. BTW, it's only my opinion, but the biggest advantage of the ZTR is when you're dodging a lot of stuff (trees, lawn ornaments, etc.) If you acreage is uncluttered why spend the extra money and get the rougher ride of (most of them, anyway) a ZTR. Yep, they can cut a straight line pretty well, and the do have a nice cut....but you pay for it.

 

[jenkinsph]

SaltySteve,
Since your 300R has low hours you could trim with it and use a 2520 with rfm to mow the open areas. The rfm is easier to remove/replace for other tasks.

Didn't realize you had low hours on the 300R until I read your post on the other thread.