$2000 MM or $2000 Riding Mower

[SrChf]

Being a RCH away from buying a BX25 with MMM, I cannot shake the thought that I am going to dislike mowing my lawn with this big thing (considering I prolly need to take off the backhoe and front loader each week to do it) as compared to just firing up and hopping on to a new tight turning riding mower for about the same cost.

I see there are two ways to look at this - a second machine is more maintenance, more moving parts, etc, on the other hand, now I can still mow my yard should the BX go Tango Uniform.

So I suppose the main question is to you that mow your lawns regularly with your BX25 TBL (or equivalent SCUT)? If you owned a $2000 riding lawn mower sitting there, would you still hop up on you BX and do your lawn with it?

Granted, it surely depends a lot on the yard. No brainer if you have a massive multi acre field of saw grass to hack down. Mine is one small acre of land of common weeds and (a little) grass, not too many hills but several massive trees to steer around.

Thoughts?

 

[devildog1]

Been there done that. I had both, no easy answer, BX mows great and really is not big, and you can keep mower on tractor it's a plus. I had BX23TLB and mmm, but I used the tractor in woods so I took off mmm as not to damage it. Now I use a rear finishing mower that I can drop off real fast, It cuts a path 72" which is really nice. Also have a Craftsman's 48" garden tractor for weekly mowing, I use the RFM if I can't mow weekly.
DevilDog

 

[DAY]

How much lawn? Lots of trees/obstacles? Putting green or pasture?

A cheap- even used- rider will get the job done, from Late April to early October. Then put it away for the winter.

 

[TripleR]

I had my fill of cheap riding mowers long ago. We have a John Deere 425 54" deck sitting unused for the past three years in our barn as we always go for the BX2660 and the JD is certainly not a cheap mower. It takes about three minutes to dismount the FEL.

I am not familiar with the BH dismount on a BX25.

 

[CinderSchnauzer]

Mine is one small acre of land of common weeds and (a little) grass, not too many hills but several massive trees to steer around.

Thoughts?

Year One - bought a riding mower / tractor with 54" deck to mow approx 2 acres. To the naked eye the lawn looks quite flat. Given the relatively small wheels & short wheelbase, I soon discovered there were many small humps / bumps and the ride was fairly rough. Year Two - got a JD 3320 TLB with MMM. Ride is much smoother, no appreciable rutting / compaction of the lawn. I usually mow with the FEL / BH attached so total weight is probably in the 5,500# range.

I still need the riding tractor for under some trees, a couple of inside corners and for maybe the first cut or two in the spring if the ground is really wet. The rider is also handy to pull a little cart for yard work or a fertilizer etc.

If I didn't already have the rider, could probably manage quite nicely with the JD and a walk behind self propelled mower.

In your case, with small amount of info, I'd be tempted to try using the BX with MMM, it wouldn't be that much higher than a rider, but if you leave the FEL / BH attached and you have inside corners there may be a problem.

 

[CompactTractorFan]

Well, I would never trade the BX for a cheap rider. Removing the FEL and BH are not that hard. The only problem is, in the manual it says that you cannot have the BH & MMM on at the same time. I don't understand this because our BX came from the dealer with the BH, FEL, and MMM on at the same time and it seemed to work fine. In any case, I would not waste 2k on a rider...IMO...

 

[ashdump]

Another vote for the BX 25 with the MMM. I have a $2000 (I actually think it was a little over $3K) Troy Bilt ZTR. The Kubota kicks it's butt all over the place. Granted, I have mostly flat and straight mowing with few obstacles, but the cut, ride and "fun factor" are all better on the BX25!

As mentioned earlier, the hoe and loader are easily parted. The more you do it, the easier it gets! Also, I have a 3PH with mine and it spends more time on the tractor than the hoe does. I just drop the FEL and mow. There are trimes where I will mow 2, 3 times without need for the FEL.

To sum it up, the BX is a very versatile machine. Use it to it's full potential!

 

[RalphVa]

Blade maintenance on a cheap riding tractor is often a chore to near impossible. I'd go with the MM as others have suggested.

Guess your FEL loader bucket isn't removable by itself? On my 4010, it can be removed quickly by taking out a couple pins and putting it on something so that the bucket doesn't sit as low as the arms will go. It's just held there with a couple loops and 2 pins.

Wouldn't think you'd need the back hoe on all the time.

Ralph

 

[jenkinsph]

Being a RCH away from buying a BX25 with MMM, I cannot shake the thought that I am going to dislike mowing my lawn with this big thing (considering I prolly need to take off the backhoe and front loader each week to do it) as compared to just firing up and hopping on to a new tight turning riding mower for about the same cost.

I see there are two ways to look at this - a second machine is more maintenance, more moving parts, etc, on the other hand, now I can still mow my yard should the BX go Tango Uniform.

So I suppose the main question is to you that mow your lawns regularly with your BX25 TBL (or equivalent SCUT)? If you owned a $2000 riding lawn mower sitting there, would you still hop up on you BX and do your lawn with it?

Granted, it surely depends a lot on the yard. No brainer if you have a massive multi acre field of saw grass to hack down. Mine is one small acre of land of common weeds and (a little) grass, not too many hills but several massive trees to steer around.

Thoughts?

The BX25 with either a mmm or rfm is a reasonable sized mower for one acre, if needed add a small push mower to trim with. I would venture to say that after the initial work is done that most of the summer use will be with the mower deck on and fel and bh removed.

 

[Wacky]

I have both MMM and a separate rider. I ALWAYS go w/ the MMM. It is very easy to remove everything from the GC, be it MMM, BH, FEL. I have a lot of hills and feel much safer on the GC. The Gravely is now for sale.

 

[mostly_gas]

I don't have a BX25, I have a Ford 1700 with FEL & rfm and a Agco Allis 1616H w/44 inch deck (rebadged Simplicity) and a lot of trees. Hour wise both mowers get equal time with the wife putting most of the hours on the Agco. The more you need to trim the more you need the smaller trim mower. The deck on the Agco pulls in 2 minutes so blade sharpening is a snap, most of the work on both mowers has been routine maintenance.

 

[CHDinCT]

I have both; MMM for the BX and kept my old Wheel Horse garden tractor, which is not really a cheap mower but is a little rough by today's standards. I almost always mow with the WH since it's all set up and it's just easier to hop on and mow with it than convert the BX. In my mind, BH and FEL removal are not too bad, but hooking up the MMM is more work. So, if you think you can keep the MMM on the BX while doing loader and/or BH work, it might not be too bad to drop them and go mow with it, but if you have to remove the BH and FEL, then mount the MMM to mow, then reverse for other chores, it will get old fast IMHO.

I would love to mow with the BX as it is an awesome mower, but my WH ain't too bad either. Lately my issue is spending the money to gas up the WH since it goes through gas a lot faster than my BX goes through diesel, but a newer mower should be more economical than my old 20 hp Onan. I figure in a few years when most of the FEL/BH work is done, I'll be able to keep the MMM on more and use it. It's also nice to have a backup machine, especially when one is 18 years old and has the occasional mechanical/electrical issue.

Another consideration is if you have room for both, but I assume you do if your considering a separate, dedicated mower. Also, you can pick up some nice, quality used mowers for less than $2K as another alternative. (Just some added thoughts.)

 

[BethesdaEC]

I have a Bob-Cat Fast Cat Pro for mowing duties. It is light at about 700 lbs, being a zero turn it is very maneuverable and it is always ready to go without adding and removing attachments. I have about 2 acres of grass to mow with some tight spots so I picked a smaller 48" unit, but it does mow at 8 MPH so covers a lot of ground quickly. I can do the entire yard in about an hour and twenty minutes. My setup with the leaf vac was pushing $9K. I couldn't imagine doing this with my 2520 even ignoring the hassle of dropping the backhoe (PITA) and the loader.

 

[Sniggle]

I had the Kubota G1900 4WS before I bought the B7800. The G1900 has a 60 inch deck, and mows at about 9 miles an hour, and best of all it turns around all my fruit trees and other gardens.

I took the 60 inch deck off the B7800 the day I got it, and it has gathered dust since. I really should hook it up to chop down the 3 acres of pasture, but the G1900 has not let me down, no matter how deep the grass.

 

[ray66v]

This topic has also been discussed at lenght before.

A tractor with backhoe, FEL, and MMM, is too heavy for mowing my lawn, particularly when the ground is soft.

Sure, you can remove the FEL, and the B/H, and replace them easily. But, when you want to use the FEL real quick for a simple job, your going to find it blocked in, or covered with stuff, and then you will also need a counter weight. Now, it's not so simple, and you decide not to bother, effectively rendering it all useless to have.

Plus, I refuse to make my TLB suffer the embarrassment of having to lug a MMM around.

Needless to say, I bought a lawn mower.

 

[richamor]

Didn't buy the MMM when I bought the BX25. I have a ZTR in the garage to cut grass.