Not to beat the drum too loudly, but the mf dealer has a couple steep slopes you can try out if he has one of the tractors you are interested.
My JD mower has turf tires, and the mf has r4. The mf goes where the JD slides sideways.
I took the GC1705 over to that 15 degree bank that goes up to the sign out by the street and first went up in 4x4, no problem.
Then backed down and moved over to fresh grass and used 2 wheel drive while on the diff lock and as long as you kept it moving steady it kept going.
Then I tried stopping with diff lock and starting back up, no go. I also backed down and tried 2 wheel drive non diff lock and when the rear tires got onto the slope at the very bottom it was over.
Repeated the same thing with the MF 1726E.. 4x4 was fine. 2 WD lock was fine, and can stop/re-start. 2WD non lock was FINE! But could not stop and re-start. Amazing what that huge rear tire and added 1,000+ lbs does for traction!
Next, I took and pulled them both sideways at the very bottom of that 15 degree slope going up to the sign. I got off of the GC1705 with the bucket about 4" off of the ground.... I could lean on the ROPS and flip the tractor over with VERY little force. I repeated with the larger 1726E and got off, I feel that I could have flipped it by hand on the ROPS, but it would have taken me getting serious and hulk smashing it.
Adding fluid to the tires of the 1726E would likely make it pretty dang steady at that angle, even more so if they have a 2" wheel spacer kit for it. The comparison for side slopes between the GC and the 1726 shows that the larger/higher 1726E is actually a good deal more stable in the same place/position/angle as the GC1705. That is contrary to what many folks have suggested. Now, maybe repeating with the FEL off of the GC1705 and the MMM under it and filled tires and the stability would (potentially) be rock solid.
In grass cutting mode, no matter GC or 1726E I would be running no FEL/BH and just the mower. The FEL/BH would be put on for the times that I wanted to go dig something, and all winter.
I think if the OP is managing with a standard lawn tractor, the Ventrac would be overkill.
A zero turn would be perfect though and would cut his mowing time in half.
I know that what you speak it truth. But honestly, if I were going to buy a zero turn I would want a low end commercial (Say... about $6,000 to $$8,000) with a set of HD hydrostatic units that would at least last the 4-6 years a higher end GT hydro transaxle can last.
From researching zero turns, the cheap home user $3000-$4000 units come with very small/weak hydro units meant for flat-ish properties...
The same is true for cheaper garden tractors, many of them (and I have been fooled into buying one before) have very small and weak hydro units that I kill in 2-3 summers. I have to spend $3,500 or so and research carefully to get the GT with a hydro unit that gets me double the life of the cheaper units. But they all still die.
That was what got me to looking at JD X700 series units at $12,000 with diesel 4x4... and that got me thinking about the GC1705 with diesel, 4x4 and FEL... and that got me to thinking the GC1720 to add the FEL and BH so I can use the tool to do a whole lot more.... and that got me to thinking CUT because it can do that "more" better. It's a snowball effect. If I am going to spend $5, why not spend $10 and get better. But $15 gets me more and $20 gets me even more yet!
A zero turn takes all of the "more" back out of the equation, and Mrs. Rock Crawler is not going to stand by and let me buy a $7,000 zero turn and a $20,000 tractor when the tractor is not a NEED. But if I get the tractor as a grass cutting device that I need, and it just so happens to have a FEL/BH... I win.
So while you are absolutely correct, the flaw in your hypothesis is that you do not know that the unknown in the equation is Mrs. Rock Crawler. And trust me, she is THE BOSS.
As it stands right now, I have a hard on for the MF 1726E with a 3-point finish mower and the beastly Woods/MF BH75. I believe you are the one that just recently suggested that I could likely back the finish mower up the 32 degree hill. So based on that I opened up my research width to encompass CUT units.
The B series Kubota units are sold out currently up in Butler PA, but they expect a shipment in in the next couple weeks. I want to go check them out, as they are the only CUT I have discovered that can have FEL/BH brackets installed while having the MMM brackets on. They essentially are capable of the "transformer" trick that the SCUT units can pull off.
I really would like to consider the KIOTI FEL/BH/3-Point Mower CUT units, but that BH subframe that you drive over to install looks like a major pain in the butt to install/remove compared to the other brands more conventional BH install/removal method.
The attached chart is my spreadsheet for helping to see the desired traits of different brands that I am considering. I do have other brands included in the chart, but they are hidden as they are not a part of my search... such as TYM, Yanmar and Branson. If you want the Excel version, PM me your email address so that you can add to the information I have already gathered for your personal use.
Along the main body you see green and yellow items in each category, green is the top performer, yellow is the close second. I view the greens and yellows as nearly equally weighted.
Along the very bottom I score them on total counts of greens and yellows to determine the best overall performing units within the group. You'll red as the top performers and orange as the next level down.
There are many intangibles that are not on the chart. Ergonomics. Fit and finish. Personal bias. Dealership distances. Visual appeal. These things could be integrated into the chart, but many of them are personal opinion/choice and do not fit well into the concept of using facts to remain color blind while sorting the products that best fit my concept of value. I see value not as lowest cost, but lowest cost factored into best performing.
The chart is broken down the center with SCUT options on the left and CUT options on the right.
The MF 1526 can not take a BH, so it is greyed out. John Deere priced itself out, so it is greyed out. The Mahindra Max 26 is to slow in low range and does not have a mid range, so it is greyed out. All other CUT units are in the running and I will eventually go hands-on on each one to eventually get the list narrowed down. As it stands, that MF1726E and in the SCUT territory the MF GC1720 are rock solid contenders. MF has some really well sorted out products in this market place.
