My Big Lawn Mower!

[big bubba]

you mention 8' finish mower. will this be drag or 3ph type? might pay attention to the mower weight in regards to 5030's lift capacity. are you on slopes? my hd 8' twin spindle weights 2000#, but a finish mower may be much less.
am sure you're aware that a finish mower is limited in the grass/brush height cut compared to a heavier duty hog. enjoy the new machine.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

Thanks that's all covered, with pictures after post #1

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Have an L5030. It has never seen wax, lol. But love the tractor. I got it for dad to use on the farm, he only used his old 8N and ford 600. He was rough on it. We use it to bush hog about 50 acres of old hayfields and pasture. Our land too steep to go very fast.

 

[dnw64]

The Monster Maul! That thing is almost as old as you are! And the best splitter I ever used this side of a hydraulic one...

Remember that thing Dad bought that worked like a vertical log-splitter, powered by a sledge? It made a real racket, and at the end of the first (only?) day we used it, old Sy Brewster came over to find out what all the hullaballoo was about...

 

[Shawn T. W.]

Yeah, now that you mentioned it, I do remember, nice things was I didn't have to try to hold a wedge and wack it with a hammer, but not sure it worked any better ... It was noisy though ...

Not sure why I have them, but I have a few wedges and sledgehammers, besides the monster maul and chopper I ...

I've thought of getting a small wood stove to put in the garage to take the chill off on really cold 10° or colder days when I'm home, the chimney the pellet stove goes into is inside the garage ... I've been accumulating wood, tried to give it to neighbors, but they never come and get it ... I hate to burn it on a brush pile ...

The brush I pile up to burn, the oak logs I carry with the BH, I've been standing them up against another tree I need to take down, before it falls down!

 

[Shawn T. W.]

I adjusted the mower down today, it's cutting about 5" now, and I like it there ... Grass was 12" - 15" tall today, final cutting of the season.

Mid 60's, but the end of fall, tomorrow it stars cooling off, and Monday calling for only 20°!

Just before the sun went down, it came out for a few minutes ...

 

[dnw64]

Mid 60's, but the end of fall, tomorrow it stars cooling off, and Monday calling for only 20°!

Coldest I've seen so far is 24!

 

[Shawn T. W.]

Coldest I've seen so far is 24!

Chilly!

 

[Shawn T. W.]

I got out back on the other side of the creek today and finished mowing ... "Found" a mostly buried/hidden rock! It scuffed/dragged it out, and I wacked it!

My guess is the front of the mower hit it and rolled it up out, first rock I hit since I lowered the mower ... There's a little orange mark that matches the paint circled in purple ... Looks like it took 2 hits with the blades

A nice mid 60's sunny day!

 

[Shawn T. W.]

1st cutting of the year today, even with 15-25 mph winds, there were little bitting bugs, they really liked me this morning, hit 80° this afternoon, and 68% humidity, so after lunch I started mowing ...

The grass was the tallest and thickest since I got this big lawnmower, it was 15"-16" tall and thick in most spots ... I was cutting it at 5".

I was getting a lot of pop ups, so I ended up slowing down to about 4.5 mph, last fall I was 6.5 - 7 mph ...

 

[anomad]

1st cutting of the year today, even with 15-25 mph winds, there were little bitting bugs, they really liked me this morning, hit 80° this afternoon, and 68% humidity, so after lunch I started mowing ...

The grass was the tallest and thickest since I got this big lawnmower, it was 15"-16" tall and thick in most spots ... I was cutting it at 5".

View attachment 5506028

I was getting a lot of pop ups, so I ended up slowing down to about 4.5 mph, last fall I was 6.5 - 7 mph ...

View attachment 5506029

I did my third or fourth mowing today (depending on the area). I have never mowed before April 15 here until this year. Spring came way too early this year. Granted, these were my most manicured areas I cut with the SCAG at 3.5 inches to keep pretty.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

Yeah, I've mowed with my JD ZTrak twice already around the house, and out by the road, third time probably tomorrow ...

Original plan was 3-4 weeks for the fields, which is about every time I have a couple of days off ... I do on occasion swing by with my semi-truck, so I buzz the lawn with the Z-turn, to 3.5"

Was curious how the finish mower would do with the taller grass ... Had to go slower, but only a few very small spots left enough clipping to see piled up ...

 

[Shawn T. W.]

Finished the mowing ... Had 1.04" of rain yesterday, so was still a little wet in spots ... The creek was running pretty good!

The 90" deck has a little overhang ...

You can see here the damp thick grass did kinda clump up a bit ...

Turning on this side hill the rear tires would slip sideways a little with the 1100 pound mower on casters ... And since I had not been sinking in causing ruts, I decided to fill the rear tires a bit ...

I parked the tractor with the valve stem basically at 7:30 for a 25% fill ... Rim Guard calculator said 75% fill would be 50 gallons, so about 13.5 gallons of water per tire, or about 130 Lbs ...

Then I filled it to 10 PSI.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

I got home for a few hours this afternoon, I readjusted the deck cutting height to 3.5" (from 5") I had cut the front field back on Tuesday afternoon to 5" tall ... We had 1.61" of rain Friday night ... It was about 8"tall now ...

As a truck driver I'm quite use to using my mirrors ... I can see the fence and get pretty close to it!

I heard a strange noise, and turned around and saw this ... It's actually a rock, that due to the soft soil, I actually pushed it forward and down!

I'll go back later and drop a couple of smaller rocks in it, and top with dirt ...

I did scuff up some of the grass if I turned to sharp ... Ground was quite soft, but didn't rut up!

I probably won't cut this low on a regular basis ... But I wanted to make the front look nice, since I had quite a few pop-ups last week ... And since I was burning the diesel, and not scheduled to be home for another 3 weeks ... I buzzed it all at about 6.5+ mph.

 

[RjCorazza]

Nice writeup.
I used to mow my small field with an 84" rear finish mower, but after seeing the cut quality and straight lines from a zero turn I just can't go back! I still use the RFM to mow a neighbor's 5 acres that she can't keep up with anymore.
I have a similar small stream that I mow with a ditch bank mower.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

You'd think a truck driver could hold the line a bit better ...

I have a 60" Z-turn, but it has tiny 24" tall tires, and even with a suspension seat, it's no comparison to comfort or how long it takes ... It also doesn't have A/C ...

 

[RjCorazza]

You'd think a truck driver could hold the line a bit better ...

I have a 60" Z-turn, but it has tiny 24" tall tires, and even with a suspension seat, it's no comparison to comfort or how long it takes ... It also doesn't have A/C ...

haha... There are times when I just don't want to be in the heat and humidity and I just run the tractor with AC.
I just did crop circles with the zero turn, which came out nice. I like to maintain my reputation as "the crazy
grass guy".

 

[Shawn T. W.]

I've thought of doing that too, but haven't yet, no need to stop until cleaning up the "corners" ...

I prefer to do the "NASCAR Laps" as in just go around the edge, then work my way in, but with the tail swing of a 3pt attachment, the 90° or sharper corners get messed up ... But I don't like to get the grass packed down in the same "ruts" all the time, plus it keeps the neighbors guessing ...

I've seen in my travels some of the commercial guys who do zigzags, or long sweeping "waves" ...

 

[diesel85]

haha... There are times when I just don't want to be in the heat and humidity and I just run the tractor with AC.
I just did crop circles with the zero turn, which came out nice. I like to maintain my reputation as "the crazy
grass guy".
View attachment 5545139

Looks really nice!

Next tractor I get will be a cab tractor with A/C, heat, and a radio. Getting too old to be out in the elements for hours at a time. Not to mention practically dumping gallons of DEET on myself each summer. Probably ain't good for my health either.

 

[dnw64]

Looks really nice!

Next tractor I get will be a cab tractor with A/C, heat, and a radio.

You must be old. Get a set of good BT ear muffs or ear pods and connect to your phone... Not only do you get better sound, you can listen to exactly what you want to.