2320 62in MMM Question

[mcrame01]

Hi all.

I have been reading these boards for some time now and finally created an account. I would like to begin by thanking everyone for the great information. My wife and I recently built a house on 17.5 acres. I will eventually have about a three acre yard, a 400 foot driveway, and about 5 acres of pasture that I may mow a few trails through. I am currently looking at the 2320 to handle such tasks. I was going to get the loader to help with landscaping and the 62in MMM. I will eventually get a blade for snow removal and a finish mower but not enough $$$$ right now. I would love to get the 2520, but once again, not enough $$$$ I guess my main worry is that I won't have enough maneuverability (hope I spelled that OK) and won't be able to get as close as I like to the house, tight spaces, and small trees. Do most of you use your 2320/2520 for mowing your lawn or is it too big. I thought about buying a used mower (54 inch deck or so) and another used tractor to do the same thing, but I would love to have one, new multipurpose machine. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

As a side note, does anyone know anything about the new Kubota b2320 that is supposed to come out. I was at the Kubota dealership yesterday and it sounded like a very comparable machine to the JD2320. Maybe that is for another forum....

 

[Runner]

My 2520 won't go everywhere on my property due to tight spaces and hills. Therefore, I kept my old JD185 lawn tractor to trim in the inaccessible areas, after which I finish up with the string trimmer.

I too wanted to have one machine that would "do everything" but found out in short order that it wouldn't work for me. Having a mid-mount mower would help (I have a rear finish mower), but I still couldn't get everywhere with it.

 

[mcrame01]

Thanks. That is kind of what I'm worried about. I have a Scotts 48 in. mower (made by Deere, but cheaper) now. I wish I could just keep it and just get a tractor with a finish mower. Unfortunately I don't think it will handle 3 acres for very long, especially since I have some hills. I hate to pay that much for the MMM and find out that I don't like mowing the yard with it. I'm starting to think that maybe I should take the money from the MMM and the money I would get from selling my lawn mower and use it to buy a bigger rider.

 

[kennyd]

Welcome to TBN

These machines are amazingly nimble, and since your building new, you can design the landscaping so you cam get the tractor anywhere you need it.

Not sure what you are referring to as a "finish mower", if you mean one that goes on the rear, then you will not need that if you get the MMM.

 

[mcrame01]

Unfortunately we may not complete the final landscaping for a while and will probably be done over a matter of years. I love to mow, but hate landscaping, and to cheap to have someone do it for me Maybe the FEL will change my mind by making it a lot easier. I eventually want a rear mower so that I can back into brush piles and such without having to drive my tractor through it. Also, it seems that my past experience with rear mowers is that they handle large grass and brush better than MMM, but maybe that is not the case with this one.

 

[JiminGa]

rear finish mowers are designed to exactly the same task as a mmm does. if you want to back into brush and things of that nature I suggest the mmm and a rotary cutter, which is far cheaper than a rear finish mower.

 

[mcrame01]

Sorry for terminology. I have always called them a brush hog if you will.

 

[kennyd]

Sorry for terminology. I have always called them a brush hog if you will.

OK, now I understand...Yes-you want a rotory cutter of bruch hog. In your other post's you said finish mower so I was confused

It still sounds to me like one machine will work for you...

 

[JSR LLS]

I am going to use my 2320 for all our mowing. I got the 62"MMM. I haven't used it yet, we bought just as snow was starting to fly. We have about 3 acres of lawn with normal obstacles-house, garage, barn, winding driveway, kids playset, but not many trees. I'm not anticipating any huge problems. I too also have about 4 acres of old pasture that I will brush hog about once a month and mow paths through more often. Good Luck in your decision.

 

[mcrame01]

Thanks Kenny, and sorry for the confusion. Completely my fault. I wish I could wait and ask you how yours works out JSR, but I think I'm going to have to make my decision before you get a chance to mow. I'm kind of leaning towards buying the 2320, MMM, and FEL. Then selling my rider if I'm comfortable with getting around things with my 2320.

 

[JSR LLS]

I kind of wanted to mow with one before I bought. But, it just didn't work out that way. I had heard (here and other places) that the gauge wheel gouging had been corrected and otherwise favorable reviews of the 62MMM. Our yard is just that, a yard. It isn't manicured, we run the 4 wheeler, kids toys, neighbors tractors and machinery and our vehicles over the grass often. We do like it to look nice, but figured the deck would have to be pretty bad to not make us happy. We don't (nobody else does either) scrutinize our lawn after mowing. I'm sure we'll be fine with this MMM.

 

[JiminGa]

I have a 2305 with 62c deck, moved up from 38" deck on LT150, my yard hasn't got a flat spot in it and I have no scalping issues, just don't set the deck on those wheels when mowing, that's not how it's intended to work.

 

[jsb2b]

I too have a 2305 with 62c deck. Last summer I mowed 4 acres of hayfield with some as high as the steering wheel. Will never let it get that high again but she cut it with no problem at all with the deck set in the transport position (approx 4.5"). You just have to remember to stop grinning and check/clean the grill and radiator pre-screen every once in a while!!!

 

[orlo]

Just an FYI: The 2305 has the 62C deck, the 2320/2520 have the 62D deck. Same size but the 62D is drive over and has regular 'caster' type wheels that used to cause the gouging. No such gouging happened on the 2305 since it has the all plastic non swiveling anti-scalp wheels.

Sounds like you'll be happy with what you get. My only advice would be that if you think you'll be using the loader in rough stuff maybe consider a rear finish mower instead so you aren't taking the deck on and off all the time. The 2320 deck I think is pretty easy to take on and off (somewhat like the my 2305) but if you were doing it every week it could get old fast. The 7 iron decks on the 3000 series are enough of a pain that I now have a Rear finish I use instead of my 72" MMM..

Load the tires, get the 61" bucket and don't look back.

When does the backhoe come into the picture...

 

[Rookie2320]

I've got the 2320 with th 62" MM deck and its great. I use it to cut both my yard and my "field" that together make up about 3 acres. The maneuverability of the 2320 is impressive, I've never had trouble getting up close to anything...and it cuts significantly faster than my old JD lawn tractor. The biggest difference I have found is weight. If the ground is soggy, the tires will dig in and tear things up a bit, however, I can clearly say that having the speed of this tractor more than makes up for it...and the utility of being able to grab a bucket of mulch or compost with the FEL is such a plus.

My yard is very hilly and has a number of planting beds and trees, I've never had a problem getting it around. You'll be very happy with this machine.

 

[mcrame01]

Thanks again for the input everyone. It sounds like the 2320 will handle my yard and do the things I want it to. It is just a lot of money to spend without getting some input first. I will probably keep my 48" lawn tractor for while maybe to just go around the house until I get my landscaping done. Can I ask everyone how much I should be looking at spending for a 2320 with FEL and 62D MMM?

 

[bxowner]

I paid $14,400 for a 2320 with R4s, a 200cx and a hook welded on the bucket delivered. Loading the rear tires added a couple of hundred dollars - and I paid $400 for cross-chains as well (really beefy chain set that actually seem like a bargain at $400).

I've since added a 72" Frontier rear blade at $795 delivered.

One thing to think about with the 2320 is whether (1) you want add hydraulic lift - as opposed to lifting with the 3pt hitch (I guess there's a cog or some such mechanical lift normally - the hydraulic adds $150 and you use the loader lever) and (2) if you ever intend to put on a front blade there is a different quick hitch bracket for when you have a MMM (again, so I'm told).

I seem to recall that a 62D deck was under $1800 installed. This was just another example of the overall cost difference between the 2000 twenty series and either the 3000 series or a Kubota B series tractor. Both of those ran well over $2400 for a mid-mount mower.

 

[ChuckinNH]

MSRP for the JD 62d onramp mower with the mechanical lift is $2530.00 plus the cost of the "independent lift". The 62C deck for the 2305 is $1920.00 with the mechanical lift, and may be the price you were thinking of.

 

[JSR LLS]

I paid in Nov. 2007:
2320 $11,600
62D MMM (w/o ind. lift) $2200
FEL $2700
47" SNowblower $2800
I also got them to throw in 2 hooks welded on FEL bucket and Power Wheels Gator for the kids. BTW this was their first price quote that they gave to me. There was no haggling, I felt the price to be fair based on my research. I just negotiated the gator and the hooks. It is a lot to swallow, but it should last me forever.

 

[ChuckinNH]

Thanks for the street price breakdown, it will give me a better idea what to expect in my shopping. I was hoping to do a little better than the $14,800 I've gotten on the tractor / FEL, and the dealer I have been to so far was quoting retail for the attachments.