7 foot Mowers, anyone?

   / 7 foot Mowers, anyone? #1  

choreboy

Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2004
Messages
40
Location
Harford County, Maryland
Tractor
TC40D
My basic question is addressed to operators out there who may using 7 ft mowers with tractors in the 30 hp range. Do you have any words of wisdom or warning I should consider?


As I've been investigating my mowing needs I have come to realize the used Woods rotary mower I got _may_ be a bit opversized for my tractor.

( 7' mower connected to 35pto HP tractor)

According to those who have more experience than I in this area, I may be burdening the tractor in thick grass or heavy brush.

I am planning to give it a try this weekend and see how it behaves. Another thing I've learned is that I need about 20% of the total tractor/mower weight at the front wheels for proper/safe operation. I do have a fel mounted so I think I'll be OK there, and my pasture is flat.

Thanks for your input..!
 
   / 7 foot Mowers, anyone? #2  
What is the minimum PTO HP for that mower? It's always nice to have more PTO HP than the minimum required by the attachment.
 
   / 7 foot Mowers, anyone?
  • Thread Starter
#3  
Gatorboy,

Good question....

I may have confused the issue.Tractor's a TC 40D, the PTO rating for the tractor is 35HP...The mower's pretty old, and I've been told it operates on a minimum of 30 PTO hp

I think I see you over there in Fallston... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
   / 7 foot Mowers, anyone? #4  
If the mower only needs 30 and you have 35, you should be fine. If you run into real thick stuff, you may have to slow down the tractor to keep up the RPM's.
 
   / 7 foot Mowers, anyone? #5  
You're probably right at the upper limit for the tractor mower combination but it'll depend on how heavy the mower is and whether it is a 3-pt or drag mower. In my experience, drag mowers can get by with slightly lower hp requirements. Don't know why, haven't thought about it, but it must have something to do with not having a requirement for any hydraulics. Some of our more knowledgeable members can probably explain it.
I run a heavy, heavy duty 7' drag mower behind a 2-WD MF 275 that weighs close to 7,000# and it can still get interesting on rough ground from a stability standpoint. The same mower behind a 38 hp JD 820 is almost useless in thick grass or weeds. It'll drag those engine revs down and that JD may be old but it is a lugging, pulling son-of-a-gun. You may not be able to use the whole 7' cutting width. It'll help that your pasture is level and flat but you'll just have to try and see what happens. You'll probably need that FEL and maybe some ballast in the bucket ... please be careful.
As Gatorboy suggested, the manufacturer will specify a PTO hp requirement for the mower.
 
   / 7 foot Mowers, anyone? #6  
"They" say (but I have not tried a rear mower yet) my little 18 hp tractor can pull about a 4' rear mower (I know it will a 5' mmm) so to "me" I would see no reasion yours would not pull a 7' mower
 
   / 7 foot Mowers, anyone? #7  
Can't speak for the 7', but I run a 6' light duty behind 27 PTO hp. That is right at the limit for my tractor. It cuts fine about as fast as I want to go as long as I keep the grass cut regularly. But if I let it get too tall, I have to slow down a lot.
 
   / 7 foot Mowers, anyone?
  • Thread Starter
#8  
After safety, I think the bottom line regarding efficiency here is take it easy, see what it does and try not to let the pasture get away from me.. I hate to use just 4 feet of a 7 ft mower, but if I gotta, I gotta.....

I hope to follow on this post after the weekend. At this point the grass is just under a foot and pretty thick since it's pretty rich bottom land. I think it's dried out enough in the past week or so. I drove through it last weekend to test the traction. I'll be back to with a report after my test mow....
 
   / 7 foot Mowers, anyone? #9  
i think u will be fine, i run a 5 ft behind my b2400, and no problems . if the field gets away from me due to weather i just take it very slow( hydro) and if parts of it get really bad i just go back over it the next day or so, after all it is a field and not lawn.
 
   / 7 foot Mowers, anyone? #10  
I run a 84" Landpride Grooming (Finish) mower behind my TC40D. I purchased a finish mower (rather than a rotary mower) since there were no saplings/trees to cut down on my property. I've had to raise the mower for the first cut, but nothing has stopped me since (except for that T-post hidden in the grass /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif).

Although the TC40 is rated for a 6 foot, I think the 7 foot won't cause any problems. If you seem to bog down, you'll just have to go a bit slower.
 

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