72" finishing mower behind BX23

[LiveRoll]

Have an opportunity to pick up a used Land Pride DR 1572 inch finishing mower. Has anyone ran something of this size behind a BX? I'm sure it would struggle, but would love to hear any feedback.

Cheers

Roger

 

[4570Man]

It will do fine as long as you keep up with the grass. Your bigger problem are hills.

 

[devildog1]

I'm not sure what the Land Pride finishing mower weighs in at but I have a Woods Heritage 72 that I operated with my B3200, it cut well but on inclines the tractor and I knew it was behind it. I now use it on my Grand L3540 and I don't know it's behind it. Now on a BX23 could it even lift it with the three point and keep the front wheels on the ground? I would not do that as it seems like you would be testing the three point to fail on the BX23. Just saying.
DevilDog

 

[LiveRoll]

The mower weighs around 600 lbs, I'm sure on anything other than relatively flat areas it would be a struggle, the asking prices for the mower is $ 200.00 Cdn...( lol about $14.99 USD) so I just can't say no...... looks like perhaps some re-furbishment may be in order, new blades belts, paint and decals and up the road to the neighbors, just in time for his newly landscaped yard and his 35 hp Kubota that would be a match made in heaven....

Thanks guys!! Love the input!

Cheers

Roger

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

I first bought a pretty red flawless welds French 6' RFM for my B3200 (1700 lbs plus FEL weight) and paid about $1200 for it. I converted a field into my hillside, gullied, rocky yard. The red mower broke a few times at it's flawless almost invisible welds. I talked with Steve Barlow and he suggested I trade it to a 72" landpride which was $1700 an dhe gave me my $1200 back on the landpride purchase. I did the trade to the tank built Landpride with very visible welds.
When I'd get to the bottom of the hill and make my turn the Red mower had no impact on my B3200 31/32hp 1700+ lbs tractor but the Landpride would swing the tractor on the turns. The B3200 31/32 HP tractor never had any power issues running the Landpride deck or climbing hills with it.
Traded the B3200 to a L3240 Grand 3700 lb 32 Hp tractor plus FEL weight. The L handled the Landpride like it wasn't there except.....climbing hills then the tractor would start slowing down. Double the weight makes a difference with the same HP.
Your 23HP tractor may pull a 6' Landpride RFM on reasonably flat ground and might even power it up enough to spin the blades and maybe even cut short grass but good luck in high grass or inclines or turning/controlling at declines. Hope you don't have to make any turns at the bottom of a hill.
Now I like to buy bargains and often times I do with no plans on using them myself, only selling them and maybe making a few bucks or helping someone with a purchase. What's the cost to repair or replace a Kubota engine that has been worked past it's capacity and replacing the pto drive train? No, seriously go for it. It's a bargain and one shouldn't pass up a bargain no matter the end cost.

 

[bp fick]

On an earlier BX, I had a 48" RFM, sold to me by Ken Sweet. It's Italian made and an incredibly good machine, sold here under several brand names. I'd say it was perfectly matched to the 18 hp BX. Spotless, trouble free use for years and years.

With the 23 hp BX I now have, I'd feel very confident in a 60" being a fair match for the power and more importantly, the weight of the BX.

Personally, I'd have nothng to do with a 72" RFM on the BX series. My experience in over 6 years of BX operation is that such a large, gangly, heavy machine would ruin my mowing experience. Pulling an RFM is supposed to be high quality time with a man, his tractor and his thoughts. Pulling an oversized beasty would totally ruin that time for me. YMMV Just one man's experience.

 

[KennyG]

Go for it. If it won't handle it you have an excuse to buy a larger tractor.

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm running a 84 inch Landpride finish mower behind my 35 hp tractor and it's probably too big for my tractor based on how heavy it is. My 3pt can barely lift it, and when it does, my front tires come off the ground a little bit. When going uphill, if I lift the mower, I cannot steer because my tires are not touching. I have weight on my front bumper, but not enough.

Having said that, I rarely have to lift the mower. It's weight is supported by four tires, so all I need to do is pull it. My tractor can pull the weigh easily, and my PTO has more then enough power to cut the tallest grass. If it's really tall or thick, I just slow down, or go over it twice. Usually both!!!! If I am maintaining an area and mowing it regularly, it's super fast to cut with. This is it's advantage, when mowing regularly, it's the best thing out there.

I did have a lot of problems with the original factory tires. Eventually I replaced all of them with solid tires from Landpride designed for another model. I had to replace the axles with another sized bolt, but otherwise it was a simple change that has resulted in never missing a day of mowing due to a flat tire!!!

 

[RoyJackson]

As long as you keep up with your mowing, I think you'll do OK. Taller or thicker grass will really slow you down and you might not like that. 72" is wide enough to scalp, if your lawn is uneven. I have a 72" RFM that I used to mow with...I found a 60" ZTR does a better job with no scalping (the 72" RFM is used to maintain a field area now).
As Eddie wrote, lifting the unit might not be easy with a SCUT the size and weight of a BX. Going upslope or turning sharply (with the mower raised) could be problematic.
Also, as Eddie wrote...pneumatic tires are a PITA.

With those caveats, I'd go for it, myself.

 

[Apsterbobed]

For that price I wouldn't pass it up, I have a landpride 1672 that we ran on our deere 790 (still use it on the Kioti) and the deer handled it just fine, a little light on the front if we had the loader off. Our tractor was trapped at another property (trailer problems ) for over a month, so our neighbor let us borrow his little New Holland 23ish HP to mow (with my RFM). It had plenty of power to spin the mower and drag it around (but we don't have a lot of slope). It had no problem lifting the mower but it was very light up front even with the loader on, a few rocks in the bucket would be the easiest fix but like Eddie said it spends most of the time on its own casters. We use the mower to maintain our horse pastures so it's set on the highest caster setting, 6 to 8 inch cut and we mow when we get to about 10 to 12 inches but it's patchy where the horses have eaten. While mowing if it bogs down I either slow down or take less of a cut, sometimes both.

Oh and the mower itself has been great, only a few minor problems but I would buy another landpride in a heartbeat.