B3030 with cab and 60" deck, golf course?

[ficord]

Does anybody have a b3030 with cab and the Kubota 60" deck, that uses it for mowing around the house. I have 1.5 acres of soon to be finished new golf course like lawn.
I have a zero turn that I use now, Its defective and have the option to trade it in or get some cash back. I'm thinking of the Cub Cadet Tank 48"or getting the 60" mmm deck for the Kubota.
My wife seems to think the B3030 will wreck the new lawn. I know the zero turn will do a better job and faster.
But after all the holes are dug and the mulch is spread, the new lawns done the gardens in etc it would be nice to still have year round use of the b3030
but I still want golf course like lawns.
How does it mow around and right up to the house?
Does it leave marks on the lawn?
Is it very loud in the cab?
I really want a good looking lawn after mowing. But do I want two machines.
What do you guys think?
Thank you for any info.

 

[amigauser]

I have a B3030 cab with R4's and it is not very good on the lawn. I think the tractor weight and the loaded R4's do not help the matter. My yard is mostly clay soil though so it may depend on your soil type and tire choice (Turf vs. R4). I purchased my B3030 with the 60" MMM but I ended up trading the mower back to the dealer for some additional attachments. The "B" series mowers (other than the new Bxx20 series suspended mower) are full ground contact. That means you are going to see wheel marks as the mower deck basically rolls along over the ground.

I went with a lawn tractor for my yard as I wanted to be able to pull a trailer that I could load with my B3030 and use other attachments with it. If I wanted something for just mowing I would probably get a ZTR but they are only good for that one purpose.

 

[bx24d]

Also, consider the planned frequency of putting the mower on and taking it off. Add this inconvenience to your mowing time, new turf damage and difficulty around obstacles (especially branches with your cab), cost of the 60" MMM and those are the cons. The cons of a separate lawn tractor seem to be maintenance of another engine, storage and cost.

 

[hazmat]

I've got a B3030 w/o cab and 72"MMM, loaded turfs. If my wife would let me I'd have a second machine for mowing, but the B3030 does a passable job. Certainly fast with the 6 foot mowing deck. The problem I have is there are no high lift or mulching blades available (although Oregon may have a "will fit") for the 72" deck. The 60 can get high lift, but I'm unsure about mulching blades.


The B3030 isn't all that heavy as far as tractors go. If you describe your lawn as golf course, you absolutely want to use turf tires. You need to pay attention to the weather & not mow if it is soggy out. The cost of the MMM gets you well into a homeowner grade zero turn.

 

[AMR]

I am mowing with an open station B3030 and loaded turfs, 60" MMM. My lawn is really nice, I don't know I would say golf course, but nice, wet, very wet, and I have no issues. I would say that my cut is about 95% as good as my neighbor's Scag, but if all I did was mow I would have a zero turn, however, I don't want another enginer in the garage and besides, I look real good mowing on my B3030. All my neighbors have nice lawns and they all want my B3030!

I remove my deck every other week or so for other work, it is really not an issue at all. I continue to be surprised by all of the concern with removing and installing. If I did it every day I would say no way, but every couple weeks is no issue.

 

[easygo]

If you have turf tires I don't think it would wreck the lawn at all. If your rear tires are loaded you could have that undone and use a ballast box for future FEL work. Just be careful with the turns and it will be all right. If the blades are sharp I think the Kubota deck does a good job. I sold my commercial walk-behind mower when I bought my tractor an it does just as good of a job mowing. The only thing I don't like about the wide deck (60") is that it is not the best on uneven ground. I assume your yard will be very smooth and shiny by the time that grass is in.

 

[srs]

Does anybody have a b3030 with cab and the Kubota 60" deck, that uses it for mowing around the house.
I (mostly the wife )uses the cabbed 3030 to cut the 3+ acres lawn.

My wife seems to think the B3030 will wreck the new lawn. I know the zero turn will do a better job and faster.
No doubt about it the zero turn will out perform the 3030. Better job?, I'm very pleased with the cut of the 60" belly mower.

but I still want golf course like lawns.
As previously mentioned I'm very pleased with the way the lawn looks. I don't cut it very short, 3 1/2" height, and the front lawn is sprayed for weeds, etc. by a local Chemlawn type company.

How does it mow around and right up to the house?
Obviously you have to be very careful with trees but for the most part I can get pretty close to the house and outbuilding. I generally use the self-propelled mower and weedwacker next to the house or shrubs, etc.

Does it leave marks on the lawn?
I have turf tires and unless your really turn the wheel extremely hard I do not have a problem whatsover with marks.

Is it very loud in the cab?
I'm kinda disappointed with the overall noise in the cab. Not that it is bad but I guess I was hoping it would be quiet like the interior of a car, which it isn't. It definitely is quieter than an open cab. Neil from Messicks has even mentioned elseware that the 3030 was an engineering problem to make this particular cab quiet. I plan on adding Dynamat Extreme and DynaPad from The Official Dynamat Website to make the interior quieter.

I really want a good looking lawn after mowing. But do I want two machines.
What do you guys think?
If it were up to me I'd have a zero turn plus a cabbed tractor. I would use the zero turn and the wife would use the cabbed tractor (mostly to keep her out of the sun and away from some poison ivy located at the rear of our property.

 

[jcurtisB78]

if all I did was mow I would have a zero turn, however, I don't want another enginer in the garage

Good points, Ferris makes an awesome zero turn mower but that's all it is, a mower. Also, part of my rational for getting our Kubota (B7800) was to be able to get rid of all the batteries, engines, etc. it takes to manage our property

I remove my deck every other week or so for other work, it is really not an issue at all. I continue to be surprised by all of the concern with removing and installing. If I did it every day I would say no way, but every couple weeks is no issue.

I view this as a non-issue as well for both FEL and MMM. A significant amount of engineering went into making removing/installing a cinch.

 

[Piperflyer]

Did you ever think about buying a set of gang rotary mowers and tow them behind the 3030. I've seen this done at quite a few golf courses. I think harbor freight, northern tool, or one of those place like that sell them. You can likely gang them up to any width you want with the right cash.

 

[ficord]

Thank you all for the input on the deck .I have decided to get the new zero turn.
I have been used to a zero turn and I think it would drive me crazy to try and make all the turns with b3030. At the end each row I would just zip the zero turn around and fly down the next row, to turn the b3030 around would be a big deal compared to the zero turn. I will just have to find other uses for the 3030