Brother's wife says buy something to do the job but what?

[Oldtractorfixer]

My brother has about 50 acres mostly wooded. some recently logged some reforested several years ago.
He likes to keep things trimmed up and has been using a DR walk behind 30" rough cut for years.
He has hills and soft spots. We are in the northwest so grass and weeds grow quickly and it rains a lot.
Anyway his wife has told him he has to get something that doesn't work him so hard.
He has a 4310 John Deere which is way too big for this work.
The problem is he says max width is 40".
My suggestion was a Steiner/Ventrac. Problem is narrowest mower is 60"
Even a Kubota BX only narrows to 44"
Budget is max $20k.
Suggestions please.

 

[smstonypoint]

A Kubota 2320 Narrow comes in at less than 40" -- Kubota Tractor Corporation - B232 Narrow.

I know that 42" Cat 1 rotary cutters are available. I'm not sure about narrower cutters.

Steve

Addendum

Here's a 40" cutter -- Agri Supply(R) Category 1, 4 inch 3-Point Rotary Mower. There may be others.

Your post mentions that your brother has hills. My 2320 is about 45" wide and it doesn't take much of a side slope to produce a "pucker" for me.

How about a 2-wheeled tractor with a mower attachment and a sulky (BCS America)?

 

[Grandad4]

The problem is he says max width is 40".

Because? If there are a few tight spots, maybe a little work with a chainsaw or a spade would ease the bottlenecks. Just going by the described acreage, the need is for something with greater capability than will be found with that width restriction.

 

[pmsmechanic]

I would slowly trim everything up (ie. Cut down/move trees, level dirt.) so that a 72" mower could go everywhere. The trees are going to thin out as they get taller/older anyways and your bil has better things to do with his time than mow grass all his life.

 

[Citydude]

I would suggest looking at the John Deere X700 series with 4 wheel drive for the conditions you describe. The smallest width mower is 48" which would require some trail widening. The 40" restriction isn't really going to be achievable if he is serious in finding something to reduce his workload.

 

[mcfarmall]

I suggest making your paths wider!

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

20k to keep trails 40in wide mowed?

Prob with narrow is its not stable on hills, I would suggest a lawn or garden tractor with a 36in or whatever you can get close to 40 in a MMM, it will make it threw tall grass.

Husqvarna offers a deff lock mower with a 24hp kaw for around 3k new out the door.

JD has deff lock in there x5xx and x7xx but those range from 4-14k and the larger units will be the size of a BX.

You can also get a walk behind with one of those little one wheeled dolly guys ride on, they make commercial stand on zero turns also like this Ferris SRS Z1 Stand On Mower 36" 23 hp Vanguard V-Twin Engine - SLE Equipment

Lots of options

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

After a little google search I found these which I forgot about, there narrow and come in 4wd

Husqvarna articulating riders, riding lawn mowers

 

[bspeedy]

Solution - eliminate the areas of 40" max width until his 4310 can do the work. Haul in or harvest some gravel for the soft trail areas. Should cost a small fraction of the 20 grand. I think your brother likes the work. It's very easy to eliminate work you don't like, especially with such a large budget.

 

[airbiscuit]

Solution - eliminate the areas of 40" max width until his 4310 can do the work. Haul in or harvest some gravel for the soft trail areas. Should cost a small fraction of the 20 grand. I think your brother likes the work. It's very easy to eliminate work you don't like, especially with such a large budget.

Might be a plan ...

Is he just mowing trails, or is he cleaning up the wooded areas as well?
Is the minimum width of his trails 40"?
If he could mow 80%-90% of his needs with a 4' or 5' mower, then do that and use the DR walk behind for the rest.
He could get a 48" cutter for his Deere 4310 which is 50" wide.

I had a 15hp Shibaura with a 48" cutter and it did amazing work, but I will admit to puckers on side hills!