Buying advice for those purchasing tractor/mower

[JDgreen227]

I mow a 4.5 acre yare area with my Deere 4210/60 inch 7-Iron MMM combination. When I purchased my machine back near the end of 2002, it was after careful research and comparison between several brands and models. The salesguy I finally purchased from was someone I knew from a prior purchase, so I trusted him when he told me my choice of mowing decks would cut "up to 6 inches in height". Well, what he didn't tell me was that height was only possible with the larger 4310/4410 models fitted with that deck, and my 4210 will only cut 3 3/4 inches maximum height with the deck raised as high as possible.

Even when fitted with new Gator mowing blades, my deck does a poor job of chopping up clippings even when the grass I mow only gets to 6 inches height before it is cut. During last month (May 2011) it rained 23 out of 31 days where I live, and there was an actual measured 16 inches of rainfall here. I went out and measured the area that I mowed less than a week and a half ago, and parts of the grass are already 12-13 inches high again already, because of the constant rain. I basically spend more time raking up and disposing of the clippings than I do mowing, most weeks.

Had I known my choice of tractor/mmm had such limited height of grass cutting, I would cheerfully have spent the extra money for the larger 4310 model with the extra 2 inches of cutting height ability. I am not trying to bash Deere, or the salesman, because I should have inquired about the cutting height before I finalized my purchase. If this information helps just one buyer avoid the issue I have endured, I consider the time spent composing this thread well spent. TAKE HEED !!!

Oh, and for what it is worth, after over 850 hours of ownership, this is the only gripe I have about my green machine.

 

[beenthere]

I doubt very much that the few additional hp going to the 4310 will make much difference in mowing. Too many other variables to consider, one of which is the ground speed. Big ones are the type of grass, if wet, very wet, or dry, and height.
Mowing 6" tall grass with any mower deck will give questionable results, IMO.
And can't very well blame lack of hp when getting 23 out of 31 days of rain.
But you have been frustrated for almost 10 years, so why don't you have the bigger hp tractor?

 

[JDgreen227]

I doubt very much that the few additional hp going to the 4310 will make much difference in mowing. Too many other variables to consider, one of which is the ground speed. Big ones are the type of grass, if wet, very wet, or dry, and height.
Mowing 6" tall grass with any mower deck will give questionable results, IMO.
And can't very well blame lack of hp when getting 23 out of 31 days of rain.
But you have been frustrated for almost 10 years, so why don't you have the bigger hp tractor?

Three reasons:

Retired, on a set income
Happy with tractor otherwise
Told wife I would never buy a replacement, so she said okay to buy the one I have now.

 

[beenthere]

Only mistake was what you told your wife.

Now you can enjoy more seat time by mowing more often, or re-mowing when the grass is tall.

When I am mowing in thick grass, I find that the mower blades can't kick all the grass out from under the deck and gets bogged down. I stop, back up a bit, stop the blades. This lets that plug drop down on the blades which then gets burped out when re-starting the blades. Don't have to do it often, but when early season grass that is tall, it happens.

 

[om21braz]

Maybe it's time to ask your wife for a bagger or a baler. Plus someone to empty the bags if you go that route LOL! If that is the only thing you're unhappy with, I'd say you are pretty satisfied. I don't think the extra 2 inches would help unless you were cutting it from 8" tall to then the max. height of 5 3/4". Generally cutting off more than 1/3 of the blade of grass does'nt work well no matter how tall it was to start with. And yes, those Gator blades don't work really well on tall, wet grass - I've learned the hard way too.

 

[JDgreen227]

Maybe it's time to ask your wife for a bagger or a baler. Plus someone to empty the bags if you go that route LOL! If that is the only thing you're unhappy with, I'd say you are pretty satisfied. I don't think the extra 2 inches would help unless you were cutting it from 8" tall to then the max. height of 5 3/4". Generally cutting off more than 1/3 of the blade of grass does'nt work well no matter how tall it was to start with. And yes, those Gator blades don't work really well on tall, wet grass - I've learned the hard way too.

The weird thing is, my Gator blades seem to cut FINER when the grass is slightly damp!!! I think it may be in part because when the grass is damp, it tends to stay in the deck a little longer after the initial cut, so instead of being blown out, it gives the blades a chance to chop it up better.

 

[jenkinsph]

JDgreen227,
I would think the best solution is to cut more often if you have that much growth. Might want to cut and maintain a lower height on the grass too as this might help slow down the growth. Consider yourself lucky to get some rain, I haven't had any moisture since snow in Febuary. I run my sprinklers alot to maintain my own lawn but most of my customers have watering restrictions and have poor looking lawns as we speak.

About the raking, I bought a pine straw rake from Ted at Everything Attachments and this does a great job of raking up clippings without any damage to the lawn. IIRC a 6' rake is about $300 + and may reduce your cleanup time dramatically. I use my rake with the x749 with excellent results and think it would work well with your 4210 too.

Here are some pics of the rake, note this is a new customer lawn that has not had any care. The grass is very thin because of lack of water and too many pine needles. I mention this because the rake is not hurting the grass.

Last pic is my lawn which I rake up with the same tool, still no damage to the lawn.

 

[JDgreen227]

JDgreen227,
I would think the best solution is to cut more often if you have that much growth. Might want to cut and maintain a lower height on the grass too as this might help slow down the growth. Consider yourself lucky to get some rain, I haven't had any moisture since snow in Febuary. I run my sprinklers alot to maintain my own lawn but most of my customers have watering restrictions and have poor looking lawns as we speak.

About the raking, I bought a pine straw rake from Ted at Everything Attachments and this does a great job of raking up clippings without any damage to the lawn. IIRC a 6' rake is about $300 + and may reduce your cleanup time dramatically. I use my rake with the x749 with excellent results and think it would work well with your 4210 too.

Here are some pics of the rake, note this is a new customer lawn that has not had any care. The grass is very thin because of lack of water and too many pine needles. I mention this because the rake is not hurting the grass.

Last pic is my lawn which I rake up with the same tool, still no damage to the lawn.

Would LOVE to cut more often but....as I posted elesewhere in this thread...SIXTEEN INCHES OF RAIN HERE IN MAY. The grass NEVER dried out until a day or two ago.

Thanks much for the info about the rake !!!!

 

[Travesh]

SIXTEEN INCHES OF RAIN HERE IN MAY. The grass NEVER dried out until a day or two ago.

May was a very wet month here in the Northeast as well. Guess it passed through you to get to us.

Today I was finally able to mow a particular patch for the first time this year. Grass 2' high and still muddy in spots; took about three passes to get it reasonable.

If this keeps up, I'm thinking there's a market for hovercraft-based mowers. :laughing:

 

[charleyfarmall]

If this keeps up, I'm thinking there's a market for hovercraft-based mowers. :laughing:

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