Finish Mower. I know nothing about them.

[chim]

I have a 5 foot 24 year old Caroni RFM that has been beat around, welded back together and has had at least two "quills" (spindles to most of us) replaced. It is a side discharge and still works very well behind an old Ford 1210 although it rarely gets used anymore. I ran a Kubota B7500 / Landpride 5' RFM from 2002 till 2012. Replaced some wheel bearings along the way. Since getting the l3200 in 2012, I've been using a 6 foot Landpride RFM with rear discharge. It's my favorite. At times when the grass is high or really lush, I need to mow clockwise to avoid windrowing.

 

[N80]

Lots of good info here. I've been researching the Landpride and Woods heavier units. I will research the Howse and King Kutter ones as well but usually think of them as lower quality. Not opposed to going that route if they are decent as it will only get used 4 or 5 times a year at most. As mentioned, the Country Line mowers get really bad reviews and don't seem to function even when brand new.

 

[k0ua]

I ran a BEFCO 5 footer for mowing about 7 acres. It was an excellent mower, well built and did a good job.

BEFCO - Products - Finishing Mowers - Cyclone C50

 

[Turbys_1700]

Nothing at all wrong with King Kutter or Howse units. Land Pride, Woods, Bush Hog, etc...are more expensive in part due to their higher overhead in dealer support of parts. Those parts are pricey to say the least. I would think that the gear boxes are outsourced from China on all units. Not sure about the bearings though. County Line units do seem to get bad reviews for some reason or another. I've got a 10' Howse brush cutter that needs a new gear box now due to a seal going out I was not aware of. Howse still supports the unit with parts but my nearest dealer is over 40 miles away. Overall it has been a good medium duty cutter. Bush Hog and Land Pride dealer support is much closer and they have typical parts like wheels, belts, bearings, etc... available. My closest Woods dealer is a parts order taker. Does not stock much of anything. I order parts on-line. Thankfully it has been very reliable.

 

[leonz]

What? I have 2 different finish mowers and this hasn't even happened. The wheel mounts on both of them are pretty sturdy.

The gauge/anti scalp wheels are bent up quite often on belly mounted lawn mowers especially when they lift from side to side when mowing on rough ground.

 

[DK35vince]

The gauge/anti scalp wheels are bent up quite often on belly mounted lawn mowers especially when they lift from side to side when mowing on rough ground.

Might be true with a low cost box store riding mower.

 

[DK35vince]

I have a 84" First Choice rear discharge that's been a good mower.
My neighbor has an 84" Befco C-50 rear discharge that's been a very good mower.

 

[leonz]

Might be true with a low cost box store riding mower.

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It happened with both of my fathers $7K Wheel Horse Lawn Tractors which had a heavy gauge 1/4 inch plate welded mower decks so......... They no longer make riding tractors and that is real shame. They cheaped out on the gauge wheel anti scalp mounts.

Thats one of many reasons I like flail mowers-very little that will go wrong with them as long as you take reasonable care of them.

 

[DK35vince]

Thats one of many reasons I like flail mowers-very little that will go wrong with them as long as you take reasonable care of them.

I'm surprised it took this long for you to bring up the flail mower, but I knew you were leading up to it.

 

[2458n]

Ran my finish mower today to get ahead of 5 days with rain. Forgot to say you want good size tire on your finish mower to help with rough ground. The top link is not fixed solid on my mower. The top mounting bracket is pinned in place ,but it moves to the front and rear to allow a floating feature. Mower follows the land surface being pulled along with the two lift arms. This type of hitch on the toplink connection is a good feature to have.