Greens reel mower for lawn???

[Cord]

Our new to us home has a very steep and sloping yard. Enough slope that I will need all wheel drive and don't want to try a zero turn. I've been looking at some used golf course equipment and would love to get a Toro 325 or something similar in 4wd. Problem is that these typically come with a 72" deck. The deck size doesn't bother me, it's that it's so big it won't be able to follow the contours. A while back I came across a Toro 3500 rotary greens mower and I loved it. 68" cutting width and 5 independent decks so it'll follow the contours. Plus it's rated for a 25 degree cross slope and has 3wd. Perfect machine, other than it was $10,000 more than my budget. That brings me to my question: they have two similar, slightly smaller machines but they are reel mowers. Diesel, 3wd, priced very cheap with reasonable hours. The one I'm most interested in is a Toro Reelmaster 2600, 3600 hours, Perkins diesel, 84". I know the reel mower does a better job at cutting, but is it the right mower for my lawn?

 

[ace10]

What is the size of your cut lawn?

84" is a massive piece of equipment. Last year I downsized from 60" to 48" because I wanted to collect clippings and needed a smaller deck to reduce the string trimming work that was left over.

Is your lawn sufficiently free of debris that will damage the reels?

 

[Cord]

3 acres under mow. Currently using a 52" which is a bit small for my taste. Traction is what is really driving the change as we can only mow going down hill.

I'm not a golfer. It looks like the greens mowers are for really short cuts. But I see Toro also offers reel mowers in larger widths for the fairway. At what grass height should one switch from a reel to rotary? Because this site tends to get dry, I want to keep my grass height rather long.

 

[BeezFun]

I've used one, it gets stuck with sticks easily, small imperfections in flatness of surface end up with scalp marks, rocks ding up the blades and they're a lot of maintenance to keep sharp. Cutting height was limited to be fairly short, that's generally bad for lawn because in a drought grass turns brown and goes dormant quicker the shorter the root system. Root system depth increases with height of grass cut. If you really have that steep an incline, depending on how the reel mower is mounted and powered, it could tend to pull you sideways on the hill because it wants to slide. I have a commercial New Holland front 72" mower (not a reel mower) that's designed for golf courses. Even though it's 4wd it is not comfortable on steep slopes- the engine is high, the cab is high, and a 72" commercial deck is really heavy, so it wants to twist the machine sideways if you drive across the slope.

My Toro ztr is the best thing I've found for steep inclines. The center of gravity is really low, and it supports the cutting deck between the wheels which means there's less leverage for a large cutting deck out front or out back to try to turn the tractor sideways when you drive across a slope. It's also much cheaper to purchase and maintain because there's zillions of them made, versus those commercial reel mowers that are really targeted at a smaller market.

 

[Xfaxman]

How about this one?

TORO Groundsmaster 4500

 

[BeezFun]

How about this one?
View attachment 397508
TORO Groundsmaster 4500

The tractor looks like it's surrounded by Roombas. I'm guessing that setup is about $40K

 

[boggen]

reel mowers = bad if grass gets to tall. other words no skipping on mowing for a couple days.

for riding lawn mowers....
--rear tire wheel weights
--rear tire chains
--different tires tread patterns, get away from turf tread and go with something more aggressive, say a R4 or ATV dirt tires, something out there should fit a riding lawn mower rear rims.
--front weight if need be to keep from doing wheelies going up hill.
--reduce amount of air in rear tires. there is no need to run them at MAX PSI. *shakes head no* reduce the air pressure. if need be put a tube in rear tires, if you think you will have problems with the bead coming loose on the tires from the rims. tubes do not cost that much.

ATV or like pull behind mower, that has an "off set" ability.
--yes another engine to take care of, but hook it up behind riding lawn mower, for some extra width to cut. and then disconnect for trimming.
--if the blades are rated for tall weeds / brush. you can either get new blades or sharpen the blades more for a finishing mower style sharpening.for a better cut.

you have.... walk behind / push mowers, then self propelled walk behinds, riding lawn mowers, garden tractors, SCUT (sub compact utility tractors), CUT (compact utility tractors), and on up.
--garden tractors normal a bit bigger and heaver than a riding lawn mower
--SCUT is normally bigger and heavier than a garden tractor.
--CUT is normally bigger and heavier than a SCUT
--when you enter into SCUTS, you normally get into a machine that has a 3pt hitch, and an optional FEL (front end loader), along with 4x4 / MFWD or like notation were all 4 wheels can have power.
--your SCUTS, kinda look like an over sized riding lawn mower on steroids, with possible run-over install of a belly deck (front tires roll right over deck, vs sliding deck in/out from side), or a 3pt hitch finishing mower deck.

============
there are some remote control units out there, that have tracks. *shrugs*

=============
i have spots on the farm, that simply are to steep to drive up them and/or across them, and only way to mow them, is go down them, then come back up a better spot, and then go back down again for next path to mow it. just how it is and no way to get around it. it stinks... but just how it is and ya gotta deal with it.