How big is too big?

[Waste Management]

My Dad just bought a John Deere 4110 tractor with a 410 FEL. It's 20hp, hydrostatic and 4wd. What size mower will this tractor pull for just regular field grass? He has about 4 acres to mow and a 1/2 acre lake lot....
I have read on here this tractor needs a ballast on the back so I think we're going to put on a box blade and maybe add a little weight to it for a ballast... He wants to do some light grading and smoothing out dirt. What size box blade should we be looking for?

Any ideas?

 

[MarkV]

The general rule for a rotary mower (Bush hog) is 5 PTO hp per foot of mower. I have a 21 hp tractor that runs a 4' mower just fine with a bit below the recommended rule. If you are thinking of a finish mower they require a bit less hp but are not recommended for field mowing. For a box blade I would be looking for one that is the width of your rear tires. My guess is that a 5' box would be right.

MarkV

 

[kebo]

For that size tractor, I would suggest a 4ft bush hog. If it's really nice level pasture land you may get by with a 5ft finish cut mower. While that tractor may have 20hp on the engine, being hydrostatic it's only going to have about 15hp at the PTO. You might find that you may need some front ballast (weights) if you remove the FEL when mowing. The drawback is that mowing 4 acres with a 4ft mower is probably going to take a minimum of 4hours, more time if it has lots of tree's/obstacles to mow around.

As for the boxblade (BB), I would also suggest a 4ft for that too. Having 4wd will really help pulling the BB. If you find you need rear ballast, looking to adding wheel weights or maybe loading the tires with liquid ballast. Also, what tires do you have? That will make a difference with the traction it gets when pulling ground engaging implements.

I suspect your JD dealer will also recommend using 4ft attachments for that tractor. As suggested above, you can run 5ft implements, but you may not be satisfied with the results. I used to have a JD 750 and it pulled a 5ft BB pretty well, but that is a gear drive tractor and mine had ag tires and 4WD. Good luck with whatever you choose!

 

[mikehaugen]

I know it's not quite the same but my mom's riding mower is a jd 345. Not sure if it's the 18 or 20hp version but I have used it running a 54" deck and it does fine- and that is gas. I would think you would be okay with a 60" finish mower.

 

[Waste Management]

I was thinking a 4' mower and BB would be about right. It's got ag tires, so I think it will bull the BB in the sand ok....

 

[jenkinsph]

I would suggest a 4' RC or 54"mmm and a 4' landplane for grading and rear ballast. In a small tractor such as the 4110 a landplane will be a good choice for grading and is easier to work with than a boxblade. I have both boxblades and landplanes and can tell you the landplanes are the go to tool.