JD 2305 vs. 4ft rotary cutter?

[Soundguy]

let us know how it mows.

soundguy

 

[Birdmayon]

CDHD, have you used the cutter yet? Curious about your opinion on this.

 

[cdhd2001]

CDHD, have you used the cutter yet? Curious about your opinion on this.

I haven't used it too much yet. But, so far so good. Things are starting to green up around here, so more opinions and questions are to come.

 

[FortClatsop]

I don't want to hijack the thread but the picture lifting the mower intrigued me. What kind of lifting fork system are you using? Do you have any more pictures of it? If you would rather PM than morph the thread I would understand.

 

[cdhd2001]

I don't want to hijack the thread but the picture lifting the mower intrigued me. What kind of lifting fork system are you using? Do you have any more pictures of it? If you would rather PM than morph the thread I would understand.

Here is the link to my bucket fork thread. So far these have held up well. Only casualty has been the pretty green paint.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/build-yourself/98523-bucket-forks-project.html

 

[FortClatsop]

Thanks

 

[cdhd2001]

CDHD, have you used the cutter yet? Curious about your opinion on this.

UPDATE!!!

I did not get to use the rotary cutter nearly as soon or as much as I originally planned (seems to happen to many of us, huh?!)


First off, I believe that the orange KK model is a heavier duty model than most people think. Seems to be well built, lightest flat steel is 1/4" thick. Assembly and setup took me about 2.5 hours. Most of this time was spent trying to decide if the rear support bars were directional? Neither one fit up quite as well as I thought they should, however once the bolts were tightened up they aligned just fine. The drive shaft was almost too short, but ended up 1/2" longer than the minimum overlap called out for in the instructions.

The rotary cutter cuts great! Almost as clean a cut as my two craftsman mowers. This is probably due to the tandem rear wheels. Only disadvantage to the tandem wheel setup seems to be when backing up while going uphill. Sometimes one of the wheels doesn't completely turnaround and drags sideways. I have mowed over 1.5" thick water oak saplings without a fuss. The full sided skirts keep about 95% of the debris from flying out from under the cutter. This is really great since I am cutting within 30ft of the house.

Maybe someone can help me out with this question? When I engage the rear PTO with the rotary cutter attached, the tractor has a shudder and the rpms drop from the 1,400 rpms setting to about 1,100 rpms. About 5 seconds later the rotary cutter blades "straighten" out and everything is smooth and normal. Otherwise, I am getting good results with the engine rpms set at 2,300 rpms for cutting. I lower the rpms back below 1,500 rpms when I disengage the PTO and feel a slight shudder.

Great investment so far! I am going slow and careful, but this sure beats using a hand held brush cutter!

Pic of the cutter attached to the tractor.

Pic of the area to be cut. Pardon the junk in the front of the picture.

Pic of an area that has been cut.

Pic of tractor in the brush.

 

[chipsndust]

From your post #5:
"I am picking up some plate steel this week to finish up the skid plate. Should completely cover the underside from the loader cross bar to the rear hitch."
I would be very interested in more details about the skid plate. Have you designed one that does not interfere with the mid-mount mower?

 

[cdhd2001]

From your post #5:
"I am picking up some plate steel this week to finish up the skid plate. Should completely cover the underside from the loader cross bar to the rear hitch."
I would be very interested in more details about the skid plate. Have you designed one that does not interfere with the mid-mount mower?

Pics of the final fit up before paint. I don't have an OEM MMM, so it may or may not work without conflicts.

 

[barneyZ]

cdhd,
are you still happy with your decision of XB vs the regular KK mower? I'm debating the same decision. prices are nearly identical. the regular mower is definitely heavier so I'm assuming it will stand up to rougher use. I've had some bad experiences with 'light duty' attachments in the past.

thanks.