JD 950; how much mower will it handle?

[lambs]

I am new on the JD forum as I own an MF1010 and post on the MF forum.

One of the older gentlemen at our church passed on recently and I am helping his family sort out equipment. He was mowing several acres with a JD 950 and a Caroni 4 foot finish mower, which is well used and likely beyond further efforts to repair. I think, but do not know for certain, that he also has a bush hog for the pasture, but have not seen it. Before he passed on, he told me he would not recommend a Caroni. I think he felt they were too light for the work he needed to do.

I expect to volunteer to help them with some of the mowing come spring, and I suspect they will want advice on what size deck and what brands of finish mowers are good ones in case they decide to get a new one. I have not shopped for them although I think my MF 1010 will handle a 5 foot finish mower, so my guess is a JD 950 should be able to pull a 6 footer and not even know it is there.

So my questions are:

Will the JD handle a 6 foot finish mower?
Will it handle a 6 foot bush hog as well?
What brands are built tough enough to hold up over time?

Thanks for any advice you may have on this. I really want to help these folks out and may end up doing some of the mowing or bush hogging for them until they can work out what they want to do long term.

 

[JimRB]

I have JD 870 with a JD 5' brush cutter. The deck is closed in the back so it mulches, sort of. It works great in my horse pastures as it breaks up manure but it would not be a good brush cutter if I was clearing thick fields that did not have livestock eating down the grasses. I would want an open at the back cutter with chains. Or you have to mow every month during the growing season.

I have a 5 foot finish mower which works ok. No power issues.

My brush cutter has rusted out with 12 guage patches added 2 years ago. Tractor and most equipment sits out in the weather. If things are stored out of the rain and the mowers are cleaned before storage the mowers can last decades.

 

[Leejohn]

I had a JD950 and it well pull the 6 foot finish mower easy. and I used a 5 foot bush hog. The 5 foot bush hog would be all I would use on it, unless you are going to use it as a finish mower. If I remember right it's 27HP. It sure was a good tractor, I had it for 12 years.

 

[OzGrasshopper]

Hi Lambs & all, i've got a bit of a problem with terninology here, so i'll use description rather than names - we use as JimRB describes, an open back cutter with chains for many purposes here from fine cut finish on lawn to cutting pasture for hay baling - not always what u should have, but by keeping cutters sharp by quick touch with angle grinder we get excellent job from one machine. i have 31 hp JD with 4ft cutter & nothing stalls it even in rough going. what i did first b4 buying the cutter was look for cutter manufacturers hp recommendations. from my experience with other mowers, its always best to over power, not under power, but in saying that the material ur cutting can vary sooooo much. cheers OG

 

[sweettractors]

I am new on the JD forum as I own an MF1010 and post on the MF forum.

One of the older gentlemen at our church passed on recently and I am helping his family sort out equipment. He was mowing several acres with a JD 950 and a Caroni 4 foot finish mower, which is well used and likely beyond further efforts to repair. I think, but do not know for certain, that he also has a bush hog for the pasture, but have not seen it. Before he passed on, he told me he would not recommend a Caroni. I think he felt they were too light for the work he needed to do.

I expect to volunteer to help them with some of the mowing come spring, and I suspect they will want advice on what size deck and what brands of finish mowers are good ones in case they decide to get a new one. I have not shopped for them although I think my MF 1010 will handle a 5 foot finish mower, so my guess is a JD 950 should be able to pull a 6 footer and not even know it is there.

So my questions are:

Will the JD handle a 6 foot finish mower?
Will it handle a 6 foot bush hog as well?
What brands are built tough enough to hold up over time?

Thanks for any advice you may have on this. I really want to help these folks out and may end up doing some of the mowing or bush hogging for them until they can work out what they want to do long term.

You will be able to walk with a 6 ft Finish mower. We sell the Sicma/First Choice/Phoenix/Kleen Kut/Kioti and have sold hundreds with no complaints over the last several years. These machines will compare to anybodys Landpride or Woods at a more competitive price. I stock all parts that move on these machines and ship cheap. Ken Sweet