"One machine" mentality

[bxowner]

I have to admit, I'm one of those people that thinks my tractor should be capable of doing (pretty much) every task around my property - instead of one dedicated machine for each separate chore. That's why I chose the B2920 and ordered it with a FEL and MMM to start... with a plan to add a plow and 3-pt chipper later on. I had been debating buying a gear-drive tractor with FEL (JD 3005) and separate lawn tractor or Z-turn to mow.

Well, last weekend, I put on the MMM for the first time and I was pretty disappointed in the mower deck from the start. It's a 60" deck and I have a less-than-level yard, so there was a lot of scalping and tall grass patches. Also, putting it on was a much larger chore than I expected - between the turf tires on my tractor being pretty fat and the width of the deck - and and even though I have long arms (I'm over 6' tall) - I could barely reach the mid-PTO. I began to really question my purchase. That is, until yesterday, when I put on a 48" Woods brush hog and spent 2 hours in the woods knocking down thicket and brush (my effort at keeping deer ticks in check, as my dog is recovering from Lymes Disease). I really appreciated the hydro transmission more than ever - if I had the 3005, I'd still be out there!

I just can't resign myself to the idea of spending so much money on a tractor... and then spending another chunk on another machine. It seems "decadent." Plus, the B-series seat and large tires are so much more comfortable than I imagine a riding mower to be.

So, I guess my point is, for people just getting into a tractor for the first time - which seems to be a big part of this online community - there's something to be said for both arguments. I'm just curious how many people fall in which camp - and why.

 

[bp fick]

Of all the BX owners, I am, no doubt, in a minority, and that is OK. I chose not to buy the mid mowing deck. The lawn is such a low priority up here. Grass doesn't flourish on our sand soils and rains are rare enough in the summer and the grass goes dormant quickly.

Since I have to get onto the garden dirt all the time, the constant removing and remounting of an MMM wasn't going to happen. Dirt, Snow, Utility. The trinity of my tractor purposes and purchase. Grass wasn't even in the running for part of the equation.

At the dealership, the thought DID occur to me that for the cost of the MMM, I could buy two cheapo Briggs type tractors from in front of WalMart. Let's see, 6 years each, that'd be 12 years. But, I haven't even bought one.

 

[Taiser]

Same boat for me. I do have a CC mower with 48" deck, but I am planning on getting a 72" deck for my B7800 once all the yard work is done. I'd probably keep the Cub thought...it's handy for tight spaces, hauling yard carts around and it does have a snowblower attachment. The Bota could do all that, attachments aren't cheap. When the cub konks out I'll probably get the attachments for the bota, won't be worth buying a new lawn mower.

 

[rpraymond]

I had the zero turn mower before I bought my B2320 but I probably would've had a dedicated mower anyway. I kind of depends on the land you are going to mow. The B2320 is too tall to fit under my trees and there are lots of obstacles to mow around. With the zero turn I'm done in about an hour. If I had a deck on the tractor it would be more like two hours or more. But it is a sizable expense to have another machine to purchase and then maintain so you have to consider all the variables and everyone's will be different.

 

[Reg]

Ahh, solutions that bring more problems (-:
If you have that much scalping.... maybe time to rip up the lawn, do some SERIOUS re-contouring to get those NICE gentle rolling curves that have the "right" points of inflexion and....Y' know what I mean.

...and lay a whole new one

Lets see, do you have a box blade (yet) ?
Tiller (yet) ?
Land plane ?
Chain harrow ?
Landscape timbers or old tires to weight the chain harrow ?
Spreader ?
Heavy roller (water filled) ?

Finish mower ? Oh, I forgot, the mmm you have started all this (-:

Tractoring (if there is such a verb) isn't "Mowing".

My current compromise is a flail mower and a seasonal change to turf tires.
After a while "lawn" get rollered down pretty well with about 3 tons on 18 inch
wide tires.
I try to alternately mow with the flail behind the tractor and fully shifted to the right, this pretty much eliminates any tendency to put down tracks.

I don't DO low hanging branches, so no problem there.

 

[TripleR]

I really don't think it is unrealistic to expect to be able to have one tractor "do it all" depending on what all you do.

I have several hundred acres in different locations and there is no way one or even two tractors will do all that. I am retired, but don't want to spend all my time driving or hauling equipment back and forth; did that for a few years, but I was a lot younger then.

Now my wife might be mowing with a John Deere or Kubota while I am bush hogging or doing FEL, box blading etc. with my Kubota, Case or Massey Ferguson. Funny how bored people told us we would be if we retired.

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

One machine mentality: A properly equipped BX or B can usually do all the jobs of the average homeowner in a very good to outstanding manner. Implements are necessary to accomplish this task. The jobs these machines can accomplish are innumerable and people are discovering new abilities daily for them. If Kubota will add weedeater string to come out the front, rear and side then they are the only machine the average homeowner should ever need, since that option is not available at this time a weedeater, push lawn mower or Grass killing solution is usually required for edging.
I have 3 plus a push mower but I use or will use 2 of them at a rental property when I get my hole digging done here at home.

 

[poldies4]

I fall in the bp camp. I bought a BX this spring, no MMM, only FEL and ballast box. We have all sand/gravel here, every time i've attempted to add top soil it ends up at the end of the drive. Usually by late summer i'm only mowing once every three weeks or so. My resolution is a 700 dollar garden tractor, and as bp stated I could go through a few of them before I paid for a MMM. Everytime it rains a new crop of egg to softball size rocks appear, not what I'd like to be mowing with an expensive mower deck. Don't know that the BX will ever see a mower deck on my property.

 

[ChuckinNH]

I have both a large riding mower / garden tractor, and a B series Kubota. I have come very close to ordering a mmm for my B on two occasions, but at the last minute I did not. While I have a love / hate relationship with the full length rear roller on the Simplicity mowers, they do an excellent job of following my rough 3+ acre yard. (Before folks bring it up, my yard is so full of rocks poking through, and just under the surface that it would take major equipment, and a lot of money to smooth it. A great many of these "rocks" are much too large to budge with my B.) Every time I get close to the MMM thing, I use the garden tractor, and find that I would want something more manuverable, not less, given a choice. I use the garden tractor to pull a trailer when I'm chipping around the yard, and for many other tasks that make a Zturn not viable. The Simplicity is 10 years + old now, and I'm thinking about replacing it. Just last week, I came close to getting the mmm for my B to make the Simplicity last longer, but in the end I shot the idea down. If I had just one, it would have to be a BX sized machine, but they are just a hair too heavy for ideal yard work, and low for my woods work. Two is best for me, and I expect for most folks. When I bought the 2wd Legacy 10 years ago, I hoped I could do everything with it, but found out very quickly that it wouldn't suit my tractor needs. Just to use the Cat "0" 3pt required removing a bunch of stuff, mounting the thing, and climbing under the tractor to switch the hydraulics to the rear. ( none of that needed these days), and it just didn't have the weight, and traction needed. I also discovered rather quickly that any attachments for it were the same price as "real" tractor attachments. Next, I bought a used BX22, and for many if not all yard chores, it was the ideal pair as JohnThomas is discovering. I could dethatch with one, and collect the chaff with the other. Both were highly manuverable. The BX really wasn't quite large enough for some of my "tractor" tasks though, and so I moved on to the larger B. If I had it all to do again, what would I do? Well, if I were certain about that, I probably would do it! I have a fair amount of backhoe work I could do, but don't need to. If I decided to do that, I would get a larger B for the better backhoe, and a slightly smaller mower than the big Simplicity probably. My 3pt snowblower is overkill for my needs, and I have a little cancer in my back now that makes it a bit harder, but not really painful to use. I would seriously consider a blower on the garden tractor which would be a lot cheaper than a front mount for my B, and leave me the full use of the loader for nasty sloppy stuff. I've just ordered a tiller for my B since they are not much more than a good walk behind, and the same price, or less than one for a garden tractor. Material collection is a big deal for me so any mower needs to have an easily mounted effective collection system available. The ones Kubota makes work OK I guess but are a pain to mount. The new one for the B just makes me shake my head in disbelief. The engineers must think it will be mounted for the life of the tractor. OK, Too much, or not enough coffee this morning I guess............. sorry guys.

 

[radioman]

Since you have a B series, perhaps a MMM is not the answer for you. Have you considered a RFM instead ? it has 4 wheels on each corner with antiscalp in middle front and back on the good models. It might work better in your situation for mowing. Adding a quickhitch will allow you to swap implements quickly, all you gotta do is connect/disconnect rear PTO which should be easier for you then MMM PTO on a B series.

 

[Tom_H]

A couple of thoughts:

R/r of the MMM gets easier over time. Make sure PTO stud and receiver are well lubed and use finesse, not force. An MMM dolly makes maneuvering the deck into position much easier. I have written extensively re. the dolly and PTO attachment technique in the past. If you can't find my posts by searching, I will see if I can dig up links. There are pics of the dolly in the archives.

Secondly, I believe your tractor, being in the Bxx20 category, has the deck that does not have to be in ground contact (can still cut while still partially suspended). There is a currently active thread re. adjusting all the little threaded rod suspender adjustments on the underside of the tractor. You really should be able to keep fine tuning all those until you get a level cut.

As far as the yard itself having all those high and low spots, that is not a deficiency of the tractor. You may need to rototill then drag to level the topography. Another possibility is to have a transfer load of sand delivered. Use the FEL to take a load at a time, and with a shovel, broadcast small amounts of the sand into the low spots, but leave the tops of the grass blades exposed to light. If you continue doing this over a period of time, the low spots will fill in without the grass dying or having bare spots.

Philosophically, I prefer to have one single internal combustion engine to maintain. One has to be concerned about IC engines staying lubed, not having stale fuel, and possibly battery drain down. Maintaining IC engines for pressure sprayer, chain saw, edger, string trimmer, leaf blower, lawn mower, tractor, paint sprayer, pneumatic tool pump, PHD, log splitter, generator, rototiller, rough cutter, etc., et. al. just gets to be overwhelming. Since I have AC @ a number of points on my property, I have tried to change most of the smaller of these to electric (although handling all the power cords is somewhat of a PITA) and go with rear PTO powered versions of the machines with medium power requirements. I think the main consideration in whether to use the same machine for mowing and other tractor work is whether that "other" tractor work requires considerably more weight and hp that mowing. If the "other" work is light, a sCUT or CUT can be a good all purpose machine. If the "other" work involves heavy plowing or excavating trenches for a city sewer system, the massive machine required for this work is obviously going to have too much impact on turf. So again (assuming one has the finances), this is the primary consideration, "Is the power and weight of the machine that can (or will) be used for mowing compatible with the power and weight of the machine that is required for other tasks?"

Once one decides the tasks vary too much, it seems sensible then to specialize the machines so that they can perform their relative tasks better. Having two or three BX tractors makes absolutely no sense to me. If I could afford multiple machines, I would have a ZTR or F series for fast quality mowing, and an L or M series tractor for the heavy duty work. As it is, however, my budget allows me one machine with numerous attachments.

 

[kuboman]

Good grief, who wants to limit themselves to one tractor?:thumbsup::laughing:

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

Good grief, who wants to limit themselves to one tractor?:thumbsup::laughing:

I would like to............but I just can't!

 

[magicheater]

Good grief, who wants to limit themselves to one tractor?:thumbsup::laughing:

Isn't the goal to have 1 tractor for each attachment!!:laughing:

 

[Qapla]

Let's see ...

We have a Massey 240 for the 20 acre farm area

double plow
5' and 6' deck mowers (bushog type)
3-point disk
cultivator
planter
fertilizer attachment
spray attachment
some homemade devices

We have a Ford 1900 for the 5 acre area

5' deck mower (though it is a bit too heavy)
tiller
plow
planter
cultivator
planter

We also have a Farmtrac 360 DTC with a FEL/BH

primary purpose is for loader/hoe work
Rake for FEL

Now, to be able to get to the areas that these machines are a bit to big for, we also have
2 riding mowers
two string mower
two push mowers
riding mower type sears tractor with an assortment of attachments for the electric lift

One tractor would never work ... :confused2:

 

[James Loehr]

I've had one wife for 47 years and I'm very happy with that but the next tractor I see I may fall in love with and then it will have to come home with me.

 

[Mace Canute]

Isn't the goal to have 1 tractor for each attachment!!:laughing:

YES! You can hardly ever have too many tractors!
Seriously though, a good friend lives on an acreage and between us we have several John Deeres...a D(gas hog!), an A with a permanently rear mounted sickle mower, an AR, a 70 (gasser) with an 8 foot blade on it, an R with pto and hydraulics that he uses for the heavier drawbar work, a 3010 (gasser) with FEL and 3PH, and a Cockshutt 30 that has been beautifully restored. He is a professional mechanic and is exceptionally talented when it comes to building and repairing stuff, so I concede that many wouldn't be able to have the number of tractors we have and be able to keep them running, but boy! is it nice to not have to always be hooking and unhooking implements! A side bonus is our tractors and implements don't add up to that much money altogether, much less than what I see many people on TBN have invested in theirs. Circumstances favour us and we both know it!

 

[dodge man]

I guess I don't understand the logic of not buying a MMM because you don't want to tear it up on a rough yard. That is why I bought my BX, I was tearing up cheap mowers on my yard so I bought a high quality machine and MMM. The deck is the first thing to go on a cheaper mower. I broke the spindles on my first riding mower.

There are times I wish I had two machines. I wish I had a bigger B when moving dirt and working in the tress. The bigger bucket and bigger tires would be a plus, but when it comes to mowing, I'm glad I have my BX. My wife could hardly stand me spending the money I did on my BX, let alone two tractors, so I will live with what I've got.

Another thing to consider is how much you use your tractor for each task. In my part of Illinois lawns grow pretty good, so mowing is a big task. On the other hand, when I bought mine, I thought 90% of my tractors work would be mowing, but it has actually turned out that is only about 50% of the hours. The other is snow removal, and FEL work.

As as side note, I live near someone that has a Kubota zero turn and a pretty good sized L model. Then the other day I saw him dragging his driveway, and he had an older BX for it. In this case he has decided 3 Kubotas are needed.

 

[AJE]

I agree about the "one machine" concept.

I think my B is a little too heavy/big for good MOWER... it's a rear finish mower instead of a mid-mount, and it is a little tough to mow around all the trees I have.

HOWEVER, It only takes a minute to take off the RFM and/or put on the blade and FEL, then I've got a good dirt mover or whatever else I need.

I think it is a little too small and light for a good TRACTOR. If I had a little bigger capacity bucket, or better yet, be able to switch the bucket out for forks or whatever else like I could do with the bigger models, I think I would like it better for that task.

But for one machine to do both jobs I am very happy with it. It would have cost alot more money for a nice zero turn and a bigger tractor!

 

[Reg]

As as side note, I live near someone that has a Kubota zero turn and a pretty good sized L model. Then the other day I saw him dragging his driveway, and he had an older BX for it. In this case he has decided 3 Kubotas are needed.

Yeah, I've HEARD that about Koo_Boo_Boos before (-: