Thread: Importing a ride on mower from the US

Originally Posted by B92 8NW

The American style ride on lawnmowers are very poor performers by all accounts. For an Australian farm I'd not bother with a JD.

They aren't as aesthetically pleasing but the Greenfield mowers are unbeatable Greenfield Mowers Australia PTY LTD Mowers Rideons Shredders

We've had four mowers on our property and the only one to survive has been the Greenfield. The others were Rover, MTD and Toro. I've myself found that the American multi rotor bar blade setup is troublesome and hitting a tuft or any woody undergrowth stalls the blade and either burns the belt or throws it clean off the pulleys. Having a single rotor cutting deck with swing back blades eliminates that problem as the blades just swing back if they hit a rock or a tuft or a big pothole etc. All the torque of the engine is concentrated onto a single pulley.

I personally dislike B&S engines, all three had 11/11.5/12 HP I&C Briggs and Stratton engines and they all wore out from the dust and continual operation in extremely hot, dry conditions. Our Greenfield has a 6.8HP Honda (it's very old) and it outperforms the larger B&S engines. The current line up has the options of proper decent Japanese Honda and Kawasaki V-twin engines.

You'll also find traction is a big problem. Whilst mildly amusing to begin with, it becomes frustrating constantly wheel spinning trying to drive over uneven ground or through tough undergrowth and long grass. In fact the idea of a differential on a ride on mower is possibly the must inanely stupid thing I've ever heard of. Most Greenfields have a solid rear axle driving both rear wheels, and some that do have differentials also have a differential lock.

I would recommend a Cox, all the features B92 8NW described above, tough and reliable, Regards Frank.

Lots of remailing services that are set up for just that -

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Dunno about the size, but as long as it's on a pallet.

What exactly is this mower expected to do? As others have pointed out the American mowers are not really up to hard Australian conditions. I had a look at the JD but was put off by the pressed tin deck, engines and plastic etc. Its not really a John Deere

Those twin rotors wont cut well in the long stuff. They seem to only cut crass to roughly 1/2 its original length and can leave mow hawks when worn down.

Originally Posted by Rangier Rover

What exactly is this mower expected to do? As others have pointed out the American mowers are not really up to hard Australian conditions. I had a look at the JD but was put off by the pressed tin deck, engines and plastic etc. Its not really a John Deere

Those twin rotors wont cut well in the long stuff. They seem to only cut crass to roughly 1/2 its original length and can leave mow hawks when worn down.

I did some work for a competitor of JD a while back - think red instead of green... They told me that in AU we like to cut our grass much shorter than in the US, which often means they need to modify mowers to suit AU conditions. This seems to concur with what RR is saying above - they are designed to cut grass fairly long.

The company I did some work for offer approved/reconditioned 2nd hand units for the larger (commercial) models. That may be an option?

Get the series finished and build a slasher/mower for the back - it would be much more fun!

Actually, quite seriously the 6cyl series may have to become a spray rig if the weeds keep going crazy!

The mower would be to maintain 8 acres, just keep it tidy. Its a combination of pasture (predominantly Phalerus) and weeds (predominantly santa clauses and pattersons!) Of that area, about 1.5 acres is house paddock which is the same, but I'll probably try to promote fescues in that area.

Thats interesting about the US grass heights. This said, I've been mowing lawns since I was knee high and did it as a money earner through high school and uni also. Short lawns don't work for me unless there is a reason for it. I think the longer lawns come up a lot lot nicer. The house paddock gets mowed on about 1/2 to 3/4 height on the Victa and the rest of the paddock would get probably get done at 100mm to keep the weeds down, the moisture in, the place green and the rocks away.

I think I'll flick the idea of importing. Its too much of a PITA and the dealers over there will probably cop a reaming if they get done. I spoke to my local JD shop and he has offered to sell the LA145 for $4900 (marked $5640) or the X320 for $7000. Hmmm, I'm really liking the X320 - the specs look the same but its built so much better.

These are all 48" 3 rotor cutting decks - I didn't want to be doing 6000 laps of the block to get the job done which is what worries me with the Greenfields.

Hi All

As b92 8nw said a single blade mower will beat a multi blade and i have run the two side by side and the multi was six or eight inches larger in deck size but the cox was a lot quicker overall it would cut a lot more grass than the multi in the same time frame If I was buying a mower to do that area i would buy a cox stockman 32 inch deck with kawasaki or kohler engine

For that amount of ground it would take me hours on my fergie with 5 foot six slasher

If you have a large open area though you could investigate a tow behind mower for a landie or quad

Regards Mark

A friend brought a weeding machine(from memory a large item to freight) Us$179.99 from home depot? plus freight= Nz$600 from memory

here in Nz recommended retail Nz$1399!!!!
As an aside I get my pregressive glasses with titanium, anti scratch, chenging light lenses from the USA on line Nz $290.00 here in NZ $700
Also as cheap in russia when I am there as it dental work crowns one third for the price of Nz
There are some disadvantages to living down under sometimes!!

Simon,
if it was me I have 6 acres,

Buy a reasonable ride on for around the house area mow that,

then go and buy a 28 to a 135 Massey Ferguson tractor $2000-3500 and a 5-6ft slasher $600-$1000 slash the rest.

These will give you many hours of trouble free work and you will be able to use them for other things e.g buy a grader blade for road work, Carry all, Wood splitter, Spray unit etc.

Cheers
Piddler