Thread: Mowing season again

Originally Posted by DiscoMick

Looks interesting, if it doesn't turn into a money pit.

We inherited a Rover ride on when we bought the Maleny place. Was a bit neglected but after a service it has been fine.
I got some soil in and smoothed out some areas, while I turned other areas into garden beds with mulch and trimmed back the bushes for easy riding passages.
Now the grandson can zoom around there pretty quick.
We deliberately set the blades a bit high and let the grass grow up to give a nice cushion. Having thick grass also inhibits the bindi from coming back, after I dug it out last year.

Must be an older rover. I think the deck on mine is a "mulcher deck". it has the height range of "scalp the grass--> extremely short" through to cutting deck sitting on the ground. It constantly bends the blades as they are so close to the ground they bend when they hit. the cutter disc is recessed into the deck, so the grass must first bend over .... then stand back up if you want it to cut. I think the idea is you cut the grass to 5mm long .... then when it grows to 6mm long you cut it again .... and make sure it's bowling green smooth.

To get it to cut I've release the drive chain tension and allowed the rear axel to drop down as far as the chains length, then welded a new axle mount to the chassis both sides so the body sits higher. The front I chopped the wheel mounts off and added about 3/4" into them. So effectively raised the mower by 3/4" of an inch. A few years back I cut 1" out of the front half of the deck so the grass didn't need to bend over then stand back up to cut. It now actually cuts grass. But the paddock is still to rough for it.

As for the tractor.... I figure if something has lasted 50years .... There is no reason why it should die tomorrow if it all in reasonable working order. The motor is your usual crappy 50year old diesel ( smokey, loud ... but it's nice). the gearbox is quiet, everything works. I can't see any reason something would fail even in the distant future (other than the tyres of course). If I dont' overheat it ... it'll probably outlast me.

seeya
Shane L.

Our Rover has a lot of adjustment for the blade - about 8-10 positions from memory. I set it up about 4 positions.
I don't actually know how old it is because it was bought by the previous owner of the property. It seems in good condition - the service mechanic said it didn't need a lot of work.
We only have 2000 sq.m. so we don't need anything big.

When I was a kid we had a Massey Ferguson tractor with a slasher, plow etc on the farm. It was a great old thing, although my father didn't always agree. They only put water in one tyre if they wanted to mow across a slope. Normally air should be fine

Those old Inters are good solid tractors, I have done a few hours on them, hoeing, discing, slashing, and spraying etc. You are right about the glowing time, most people used to modern diesels don't realise that diesel engines from that era required longer glow periods. We had several Daihatsu diesels and they had a glow time of forty seconds, twenty to get the indicator red, then another twenty. Made them a bit savage on batteries, plus you couldn't rob a bank with one, you would get caught while you were glowing the thing to start it.
You shouldn't need water/ballast in the tyres for slashing, but if you hook a plough on you will lack a lot of traction and they tend to bounce and make every bone in your body ache.


Cheers, Mick.

Love the old tractors, have owned Fords and Fergies, they just keep on going, they aren't money pits, just simple good ol machines. I would say that Inter will do you nicely for what you require.

Well... It doesn't pay to think about things. I was still contemplating the purchase of a flail mower for sale locally .... and the damn thing sold today when I decided to go up and put an offer on it ... ( Doh! ).

anyway, is there any slasher gurus out there ? I don't particularly want to use a slasher around the house ( someone slashing a roadside paddock near bloody killed me quite a few year back with a slasher .... The damn thing launched a baseball sized lump of granite out the back at about the speed of sound. I was riding down the road and saw it coming out of the corner of my eye .... I had a good 1.5 seconds to track it ..... and yes ... there was no doubt we would intersect even though I was 90degrees to it ... I hit it as it crossed my path ... buckled the front wheel, bend the forks back to the bike from and continued on into a persons house the other side of the road.... and I stayed on the bike ). Anyway, that is my reason for considering a flail as they throw downward, not away.

FARM MASTER SLASHER | Farming Equipment | Gumtree Australia Ballarat City - Ballarat Central | 1126863906

anyway, this is on gumtree at the moment. It spiked my interest as apparently it is made in ballarat. The guy sounds to be cleaning out a parents property. It's belt driven ( so no gearbox) and he reckons would still wear the original blades it's done so little work. it folds up as shown for travel, but locks out beside the tractor when cutting (so you can do down fence lines etc).

Is belt driven stuff junk ? It certainly looks very substantial!

seeya,
Shane L.

Most finishing mowers will have belt drive to the spindles that the blades are fitted to, so I wouldn't be worried about belt drive. That thing is just an offset slasher, so if that's what you want, the price is not bad. It's not a flail mower, but a flail requires a lot more power to drive than a slasher. From what you've written before, I think a simple slasher, or if your ground is smooth enough, a finishing mower.
As an example of what's out there, I got one of these for the same money as your gumtree example. Secondhand and needing new bearings throughout
Bear in mind the advertisement is American. Aussie prices for these mowers is much more.
Don.

Originally Posted by Don 130

Most finishing mowers will have belt drive to the spindles that the blades are fitted to, so I wouldn't be worried about belt drive. That thing is just an offset slasher, so if that's what you want, the price is not bad. It's not a flail mower, but a flail requires a lot more power to drive than a slasher. From what you've written before, I think a simple slasher, or if your ground is smooth enough, a finishing mower.
As an example of what's out there, I got one of these for the same money as your gumtree example. Secondhand and needing new bearings throughout
Bear in mind the advertisement is American. Aussie prices for these mowers is much more.
Don.

Thanks,

it's amazing how cheap stuff is in America. I've been looking at the finishing mower, slashers and flails for a few months. They seem to be worth top $$$. heavily used older stuff is still worth more than a new chinese version.

One of my neighbours has a slasher I might be able to purchase so I need to go and catch up with him (I'm hoping for about 6foot as I'm very lazy) but no doubt it'll be 4foot.... I'll also get a carryall at some point .... and borrow a blade from one of the neighbours to level the drive with.

The tractor finally turned up last night. I went out there when it was about 8degrees last night... Yep it fires right up as I expected. You don't need starting spray, you just need to give it a good solid 60seconds on the glow plugs... You need a watch to look at otherwise you'll be trying in 25seconds thinking you have been waiting an eternity already.

seeya,
Sahen L.

I'm feeling like a genius today ... I just spent 20minutes trying to figure out why the damn tractor wouldn't start ( so i could move it out the shed to get into the caravan).... Lots of glow plugs... Not even a cracker, you would think the lack of smoke or any sign of firing would prompt the obvious answer. I checked the fuel tank, lift pump ... all seemed to work... Buggered if I know, just as I was thinking I might have to buy some starting spray I happened to look down ...

Damn these things start well ............................ when you push the injection pump shutoff lever back in