Thread: Ride on Mower

Im not having a go at anyone here but I'll just clear up a couple of points that have been brought up.

The cone and disc set up is ok for small flat blocks and yes it does make for a cheaper mower but if they are run for a long time as in while cutting large areas they can over heat and wear away quite quickly.

Yes they are ralatively cheap to replace but as long as you keep the services up to a Hydraustatic system there is nothing to go wrong with it.

Nearly all of my mowers are Hyrdaustatic and I have only in 12 years replaced 3 Hydraustats in 3 different mowers all of which had done huge hrs, 1 of them had done aroung 13000 hrs.

As I said, dont go for the ones which have the wheelmotor and Hydro built into the alloy housing as they are a bit cheap and domestic and they are the ones that can cause problems.

Another point is the bar type blades are no problem with rough surfaces, roots, blocks of wood, bricks and star pickets.

The Scag at work mulch's star pickets into little bits and turns bricks to dust, I know this because our practice fairway is around 20 acres and is full of fill which has stuff sort of float to the surface all the time and the scag just mows it down.

The 325D Toro out front has swing back blades on bars that we use for cutting the finer type turf.

The Disk mowers that tank is talking about is more the slasher type disks with the swing back blades which they are designed to hit an object and swing the blade back and the object bounces off the disk to limit damage to the spindle.

They do work and is a must on LOW HP mowers as hitting an object like a tree root can instantly stop the spindle and possibly rip the spinlde shaft to pieces or break the centre bolt (if fitted).

Our fine turf is cut with large Cylinder mowers, not rotory's as they cut much better and our tee's are cut at 8mm as are the surrounds, fairways at 10mm and greens are currently at 2.6mm so I dont imagine a rotory ever getting to those sort of heights anyway.

We have 20 odd thousand trees at different stages of growth on the course so there are plenty of roots and branches that get cut by the rough mowers which by the way are cutting at 25mm and our rough is natural turf not manicured.

Hope that helps

How much can you afford to spend?f

It may be worth considering a a second hand commercial grade mower like a Kubota. They are built so much better than any domestic unit and are often disposed of by Councils after a few thousand hours. They will still have plenty of life in them. There is a Kubota dealer at Nambour who always has a few.

I bought a 48" Kubota with a 3 cyl diesel for $1800. It had 2600 hours on it and apart from a few cracks in the deck which were easily welded, it runs like a dream. Even if it only last another 500 hours, its still good value.

When you do the sums, you will probably only put 50-100 hours a year on it in domestic use . Say 5hrs/mow x 12 -20 mows/year depending on rainfall. I mow about once per month in winter and once a fortnight in summer.

Also, why are you ruling out a tractor/slasher? 5 acres is a lot of work on any ride on if its not a lawn like surface. A decent 30-40 hp tractor with 4-5ft slasher can be found for about 5k. The tractor might be 40 years old and look like an antique, but will usually have plenty of life left and they are usually cheaper to repair/rebuild than most ride-on mowers. I can get a complete engine rebuild kit including new crank for less than $1000! There are plenty of people on here who could make recommendations on used tractors within a certain budget.

Thanks for your comments. A couple of things, as I said at the beginning....slight slope and slight undulations. I am not a big bloke and no, none of my S1's have PTO. Some of the suggestions agree with my thoughts, as I have been checking out features on various makes. I have been checking out JD, Greenfield and Kubota amongst others. I tend to lean more towards a garden tractor type rather than a zero turn for whatever reasons, cost being one.

Haven't entirely ruled out a tractor, but the area to be mowed has quite a few mature trees and will eventually have more garden. If I bought a tractor, it would have to be useful elsewhere on the block, and as the other acres are a tad rough, your standard tractor/slasher combo would struggle.

This is not to mow our current property, but another place. All will be revealed.

Variable speed belt drives were in the first skid steer loaders (Melroe Bobcats) and have not been used for thirty years. They are a troublesome, high wear item that needs skilled regular maintenance. All skiddies since about 1975 have used hydrostatic drive systems, OMC Mustang 330 was the first. Keep clean cool oil in them and regular filter changes and they should last the life of the machine.

My opinion is that for anything rougher than clean grassland, a used farm tractor with slasher is the way to go. Rider mowers are really only for clean grassland and lawn.

G'day Numpty

Ah Ha,! in that case what you need is a little grey?? Ferguson TE 20 or a TD20 with a 3/4ft slasher try Gillespies or JA Page
or look in Grass Roots Magazineor Trading Post

Ferguson T series, simple like a Landrover, go forever and a Southern Cross?? slasher will do most stuff, work happily for years and parts are still available,good turnibg circle and 3pt. linkage with enough power to run post hole diggers, small towed blade, and front & rear bucket, and there are heaps of them in the local area, just get Numpty's Missus to keep a lookout in the local area properties

Keith H might know of some as there are several rellies with properties.

cheers

if you get a tractor,, and its still an if,,
get one with a ROPS,,
lots of people still die on older tractors,,

especially on undulating ground.

Originally Posted by UncleHo

G'day Numpty

Ah Ha,! in that case what you need is a little grey?? Ferguson TE 20 or a TD20 with a 3/4ft slasher try Gillespies or JA Page
or look in Grass Roots Magazineor Trading Post

Ferguson T series, simple like a Landrover, go forever and a Southern Cross?? slasher will do most stuff, work happily for years and parts are still available,good turnibg circle and 3pt. linkage with enough power to run post hole diggers, small towed blade, and front & rear bucket, and there are heaps of them in the local area, just get Numpty's Missus to keep a lookout in the local area properties

Keith H might know of some as there are several rellies with properties.

cheers

Grey Fergusons are a cult thing with the alternative lifestylers and collectors and are consequently overpriced and bloody ancient. Lots of far more modern stuff around for less. Look at Perkins engined Masseys or Chamberlains. Nuffield/Leylands are good machines, with the exception of the 2-45 with the three cylinder Perkins, but scarce. Lots of 35-55hp farm tractors about. Get one with good tyres as a set of four tyres can be almost $2000 in some cases.

Originally Posted by mark2

How much can you afford to spend?f

It may be worth considering a a second hand commercial grade mower like a Kubota. They are built so much better than any domestic unit and are often disposed of by Councils after a few thousand hours. They will still have plenty of life in them. There is a Kubota dealer at Nambour who always has a few.

I bought a 48" Kubota with a 3 cyl diesel for $1800. It had 2600 hours on it and apart from a few cracks in the deck which were easily welded, it runs like a dream. Even if it only last another 500 hours, its still good value.

When you do the sums, you will probably only put 50-100 hours a year on it in domestic use . Say 5hrs/mow x 12 -20 mows/year depending on rainfall. I mow about once per month in winter and once a fortnight in summer.

Also, why are you ruling out a tractor/slasher? 5 acres is a lot of work on any ride on if its not a lawn like surface. A decent 30-40 hp tractor with 4-5ft slasher can be found for about 5k. The tractor might be 40 years old and look like an antique, but will usually have plenty of life left and they are usually cheaper to repair/rebuild than most ride-on mowers. I can get a complete engine rebuild kit including new crank for less than $1000! There are plenty of people on here who could make recommendations on used tractors within a certain budget.

Numpty,

I would have to agree with th quote above. Having been in the game for the past 27 years, I can confirm that the Kuboto out-front range is the best value, strongest and most reliable mower I have bought.

At the Council we have tried John Deere, Iseki, Husquvarna, Walker, Toro, New Holland, Scag and numerous others and the Kubota wins hands down.

I would find out where the Councils and govt authorites dispose of their units, In Sydney we use Laws Auctions but other Councils use other agencies. A well maintained Kubota 3060 or 3560 or 3066 will do the trick and being out front untits you can get right up to trees, fences etc.\

Chenz