field mowing

[heather lawn sp]

We were doing 25 acres of 5 schools a day within the same small town with 2 people 54" 25 hp & 72" 31 hp Z's, cut and trimmed

[lawn king]

Perhaps i should elaborare a little more! My b3030 is brand new w/ factory cab,ac,cd,tilt,cruse,suspension seat,etc,etc,etc. We are in the fert. business, not maintenence. We must perform the maintenence to keep an athletic field contract we dont want to give up. We have no intention of buying a ztr when all we have to do is buy a mower for a machine we already have. I'm grateful for any information sharing, but please don't hijack my thread, im seeking information on rear pto finish mowers!

[LwnmwrMan22]

Soooo... what you're looking for is ideas on a decent rear-mount finish mower... since you already have the tractor.

I'd bet that you're not going to get any ideas, since 99% of the people on here run ZTR's or walk-behinds.

There are a FEW that run WAM's, such as myself, CoastalGreenscapes (if he's still around) and others, and there are some that run bat-wing type mowers behind larger tractors.

From your setup, unless you're going to be able to mow those fields twice a week, don't hate me when I say this, but unless you're able to mow twice a week or more often, your B3030 is going to be underpowered for a 72" mower.

Just go and look under the "commercial lawn maintenance" sub heading. With your tractor being a hydrostatic, it's really no different than a ZTR, as far as power. It's going to be ABOUT the same as putting a 72" deck under a 23 hp diesel ZTR.

If you were to ask most people, they're all going to say that's not enough power to do the work efficiently.

We run a Kubota 4330, "w/ factory cab,ac,cd,tilt,cruse,suspension seat,etc,etc,etc." and pull an 11' tri-deck mower. There's many many times that it needs to be slowed down to a crawl to get through the spring growth.

Now, I've not quite got twice the hp as you, at a rated 43 hp, but I'm also not trying to mow quite twice as much as your mower will be either.

I'm not trying to be a dink about this, or rip your or anything, just letting you know, that you're going to be pushing the limits of your tractor with a 72" mower.

[lawn king]

I have no problem running a 60 inch deck over a 72. I know the cut will be higher quality and the horses will be utilized better. I'm thinking woods on the mower so i guess i'm down to do the mulching blades work well?

[BSDeality]

my sincerest appologies for "hijacking" your thread. In your original post you were not very descriptive about what you were deciding on. I thought you were looking for a mowing setup entirely. you failed to mention you already had a b3030.

[LwnmwrMan22]

Originally Posted by lawn king

I have no problem running a 60 inch deck over a 72. I know the cut will be higher quality and the horses will be utilized better. I'm thinking woods on the mower so i guess i'm down to do the mulching blades work well?

I've never tried mulching blades on our mowers, ZTR or pull behind.

I will tell you one other problem that you're going to have if you're only in there once / week mowing.

With these pull behind mowers, they're rear discharge. It's impossible to get the clumps dispersed with just a rear discharge deck, especially the pull behind models.

There's many times we have to go over a field 2-3 times with our "bat-wing" mower, and then one more time with a 60" ZTR to get the clumps to disappear.

[lawn king]

Originally Posted by BSDeality

my sincerest appologies for "hijacking" your thread. In your original post you were not very descriptive about what you were deciding on. I thought you were looking for a mowing setup entirely. you failed to mention you already had a b3030.

No apologizes necessary, just trying to stay on the pto mower deal. There are not too many people using these machines, from the feedback i have received around town ( on the web).

[lawn king]

Originally Posted by LwnmwrMan22

I've never tried mulching blades on our mowers, ZTR or pull behind.

I will tell you one other problem that you're going to have if you're only in there once / week mowing.

With these pull behind mowers, they're rear discharge. It's impossible to get the clumps dispersed with just a rear discharge deck, especially the pull behind models.

There's many times we have to go over a field 2-3 times with our "bat-wing" mower, and then one more time with a 60" ZTR to get the clumps to disappear.

Mowing the fields twice per week when necessary is part of the contract. I figured doubble cutting would also be necessary to some degree, this is where i'm thinking the mulching blades (may) save some time? Thanx to everyone who responded. Scott.

[Investorguy]

I run a 6 foot cutter (brush hog style) on my K3400HST w/ no problems. I think you should be able to run a 6 ft finisher on your 3030. As long as the ground is flat and you're not trying to knock down 2 foot grass, you should be fine. The only issue is that you may need to slow down a smidge.

But if it were me, I'd nab that extra foot. Save a few passes, save time, save hours in the seat. You may be near the limits, but you're not underpowered at 72in.

But don't go trying for a 6 ft brush hog on that thing; that will be underpowered.

[lawn king]

I have a landpride rcr 1542 rotary cutter i purchased to match my B7500 (16 pto hp) now that i have 23 pto hp i would like to jump up to a 1548 but the 42 is in great shape so i will continue to run it for now.