Mowing Machine Mania
(Page 3 of 5)
May/June 2008
Oscar H. Will III, editor
Depending on the amount of open area you need to maintain, you should add a rough-cut mower to the mix. If you have only a few field acres to mow, a self-powered mower pulled by an ATV or UTV is ideal. This is also where you might consider a hybrid – but rough country mowing is hard on any mower and can affect the finish performance negatively. Your garden tractor can also motivate pull-type mowers over hill and dale, but its relatively short stature makes it difficult to see over tall grass and weeds. That tractor’s lack of suspension will also make for a rough ride, which will invariably lead to frame damage or worse. As the acreage you need to mow grows, it would be best to step up to a rough-cut mower that attaches directly to your compact or full-sized tractor.
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Before you take the plunge
As you research mowers of various kinds, you will notice a broad variation in prices for what appears to be the same capacity cutter. Mowers are rated by their cutting width, engine power and/or gearbox power rating. Look more closely, and you will discover that similarly rated mowers can vary in weight by more than 100 pounds, and they might have very different sets of added features, such as a manual height control vs. hydraulic.
In general, you will find good quality mowers wherever you look, but some (typically lighter and less costly) “consumer grade” machines are designed for relatively light use where other (heavier and more costly) “professional grade” models are designed for more frequent and longer operation. If you mow an acre of grass once a week for five months of the year, the lighter duty machine will work and last well. If you mow more often or substantially more acreage, you will want to choose a heavier-duty model. Marketing departments are savvy to the whole image thing, so you might find some models touted as “prosumer grade,” “heavy-duty,” you name it. Ask the sales person how much it weighs, how much it costs, its spindle bearing size, and the length of its warranty if you aren’t sure just how heavy-duty any machine in question is.
For best results, talk to friends, read everything you can, scour the Web, and find a knowledgeable salesperson at a trusted dealership to help sort through the choices. As with any tool, spending a bit more up front can lead to real economy over time. Since there are so many makers and so many different mower models, we’ve included only a sampling below.
Oscar “Hank” Will III’s favorite for mowing the lawn is a 1984 Kubota Diesel-powered Cub Cadet 882 with 50-inch deck. When that tractor’s in the shop, he has more than 20 other vintage Cub Cadet cutters waiting in the wings.
Sub-Compact and Garden Tractor Mounted Finish Mowers
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