Mower question!

[yellowsprings]

Hello All!

I have come to ask you how you mow your larger plots of land. We have a homestead on six acres that needs mowed weekly. We seem to go through lawn mowers like crazy! I am currently using a Troybilt garden tractor - 22 h.p. 46" deck and a Craftsman lawn tractor - 16.5 h.p. 42" deck. These are the newest ones. I have two more with bad engines that constantly needed structural repairs.

Since I can not afford a tractor and attachments, this is what I am stuck with. DH has been looking at the reel mowers that attach to the back of the mower. They can go up to 9' wide! Does anyone have these? Do they cut through dandelions and clover?

I do not want a zero turning radius mower as I need something to haul around my wagons. (overly priced too in my opinion)

The Troybilt was given to me - it is 4 years old with 32.6 hours on it (thanks dad!) and I bought the Craftsman last summer with only one season of use for $500. I really do not want to use something that will use more of that liquid gold called GAS!

Any and all suggestions or comments are welcome!

 

[Dennis Olson]

One thing to remember: ANY mower with the "Briggs and Stratton" style engine WILL NOT LAST under heavy use. You'll need a "real" engine on the thing...

 

[PilotFighter]

I have a 17.5 HP Craftsman, and it does great for this heavy Jap grass and weeds I have around my place.

 

[yellowsprings]

Dennis,

I have found out the hard way about the Briggs and Stratton engines - they all leak and they are junk! The Troybilt luckily has a twin V Kohler engine in it. Hopefully it will last longer than 4 years! So far the Craftsman B&S is OK - not hardly even using a drop. This is it's third year!

So Dennis, what is a "real engine" ? (PS - I like this winking smilie!)

Does anyone use the pull behind cutters (gas or otherwise) behind their mowers?

 

[Dennis Olson]

YS,

"I don't know, but I'll know one when I see it!"

Just stay completely away from Tecumseh or B&S engines. They are built to only last about 200-400 hours before needing complete rebuild/replacement. That goes for the generators too.

 

[Christian for Israel]

reel or sickle mowers are ok as long as you have flat ground and the grass doesn't get too long. you may have to go over it twice to get a good cut, and sharpening blades takes longer, but you can pull them with anything, even a modified automobile (think "jeep").

 

[kjacks]

My first thought is why would you mow all SIX acres? No livestock, or someone close that can run their stock on your "pasture" for a trade off of some kind, or make hay from it twice during the year???

 

[MaxTheKnife]

Yeah, like kjacks said, quit mowing all that grass. Pick your yard and just mow that. Let the rest take care of itself. Or plow it all up and plant some good grazing grass and have someone bale it up every year and sell the hay. Or get livestock and feed the hay to them. But quit mowing all that dang grass! It's a terrible waste of time, fuel and machinery. And just a pointer, half an acre is a very big yard. That's what I wind up mowing and I'm slowly shrinking that down to something more manageable and reasonable.

I remember when I was still in the Air Force (and didn't have a clue) and went home with my wife to Minesota for the first time. Her folks were having a family reunion and I wanted to help all I could. I found a riding mower and gassed it up and started mowing a big parking lot for all the cars to park in. I was just about done (mowing 5 acres) when my brother-in-law came out and motioned for me to shut off the mower. Then he calmly asked me what I was doing??? Whew! I'm almost finished mowing a parking lot for all the in-laws (I was very proud of myself). What do you think? He said "I think you just mowed about a months worth of winter feed down for my dairy cows. Oooops!!! I felt about an inch tall for the rest of the time I was there. I told you that story to help you realize that you don't need to be mowing all that grass Yellow Springs. There's just no earthly reason for it. Put it to use some other way. Plant wildflowers and turn it into a scenic field worthy of postcard pictures. Or fence it in and put some cows and goats on it. But please don't mow it. Give your mowers a break and spend your money on livestock and fencing. Does any of this make sense?

 

[yellowsprings]

Thanks for all the replys!

I would love to stop mowing all of the grass! Unfortunately my husband and neighbors would be very upset with me! We live in an area that has $250,000 - $300,000+ houses on 5 - 65 acre lots (about 15 homes in the area). There is one large land owner who is growing Christmas trees, and one who rents his land back to the farmer who sold it to him to plant corn or soybeans. Two people have horses, one has emus. All the "lawns" are kept mowed. No one else is "homesteading" but me. When we were building the house, the farmer would come and ask if he could mow the property because it kept the weeds out of his field and it made it "look better". There are no open fields of anything out here - just corn, wheat and soybeans. No livestock in any field.

They all have nice homes and cars but we are the only ones with no mortgage! (I can look these things up online at the county website!)The only time I see these people is when the mow the grass! They are all gone all day at work with the exception of the lady around the corner who homeschools.

Anyway, back to mowing. If I leave the grass tall, the mosquitos are worse! There is a river across the street, a creek behind me and a creek on the otherside of the corn field next door. The mosquitos are BAD at dusk and dawn. DH will not let me have any livestock (other than chickens). So, my options here are limited. Mow, mow or mow.

Thanks for all the suggestions! Keep 'em coming!

 

[Rob]

Try to find a John Deere mower. Kohler is a good engine and so are the Hondas with replaceable cylinder sleeves.
When push comes to shove DH will welcome goats especially now thay gas is hitting the roof.
Look at it this way what would you do if there was no gas.

 

[Dean Miller]

Our problems with garden/lawn tractors involve almost everything but the engines. The cheaper tractors -- mostly those built at the MTD factory in Cleveland -- are built too light duty to last long for any serious mowing. This includes the lower cost John Deere tractors (I think they're called Sabre).

Only the tractors with original price tags of $5000 and up seem to last. Look for tractors that have a drive shaft instead of a belt to the hydrostatic transmission. One with a hydraulic pump at the engine and hydraulic take-off for accessories is the type that won't break down as often.

I've had to re-engineer several areas of the MTD-made tractors. I gave up on them after a mower deck self-destructed. Even some non-MTD tractors have engineering flaws (an otherwise good quality Snapper tractor had a mis-mounted hydrostatic unit and the hood mounting broke when it was open for servicing in a 30 MPH breeze).

I've had no problem with the B&S Vanguard engines *as long as the engine is installed with the air filter toward the back of the tractor.*

 

[Rob]

Dean,
I agree about the cheap Deere (Sabre).
I personally don't care for the Snapper.
The ones I like are the Cub Cadet, the Ariens and the Deeres. One quick way to evaluate a mower is to look at the rear hubs. Those with wheels bolted to the drive hub are more robust and will last longer than the cheap machines with just a keyed shaft. So spend more and get more. Every year you can add attachments like tillers and plows.

 

[Christian for Israel]

if it's at all possible i'd suggest trying to get a small used diesel powered tractor. they're much more durable for one thing, and you can burn bio-diesel/vegetable oil instead of diesel in case fuel gets hard to find. that could be the difference between eating and starving if things get much worse.

here's a site that tells how to convert veggie oil to biodiesel:
http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_make.html

 

[wasabell]

We have 6.5 acres of cleared land with a few trees that needs to be mowed on a regular basis also. I can do it on my own in 6 hours more or less.

We use a Craftsman garden tractor (Kohler engine) 18 hwp. with a 44" mower deck. DH has rigged up an offset hitch in order to pull behind it a (Briggs and Stratton IC) Swisher 44" 11 hwp pull-behind trail mower (finish cut) I just start both engines and I cut a 7 foot swath per pass. It takes a little getting used to, with turns and manuevering, but no big deal. It was taking us 12 hours or so with just the one mower.

I also have "divided" the property into two parts. One gets mowed every 10 days or so (close to the house) the rest gets mowed every other time.

Mower maintenance is critical. We check the oil on both engines every time the gas tank is emptied. (about every hour on the Swisher). We change the oil on everything every 10 hours. Our Craftsman tractor has been used and abused, and its now 10 years old with no mechanical problems. The Swisher is only in its second season, but so far, so good.

The Swisher model we have sells for $1300-$1400, but Tractor Supply Co. usually has them on sale for $800.

Could you selll/trade in your excess mowers and get a secondhand or new pull-behind?

Jan

 

[yellowsprings]

wasabell,

I have not seen the Swisher at TSC. I will have to look on my next trip! I too divide up what needs to be mowed at about the same schedule as you. During the summer when school is out, I my son helps mow, which of course cuts the time in half. This year he is helping a local farmer mow so he is gone more than normal and is spoiled by using a new John Deere zero turning radius mower with a huge deck!

CFI,

We have been looking for a used tractor. They used to be everywhere around here but seem to have vanished since I started looking! Can anyone recommend one brand over the other?

Everyone, thanks for all your input!

 

[Christian for Israel]

my uncle had a Belarus that was tough as nails. they sell yard tractor diesels. kubota also makes small diesels that are tough and long lived. both offer mostly 4WD as well.

here's a link to belarus:
http://www.belarusguide.com/industry1/MTZ.htm