Ride on mower choice

[Blobber]

I know there are a few here into mowers/machinery so any thoughts on a reliable ride on, needs to be the widest cutting width possible with the option of grass collection and run on the devils juice preferably dirty diseasel?
@8ob ?

 

[Beanwood]

First questions would be budget and age, rough (Paddock) or lawn.

 

[Blobber]

Probably around the £1500 mark, its not as good as a lawn but not as rough as a paddock if that makes sense! just after some ideas on the reliability of the stuff as they are all complicated things now

 

[Erie Fred]

Zero turn, seen a commercial one with wings, must have been a 52-60" model
with a 3' wing, I could not see if it had one on each side though.
It was an Exmark brand.

 

[frank horton]

I run a Toro time saver it's around 16-18HP.....brilliant machine, over the old ride on we used, around the same size took 1/2 the time......
front lawn / meadow was around 1 acre with plenty of tree's.....
it's not as eco on fuel as I would like but not so bad.......only ever got run at 1/2 max engine speed....it's not a race.....
Looking back at those 17 years it would have paid to buy a D Kubota.....
Still have the Toro......
be careful, some of the newer mowers now have plastic gearboxes and are UN-repairable.....
also some John Deer type use hydraulics for the driven blades and the deck lift....
the lift sde of thing are problematic.......plus parts are horrendus.....
gotta say go Kubota....

 

[Barking Mat]

Don't do what I did and buy cheap second hand, they never last more that a year or two.

 

[sako243]

Ride on mower or something a bit more versatile?

It's a bit beyond your budget but I guess it depends on whether you have additional work for it - I replaced a John Deere LA105 ride on (42" cut width) with a late New Holland 1220 I picked up in Northumberland for about £4k. Coupled with a flail from Winton on the back (£1k) it will absolutely demolish trash (brambles, nettles, sticks, stones whatever you drive it over) and leave the roller on the back of it and it does a much better job of mowing my lawns than the ride-on did. It can also get in closer because you can reverse up to stuff which you can't do with a mid-mount mower deck. The flail doesn't collect but you can easily get implements that do - although it's better for the grass to mulch it and put it back in the ground. At the start of the season it takes about 2 mows on consecutive weeks for it not to be noticeable.

You may be able to find a cheap Kubota, New Holland, Ford, or something else second hand within your budget (and be a nice simple mechanical diesel), then you also have a proper tractor with 3 point linkage. Mine comes with a hydraulic spool, hydro-static transmission (so straight from forwards to reverse by using my heel on the back of the pedal) and also a mid-mount PTO. The real bonus is I've also go a post-knocker for it (we've got about 4.5 acres of garden), made up a 3 point frame that allows me to pick up the JCB's pallet forks (invaluable since it's engine is currently awaiting a rebuild), tow trailers, unroll fencing reels etc.

I can't emphasise how well the flail actually works at being a lawn mower. The best picture I've got to emphasis this is some mowing I did at a local abbey ruins for an open day event.

The bit with the gazebo nearest the drove was done with a commercial ride-on John Deere and took most of the day. The middle bit with all I did with the above set-up and took about an hour with the flail. That same day I also mowed half the field behind - the bit to the right of the large tree was mainly grass, the bit that's mown and looks scalped was actually thick reed which I had to take slowly but the white bits are all the clippings drying out.

 

[addjunkie]

I too use a flail mower on a tractor, mines Kubota. But for your budget, youll struggle to get anything biggish thats decent.

 

[sako243]

But for your budget, youll struggle to get anything biggish thats decent.

That's why I was wondering what extra it could be used for because a tractor is much more versatile than a ride on so the budget might be able to be upped.

 

[addjunkie]

That's why I was wondering what extra it could be used for because a tractor is much more versatile than a ride on so the budget might be able to be upped.

Exactly why I have a tractor too….versatility. And for getting stuff by pallet.

 

[Gregb23]

I've got an old Kubota G3 HST ride on mower. My dad's got a slightly newer g18 Kubota. Can't beat them for reliability, odd belt here or there and they just keep running. Mid mount deck, should be something in budget second hand.

 

[Munkul]

its hard to beat a ransomes bobcat with the front deck. Extra bonus for the batwing version.

Whatever you do, don't buy an old knackered cylinder mower... ask me how I know. lol

 

[arther dailey]

local contractor , that way no kit sitting about and he has the hassle of maintainance , way cheaper in the long run

 

[Blobber]

Ive got a tractor but dont want to use it for this area, certain times of the year you get a real narrow window to cut especially this year with the heatwave so its sopping wet and then it grows like the clappers! its used for dog training and dog agility thats why when its long I want to pick the cuttings up or else they get covered in the clippings, I think ill keep a look out for a local ride on Kubota even if it needs a bit of TLC!

 

[Agrismith]

Ive got a tractor but dont want to use it for this area, certain times of the year you get a real narrow window to cut especially this year with the heatwave so its sopping wet and then it grows like the clappers! its used for dog training and dog agility thats why when its long I want to pick the cuttings up or else they get covered in the clippings, I think ill keep a look out for a local ride on Kubota even if it needs a bit of TLC!
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You will be there a long time with a domestic ride on with collector and going to a commercial unit is a fair wedge extra money and not really that much quicker, intended for manicured lawns cut regularly.
Really the best thing as suggested is a flail mower. They do them collector versions to. About the only thing short of a baler designed to collect long grass.

 

[sako243]

@Blobber - when you say tractor do you mean a compact one or a full-size one?

If it's compact then perhaps an option to source some turf tyres? My 1220 is 4ft wide and over half of that is covered by the tyres on the rear. On boggy ground it leaves less damage than me walking across it because of the large flotation provided by the tyres.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

You will be there a long time with a domestic ride on with collector

Exactly this ^^.

 

[Blobber]

So at present im doing twice that area with a freebie 38inch cut ride on but no collection box and it takes about 3 hours, its fine at present as you start in the middle and work outwards in rows, this throws the cuttings to the side eventually, the problem comes when I cant get on it because of the weather and you end up with long thick grass which is too much to throw to the sides, when its like that ideally it could do with collecting every 8th row so thats the only issue at present which brings me back to the origional idea of a larger cut and collection only when needed on the odd occasion
The little Leyland 154 is 60 inches wide with the rims on the current setting and only about 900kgs so its not huge but getting spare rims for turf tyres may be difficult

 

[addjunkie]

Id be mulching that….testicles to grass collection!