Riding lawn mower or rmm

[brantley]

I have been adding more to my lawn area over the last few years and it is to a point where my push mower is just taking too much time. I could buy a riding lawn mower or I could get a finish mower for the tractor.
Things are open enough that I would have no problems with manuverability if I bought a mower for the tractor. My question is would a finish mower be too rough for maintaining a lawn area or would a riding mower be better. The tractor has R4's. Would I have problems with compaction by using the tractor.
In the end I will probably have about 2 acres of maintained lawn area and the rest will be brush hog territory.
Any suggestions on features I should look out for.

 

[prosperity]

First off, how big a tractor do you have? I looked at your profile but I'm not familiar with Cub Cadet.

If your machine isn't too big, I'd go with the RM finish mower. When properly set up they will give you just as nice a job as a MMM.

Also, I try to get the most use out of one machine. I feel that the less engines/machines you have to take care of the better.

Let us know how big you CC is - we'll go from there.

 

[brantley]

The tractor is 30hp and weighs around 2800 pounds.

 

[prosperity]

Ahh - might be a bit large for mowing.
Hopefully some folks with similar size tractors will post with their opinions.

 

[Soundguy]

You'd be surprised at how many 2800# tractors I've seen with mmm.. and many more with rear mowers.

He's on the upper limit.. but you don't want a small machine and a 6' mower...

Remember the old farmall 49h's.. big mmm under them.. and they were fairly big and heavy.. trike at that.

Soundguy

 

[Bird]

If you have a very firm clay yard like I did, no problem using the tractor. If you have soft ground, you'll mark it up a bit with that tractor.

 

[frank_f15]

depends on how much time u want to spend on a lawnmower, but 2 ac. is a lot to cut with a lawn tractor with a 44 in deck. or there about! RFM on a trator is much quicker but i use a GT for around the house and a RFM on the tractor for the rest.

 

[Gil]

Well, for my 3 acres of yard, I use a Kubota (that weighs 1k more pounds than you're cub) with a rear mount deck. That and Round-up is all that i use to control my grass. No problem with tearing up lawn unless the ground is too wet, or improper ground speed.

I wish you well

Gil

 

[CTyler]

The weight is one of the things I'm concerned with as well with my L3130 at 3300#'s. I won't have a lawn until late summer/fall when the house is built.

To help alleiviate ruts and marking I would assume??
Wait until the ground is dry/firm after rain.
Don't turn sharply.
Mow in 2wd.
Remove loader bucket or the entire loader?

I would be using a RMM finish mower.

Thanks
Chris

 

[Mosey]

My TC29D used to weigh about 2500 lbs before I got the FEL, but with the mounting brackets that stay on the tractor when the FEL is detached it probably weighs about 2800 lbs now. I mow my 3.5 acres with a 6' rear mount finish mower and it works great. I haven't noticed any wear and tear on the lawn. I don't ever plan to mow the yard with the FEL attached, but it probably would be OK in the late summer and fall when the ground gets real firm. I agree that it's a good idea to use 2WD and not turn around real sharp. I can barely tell a difference from when I mowed with a 42" Craftsman lawn tractor, but I get it done in 1/3rd of the time!