King Kutter Finish Mower 72"

[brianMO]

King Kutter Finish Mower 72\"

Have a chance to buy a King Kutter 72" Finish Mower. I know this is not the best brand but for $250.00 I do not see how I could go wrong. The guy selling says that he is tired of replacing the wheels. Cheap plastic that will occasionally break went lowering mower. Does anybody have a solution for this problem? Is there a place I can buy premium wheels?

 

[DK35vince]

Re: King Kutter Finish Mower 72\"

How fast is he lowering the mower ?
I've been using a King Kutter 72" finish mower for several years and have never broken a wheel.

 

[Zoomie]

Re: King Kutter Finish Mower 72\"

The wheels on my KK 72" RFM aren't plastic, and I've not had any problems with them.

$250 is a great price on a good implement, IMO.

 

[CTyler]

Re: King Kutter Finish Mower 72\"

Mine aren't plastic either they are rubber and inflateable.

 

[John1]

Re: King Kutter Finish Mower 72\"

You can buy replacement solid rubber tires fairly cheap thru Northern Tool or TSC also carries the solid rubber tires....

 

[rsatter22]

Re: King Kutter Finish Mower 72\"

My 72"KK is about 13 years old. It originally had hard rubber wheels that eventually seperated from the rims. I replaced these with pneumatic tires and have had no trouble since. The newer KKs have pneumatic tires so this is probably a mower from the mid 90's. Any place that handles parts for the KK should be able to get you pneumatic tires that will fit. I can't complain about KK. Mowing about 2 acres for 13 years I've only replaced the tires, the belt 1 time and just now need to replace a spindle (noisy bearing), and this thing has sat outside in all the weather for all of its life.

Rick

 

[Nasty135]

Re: King Kutter Finish Mower 72\"

brianMO, I have an older KK 72" 1991 model which had the hard plastic wheels/tires they split fell apart ,Had to replace them with the newer pneumatic tires but also had to modify the forks width because the air tire axle was wider than the original broken rims.
Also becareful not to snag a front wheel on a stout branch,vine ,root ,etc.. being that the older style has 1/4" steel arms for the wheels, because before I got my place cleaned out from heavy vines and such I made a pretzel out of the wheels arm twice(no fun straightening).. The newer style is much more stout (square tubing)
Another thing to look for is where the angle is welded to the deck that supports the arms for cracking in the deck near those welds...One thing I did to combat the bump stress on the support arms was install some worn bigblock chevy valve springs under the weight bearing spacers (one per wheel)in order to absorb the constant shocking of the moving mower over the surface of the lawn..
My KK has had only one bearing replaced and one belt and two sets of blades in the ten years I've had it ,I would like to have a new one(KK) but as long as mines still working I can't justify the $1200 or $1300...and remember the grease gun is your friend, they recommend about every four hours...Mark

 

[brianMO]

Re: King Kutter Finish Mower 72\"

Thanks, Mark. This must be an early 90's model KK. I suppose it is well worth the $250.00 he is asking. I guess I should snatch it up. Sounds like you have the fix. Pnematic tires sound like they will do the trick. The valve springs was a great idea also! I guess this is what you get off this board...wonderful ideas from experience people. Thanks again. Brian /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[ipwanab]

Re: King Kutter Finish Mower 72\"

Let's talk more about the springs under the spacers. I have Woods RFM with about 5 spacers to adjust cutting heighth on each wheel. There also is a spring (which looks like chevy valve spring) atop each spindle under the nut.Are you saying that if it's underneath it stops some of the clanging around?

 

[Nasty135]

Re: King Kutter Finish Mower 72\"

BrainMO , Your welcome glad to be of some use here,IMO $250.00 for a 72"KK in good working order is a steal.But let me tell you the pnematic air tires and wheels combos aren't very cheap about $35.00 a corner so add $140 bucks to your price blades are $50.00 spindle $60.00 belt $28.00 Those prices are from a local tractor dealer who is very resonable, Also if you look at kingkutter.com they sell parts if you need them but you have to pay shipping...Mark
OOPS! sorry not familiar with woods mowers do they have larger tires? If so same adive would apply.

ipwanab, On the spring thing ,sounds like your springs are on top of the spindle probably to keep even tension on the cotter pin or bail clip,because if the shaft was allowed up & down movement it could eventually break thru the cotter pin and lose shaft and spacers... But on mine the shaft play is there on top and I haven't had any trouble with losing cotter pins or bail clips,but I do have a big washer on top that fits the shaft and I put one bigblock chevy well broken in on the bottom of each shaft to help absorb the shock over the lawn using the spacers as well to achieve desired cutting height ,It doesn't roll perfectly smooth but it does take out big jolts to the mower deck ,you could try your springs on the bottom if there heavy duty enough ,if they collapse they will not help anything ....But If I'm not mistaking landpride RFM has a larger air tire (9"rim larger circumference tire)which would act as the spring in stead of the smaller tire found on the KK(8" on older models short tire) You probably would not benefit from spring rearangement Just my thoughts,Do you have trouble keeping tires on the rims?
OOPS! Sorry ipwanab thought it was landpride, Not familiar with woods mowers but if they use larger tires same advice would apply.. Mark