markie61
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2001
- Messages
- 1,370
- Location
- Northern Virginia
- Tractor
- 2019 Rural King RK55HC with Loader & Backhoe; 2001 New Holland TC40D with Loader
First Choice 84\" Rear Finish Mower Review
After researching 7 foot mowers, I selected the First Choice 84" rear-discharge rear finish mower to replace my Landpride AT2572 AirTunnel 72" mower. I wanted to ungrade because:
-I like my grass high and the side-discharge combined with wet, tall grass wore belts too quickly (about 4 per season)
-An extra foot is theoretically 15% more efficient
-Side discharge with my mowing pattern looked uneven
-The single belt is a pain to change and adjust
PURCHASE
I purchased the mower in June of 2004 from Ken Sweet at Sweet Tractors in Kentucky. Price was $1499 and shipping was $165 to a business 3 miles away. Predelivery phone call and liftgate were included. Communication was excellent, 3-day delivery was promised and met, and Ken was great to work with.
DELIVERY
I do not have room for a 75' truck in my driveway, so my plan was to meet the truck at a friend's business 3 miles away and roll the mower into the bed of my pickup truck - I couldnt be more WRONG! This thing is MUCH larger than the mower it replaced. It was well packed, had a few expected scuffs and scrapes, and was fully assembled, except for the wheels being upside down. It was even too big to be fully lifted by the manual pallet jack on the truck. After some head scratching, I decided to just leave it in the parking lot and come back with my tractor. With the help of the truck driver and a VERY nice UPS driver, we lifted the corners and installed the wheels. We then rolled it to the liftgate, lowered it, and parked it in a parking space. For those of you ordering this in the future: get the pallet to the ground and hook it right up to your 3ph.
SETUP
The trip home was uneventful, so I immediately sat down and read the entire manual. I was told the thing would be lubed and ready to go, but I wanted to make sure. The gearbox fluid was full and the fittings showed signs of recent greasing. To make sure, I hooked up my grease gun to the spindles. I put 60 zerks in each spindle and still saw no ooze at either end. The PTO shaft had not been lubed yet. All the (metric) nuts and bolts were tight and the belts were at proper tension. Overall, I spent less than 15 minutes going over the setup.
CONSTRUCTION
This mower appears to be very heavy duty. All the words that come to mind when looking at the deck, hardware, steel, gearbox, and parts are: heavy, thick, strong, big, unyielding, monstrous, wow! The design is intelligent, too. The belts (2 of them) can be adjusted without removing the belt covers (3 bolts on each cover). The front deck edges are rounded to prevent catching on obstacles. Except for one small piece of metal, the deck's underside is smooth and free of things that catch and build up clippings. The solid tires are lifetime lubricated (no grease fittings). The only item I don't think is good are the plastic bushings at the top and bottom of the wheel shafts - the top ones push out when reinstalling the wheels after height adjustments. 3 out of 4 are missing from my old mower and I have a feeling over the years these will get lost from the new one, too.
OPERATION
After 7+ hours of mowing, I am very pleased with the mower:
-Grass clipping are very small - it is almost like a mulching mower - and evenly distributed
-Mowing does take significantly less time because of the size and a faster ground speed achieveable with the rear discharge
-It is much quieter, both from the gearbox and the blade noise
-A bit of shaking occurs around high-idle speed, but disappears at 540RPM PTO speed (maybe blades need to be balanced)
SUMMARY
I would definitely recommend the First Choice 84" rear-discharge RFM to anyone shopping this category. I would also recommend doing business with Ken Sweet at Sweet Tractors. As I put hours on the mower, I will update this thread from time to time.
Mark
After researching 7 foot mowers, I selected the First Choice 84" rear-discharge rear finish mower to replace my Landpride AT2572 AirTunnel 72" mower. I wanted to ungrade because:
-I like my grass high and the side-discharge combined with wet, tall grass wore belts too quickly (about 4 per season)
-An extra foot is theoretically 15% more efficient
-Side discharge with my mowing pattern looked uneven
-The single belt is a pain to change and adjust
PURCHASE
I purchased the mower in June of 2004 from Ken Sweet at Sweet Tractors in Kentucky. Price was $1499 and shipping was $165 to a business 3 miles away. Predelivery phone call and liftgate were included. Communication was excellent, 3-day delivery was promised and met, and Ken was great to work with.
DELIVERY
I do not have room for a 75' truck in my driveway, so my plan was to meet the truck at a friend's business 3 miles away and roll the mower into the bed of my pickup truck - I couldnt be more WRONG! This thing is MUCH larger than the mower it replaced. It was well packed, had a few expected scuffs and scrapes, and was fully assembled, except for the wheels being upside down. It was even too big to be fully lifted by the manual pallet jack on the truck. After some head scratching, I decided to just leave it in the parking lot and come back with my tractor. With the help of the truck driver and a VERY nice UPS driver, we lifted the corners and installed the wheels. We then rolled it to the liftgate, lowered it, and parked it in a parking space. For those of you ordering this in the future: get the pallet to the ground and hook it right up to your 3ph.
SETUP
The trip home was uneventful, so I immediately sat down and read the entire manual. I was told the thing would be lubed and ready to go, but I wanted to make sure. The gearbox fluid was full and the fittings showed signs of recent greasing. To make sure, I hooked up my grease gun to the spindles. I put 60 zerks in each spindle and still saw no ooze at either end. The PTO shaft had not been lubed yet. All the (metric) nuts and bolts were tight and the belts were at proper tension. Overall, I spent less than 15 minutes going over the setup.
CONSTRUCTION
This mower appears to be very heavy duty. All the words that come to mind when looking at the deck, hardware, steel, gearbox, and parts are: heavy, thick, strong, big, unyielding, monstrous, wow! The design is intelligent, too. The belts (2 of them) can be adjusted without removing the belt covers (3 bolts on each cover). The front deck edges are rounded to prevent catching on obstacles. Except for one small piece of metal, the deck's underside is smooth and free of things that catch and build up clippings. The solid tires are lifetime lubricated (no grease fittings). The only item I don't think is good are the plastic bushings at the top and bottom of the wheel shafts - the top ones push out when reinstalling the wheels after height adjustments. 3 out of 4 are missing from my old mower and I have a feeling over the years these will get lost from the new one, too.
OPERATION
After 7+ hours of mowing, I am very pleased with the mower:
-Grass clipping are very small - it is almost like a mulching mower - and evenly distributed
-Mowing does take significantly less time because of the size and a faster ground speed achieveable with the rear discharge
-It is much quieter, both from the gearbox and the blade noise
-A bit of shaking occurs around high-idle speed, but disappears at 540RPM PTO speed (maybe blades need to be balanced)
SUMMARY
I would definitely recommend the First Choice 84" rear-discharge RFM to anyone shopping this category. I would also recommend doing business with Ken Sweet at Sweet Tractors. As I put hours on the mower, I will update this thread from time to time.
Mark
