Land Pride Finish Mower

[MF1455v]

I am looking to buy a rear mounted finish mower this spring. I did look last summer at Bushhog, KK, and Rhino, but did not buy due to several reasons. Biggest being I have not used a finish mower before and did not want to make the wrong purchase for my needs. After reading a lot here on TBN, I have determined rear discharge and pneumatic tires.

Having seen a lot of good feed back on TBN about Land Pride started looking at there models. Having only seen them on there web sight, looking at there spec's, looks like the 35 series FDR 3590 is the prime candidate to look at.

With this mower being 90 inches, I am concerned how well it will handle on minor uneven ground. My land is mostly level but not perfect.

I looked at the 25 series, but the spec's are rated for a max of 50 engine horse power and I have 55. I'm think this would work with the shear pin or slip clutch set up correctly, but I'm not sure or willing to find out the hard way.

Does anyone have any experience with this or another rear finish mower this size? Also what do you guys think about a 50hp gear box on a 55hp tractor?

Thanks!
James

 

[Birdhunter1]

Glenn
A guy I work with ust bought a landpride finish mower last year and he loves it. He siad it is tough and well built, which is why he bought it. From what I know of them minorly unlevel ground isn't great on them as they will scalp. But scalp it enough and it will level out eventually. If it were me I'd look at somethign in the 6-7 foot range instead.
When I was looking at them a while back I was going to get teh infaltable tires, the dealer was telling me that unless your ground is perfect the pneumatics will bounce alot, the air filled tires will act more like a balloon and provide a cushion and not bounce as much.
Also the MF 1455 puts out 55 engine HP but only 45 pto HP, I would think you woudl be okay. Your probably not going to hit anything big enough to cause somethign to break, but then again if you are always scalping you'd be in a world of hurt possibly.

Didn't you tell me once that these tractors were too big to mow a yard and to leave that to the lawnmowers?

 

[MF1455v]

Birdhunter1, I think you have me confused with Glenn9643, who has the same tractor.

The Land Pride spec's on there web page stated engine HP and did not say PTO HP. With BushHog it just says HP which I had assumed was the PTO HP. Is this a safety statement by Land Pride or am I reading to much into the spec's. I can't remember seeing "engine HP" stated on an implement before.

Thanks
James

 

[RoyJackson]

Take a look at Befco too...good units.

As far as the horsepower, as long as you use some common sense, you shouldn't have any problems. You will want an anti-scalping roller on the front of that mower though.

 

[MF1455v]

Just look at the Befco web sight. They are good looking mowers. I now have another dealer stop by. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif This one is closer than the Land Pride dealer. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[Glenn9643]

Didn't you tell me once that these tractors were too big to mow a yard and to leave that to the lawnmowers?

I probably did tell you that, but he might be wanting some of his "pasture" to have a better cut. I've found that I can do pretty well with my pastures using my 6' bushhog. If I keep the blades reasonably sharp it looks pretty well groomed from the road and I prefer a high cut anyway for the grass. I've even gotten to where I mow the lawn (JD 455 60"deck) about 4" high, so there's not much difference between that cut and the tractor/bushhog. I've thought about a finishing mower but it might bog down if I let the grass go too long. I usually cut when it gets about 10-12" and don't intend to start cutting 20 acres weekly.

 

[MF1455v]

I am mowing 6 acres about ever 7 to 10 days. This is between my place and an elderly frends place about a mile away. Both places are open with few trees or other items to get in the way. With the tractor it's fast and transportation down a gravel county road between the two places is not an issue.

 

[_RaT_]

James, I have the 2584 or 84" model and wish I had just gotten the next size up which I thought was 96". The Landpride I have has worked beautifully with one small exception. I mow at about 5" or higher and the wheels are stacked with 1" spacers to get this high. It also gives more leverage to bend the shaft that elevates the wheels. I've bent two of them a little from areas where my ground is pretty rough. Other then that, the belt still looks like new after several hundred hours, the whole unit is holding up very well. I even mow small sticks up to about 1" and it does a great job pulverizing them. I sold my brush hog and must say I really prefer my finish mower over it for the job at hand.

 

[MF1455v]

RaT, thanks for the information.