Finish mower widths?

[rope1]

Looking for all of the experts opinion. Agco ST34@ is right at 60" wide, now I'm trying to decide if I should get a 60 or 72" rear finish mower. My 60" box blade covers my tracks perfectly, and I don't have to worry about catching it on anything since it doesnt stick out past the tractor. I will be using this to replace my dead lawn mower, so I need to get kinda close to some stuff, house, deck, barns, etc. Just wondered what you pro's have been using. Thanks.

 

[hunterridgefarm]

I pull a 72" behind my 3130. It sticks out a few inches on each side and allows me to get close to the fence when mowing. I have never really worried about catching it on anything. I usually mow slow on the first pass next to the fence and watch the mower, since it is wider than the tractor I don't have to worry about the tractor hitting the fence.

 

[alaskanjdeere]

I've also got a 72" finish mower,With rear discharge Which I would recommend. Works great and I've yet to damage anything...Well other then the kids Toys /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif Good luck Shawn

 

[Soundguy]

Though I don't finish mow.. I'd like to 'ditto' the comment about having the mower a tad wider than the tractor for mowing fences..

Soundguy

 

[Propertymaint]

I use a 84" behind a TC-40D. All of the above is good advice. Typically you want the mower to hang out a bit from the rear tires for mowing tight to obstacles, beds, trees etc. Typical mower sizes are 48", 60", 72" & 84". Some manufactures do make larger single and multiple deck mowers. Just remember, the larger the mower the greater possibility of scalping unless you are mowing large flat acreage. Check manufacturers recommendation for PTO HP requirements. Also, there is a lot of good info on this forum on side discharge vs. rear discharge. Best of luck.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Looking for all of the experts opinion. Agco ST34@ is right at 60" wide, now I'm trying to decide if I should get a 60 or 72" rear finish mower. My 60" box blade covers my tracks perfectly, and I don't have to worry about catching it on anything since it doesnt stick out past the tractor. I will be using this to replace my dead lawn mower, so I need to get kinda close to some stuff, house, deck, barns, etc. Just wondered what you pro's have been using. Thanks. )</font>

To my mind, all of the above information is very incomplete.

You should not size your mower deck based on the width of your tractor, you should size it based on the available PTO Horsepower and your grass conditions.

If you are mowing thick lush grass and have a mower deck that is sticking out 6" wider on each side than your tractor's width, and you DON'T have the enough PTO HP then you really are just asking for all sorts of trouble.

Now I honestly have no clue what PTO HP you have so I won't recommend a width for you, but if you have very thick lush grass, you would probably want about 3.5-to-4 PTO HP for every 12" of mower deck. If you have thin or sparce grass, then you could use something closer to 3 PTO HP for every 12" of mower deck. This is for a FINISH MOWER, not for a ROTARY CUTTER.

Just my $0.02