Rough Cut Mower: Chinese, King Kutter, UsedI was also thinking about hiring the trac?

[ruready1]

Hello,
Well I FINALLY managed to be the high bidder on a CUT. I ended up with a little Shibaura SL1603. A little on the small side but it'll get into the tight places on the farm better (I hope!). Now the question is what do I hang off of it? The dealer offered to sell me a new blade and "bush hog" combo for $650 with the purchase of the tractor. I REALLY need a blade for this winter but looking at the Homier/Farm Pro/Whatever chinese blades made me think I'd do better with a KK or older used American blade (shouldn't have sold the one on the 8N!!! ).

Getting back on track, I'm assuming the new rotary cutter won't be any better, correct? I mow our 8.5AC, as well as the neighbors 12-15AC pastures. I was also thinking of hiring the tractor and me out for bush hogging to generate a little income. Thus the concern. It seemed like all I did last summer was bushhogging. This year should be less clear cutting and more mowing. Obviously, the HD 5' Bush Hog Rebel wasn't going to work for a CUT (the 8n sometimes groaned) so I let it go. Now I'm needing a mower but the budget is LOW. Based on my budget, I should be able to swing a chinese unit, a King Kutter (another dealer has a blue one!) or maybe a used American. I won't need the mower until spring, so I guess I could save up until then and buy more up the foodchain. Suggestions????

Thanks,
Mike

 

[ruready1]

Re: Rough Cut Mower: Chinese, King Kutter, UsedI was also thinking about hiring the trac?

Doggone! The system won't allow me to edit the funky title above. I don't know how I managed to end up with that! The title, and question, should be: Rough Cut Mower: Chinese, King Kutter, Used?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[Newblue]

Re: Rough Cut Mower: Chinese, King Kutter, UsedI was also thinking about hiring the trac?

Hello Mike,
I am also looking for a rough cut mower so the answers you get will be interesting. If you are looking for a finish mower I can help you some there. I first had a well used King Kutter and it was OK for the price I paid for it but it had cracks in the deck that I had to weld up. This past summer I purchased a Woods PRD 8400. It is a world of difference but price is also different. I'm also from IN, where are you by chance? If you want to go with a Woods product you might try Killough farm equipment near Connersville. Mr. Killough had all the other Woods dealers beat hands down on price and on service. I have since purchased a Woods box blade from him and am very pleased with it.

Take care,
Mike B.

 

[ruready1]

Re: Rough Cut Mower: Chinese, King Kutter, UsedI was also thinking about hiring the trac?

Thanks for the info NewBlue. I doubt we will end up with a finish mower as our actual yard is small enough for a rider. Everything else is mainly pasture or pasture-to-be for our horses. The info you found on finish mowers may hold true on rough cut as well.

As to location, we're in Spencer out among the BIG hills!

Take Care,
Mike

 

[Soundguy]

Re: Rough Cut Mower: Chinese, King Kutter, UsedI was also thinking about hiring the trac?

I have one o fthe old 'red' 5' King kutter rough mowers. has been doing good. it is? 6-7 ys old now. have used it on a 33 hp diesel made for a 6' mower.. or on my 8n.. works fine.

Soundguy

 

[AlanB]

Re: Rough Cut Mower: Chinese, King Kutter, UsedI was also thinking about hiring the trac?

I chose a KK because exact replacement parts are easily available at a variety of stores near me.

 

[greg_g]

Re: Rough Cut Mower: Chinese, King Kutter, UsedI was also thinking about hiring the trac?

I don't believe 20hp is enough tractor for what you intend to do. Your place maybe, but not your place AND commercial mowing. I'm almost certain that the 16 part of 1603 denotes 16 PTO horsepower, so you're pretty much stuck way down in 4 foot rotary cutter territory. And cutting 12 acres four feet at a time isn't very efficient. The only time you'd gain an advantage, is if/when you mow in cramped situations where the more efficiently sized rigs are too big.

I'm just south of you, so I know about mowing pasture on BIG hills. My YM240 had 21 PTO hp, and maintained the pastures reasonably well with a 5 foot finish mower set to cut high. But being 2wd with turfs, it was useless for wet weather/winter work. So I traded up to a 4wd JM254 (21.5 PTO hp) with a five foot IM500 rotary cutter. Big mistake. Mowing was dead slow. There was no one gear that could mow the whole place, so I was constantly wasting time shifting from H1 to L3 - just so the thing would mow back uphill without bogging down. I eventually traded up to my current KM454 (39 PTO hp) and a six foot IM602, and it handles everything I can throw at it without even breaking a sweat. I now finally have the right tool for the job.

I fear you may go through the same learning process that I did, before arriving at the right tool for your job.

//greg//

 

[ruready1]

Re: Rough Cut Mower: Chinese, King Kutter, UsedI was also thinking about hiring the trac?

Thanks for the comments guys.

Greg - Thanks for the info and concerns. You probably are correct re: the size of tractor. Right now we've got another house we're trying to sell (two mortgage payments, electric, gas, etc), so we were limited in the amount of cash we had to spend. This was the best and biggest I could find that was close to the proceeds from our 8n ($2300.00). We're hoping that by spring, we'll have the other house sold and be able to get what we really probably need which is a 25-40hp 4WD, probably from LMTC. That is what would be taking over most of the mowing detail eventually and we'll decide what to do with the little Shibaura then. I just thought if the mowers were screaming deals @ $500 or so, I'd pick it up and at least have that on-hand come spring (assuming we ever have winter instead of monsoon season!). It may be that I'd be better off waiting until then to see what size mowing tractor I have rather than have to, possibly, upgrade to a 5-6' mower. Things that make you go hmmmm!

BTW, noticed your sig line. Thank you for your service. It is appreciated!

Take Care,
Mike

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

Re: Rough Cut Mower: Chinese, King Kutter, UsedI was also thinking about hiring the trac?

If you're expecting to move up to a tractor with maybe as much as double the HP you have now, I don't think I'd spend a whole lot on implements now as you'll want bigger ones for your bigger tractor.

I run a JD4200 HST which is a little more HP than what you have currently. I have a KK 60" rotary cutter and have been realy pleased with it. I started using it when I'd first bought my property and a lot of the areas had not been mowed in years if not decades so I gave that KK some really rough use from day one. I hit cinder blocks, field tile, big rocks, logs, stumps, tree roots, a car battery, tires, wheels and more fencing and T-posts than I thought could have been on this land. I'm talking enough metal alone that I literally hauled away over three dump truck loads of scrap metal that I "found" while mowing.

Through all of that, this inexpensive little KK has done an amazing job and held up incredibly well. I bought it new because when I looked at used rotary cutters they all looked pretty rough (even worse than mine does now) and were only $100-$150 less than new so I'd recommend getting a new one.

Good luck with whatever you decide. I hope this helps.