Horsepower

[Lyrch75]

Just think about it. If you had 20% more power in anything would it make a difference?

By a strange coincidence I made a jump of close to that percentage of HP this summer. Went from a TC55DA (48 ptohp) to an M7040 (64 pto-hp).

Do some field finish mowing with an RM990, and some folks call me a bit later that makes for a nice looking job, but they don't want to pay for me to do it twice.
Amazing difference between the two. The NH would spend most of these jobs in top gear low range, I might get to see mid range when I got to dry area that hadn't grown all that much. The KB does most of these jobs in 1gr high range only have to drop a range when get into really chunky stuff that the mower needs more time to do a clean cut on.

Noticed the same type of jump in performance when I went from a TC24 to a TC 33 with my 6' finish mower.

After these two personal experiences with HP and others who told me to get the higher hp to start with, I now shop for the highest HP for a chassis size, as I find out I always end up needing it.

 

[Soundguy]

Soundguy

While I agree that the more cylinders an engine has the more inherently balanced it is, take a look at the New Holland TN series. Right now in the Utility arena it is one of the most popular machines out there and the majority of them are 3 cylinder. I don't find them particularly noisy. The one thing they do have is great "torque reserve" which means that they can instantly put out extra torque when called for by an increased load.

Andy

I much prefer running a 3cyl or 4 cyl machine vs a 2 cyl, just based on noise ( and pattern) and gotta say I like a 4 over a 3. Not that I don't like a 3 mind you.

soundguy

 

[Soundguy]

you gotta be kidding....right?

And here i thought there wasn't going to be anything funny in this thread!

soundguy

 

[MESSMAKER]

I would lean toward more HP if you are using the PTO a lot. I have a 27 hp tractor and it will not pull a 5 foot rotary cutter as fast as I would like. 5 more HP would be very nice.

 

[Lt CHEG]

Rule of thumb is 5 HP per foot on mowers and Bush Hogs for most instances.

Chris

Is this PTO horsepower or gross engine HP? I would like to be able to run a 7 ft. finish mower and 5 ft. bush hog on a tractor that I hope to buy before too long. I am looking at tractors ranging around 34.2 PTO horsepower/ 43.5 gross horsepower to 43 PTO horsepoer/ 55 gross horsepower. I may end up going with a 6 ft. mower but I'd like to at least be able to run a 6 footer to speed up the process. I'll be cutting the grass once a week on a level lot which used to be used for letting horses run around.

 

[Opti-Mist]

Is this PTO horsepower or gross engine HP? I would like to be able to run a 7 ft. finish mower and 5 ft. bush hog on a tractor that I hope to buy before too long. I am looking at tractors ranging around 34.2 PTO horsepower/ 43.5 gross horsepower to 43 PTO horsepoer/ 55 gross horsepower. I may end up going with a 6 ft. mower but I'd like to at least be able to run a 6 footer to speed up the process. I'll be cutting the grass once a week on a level lot which used to be used for letting horses run around.

That would be PTO hp. While it tends to be about 88% of engine hp it could vary a bit more depending on accessories and other parasitic losses.

 

[Turbys_1700]

IMHO...
More HP is better...
With that said, I have no trouble at all pulling a 6' RFM with my little ole 1720 NH that is 28 whopping HP...
Either tractor will so what you want to...

 

[Soundguy]

Is this PTO horsepower or gross engine HP? I would like to be able to run a 7 ft. finish mower and 5 ft. bush hog on a tractor that I hope to buy before too long. I am looking at tractors ranging around 34.2 PTO horsepower/ 43.5 gross horsepower to 43 PTO horsepoer/ 55 gross horsepower. I may end up going with a 6 ft. mower but I'd like to at least be able to run a 6 footer to speed up the process. I'll be cutting the grass once a week on a level lot which used to be used for letting horses run around.

most machines that run a 5' rough mower.. run a6' finish ont he same hp.. etc.

soundguy

 

[HarleyRiders97]

Thanks for all the info guys. I went with a McCormick 41 hp 4x4 tractor with loader and backhoe. I believe this will definately handle all that I have here.