Advice for mowing 5 acres & lawn. SCT or X7X8 Series

   / Advice for mowing 5 acres & lawn. SCT or X7X8 Series #1  

nrbocke

Bronze Member
Joined
Sep 1, 2011
Messages
55
Hi everyone-
I've post on this forum before and everyone has always been very helpful. I'm a little closer to needing to buy something and was wanting to get everyone's updated thoughts on my situation...

I will have about 15000 sq. ft. of grass installed in a week or two. I have about 5 acres left to mow. This is pretty tough in my opinion. It ranges from the native brome to sun flowers and weeds where the land was disturbed building the house. The landscaper is bringing in dirt for my yard but everything else is very sandy. I also have some pretty steep hills to deal with. 99% of the time I will be using the machine to mow. I will probably mow the yard every 4 days to once a week and I would like to mow the rest no more than once a month. So it could get kind of tall. I am hiring all of my landscaping out. So no loader work. I may want to pull a shredder in the long term (probably not for the first couple of years) so I'm not wearing out the main tractor mower. I would probably get some kind of blade for snow removal. There is a small chance I would get a snow blower down the line and an even smaller chance I would ever get a tiller (1%). Space is an issue in the fact that I just want to buy one machine. For example I don't want to buy and old tractor just to shred and a ZTR to mow with.

So in my last posts a lot of people recommended the X7XX series from John Deere. I like the X728/48 and a local dealer has a X748 with a 7 Iron deck. Then I went to a big farm show today. Kubota and John Deere both had national sales folks to talk to. John Deere steered me to the 1026R and Kubota to the BX2660. While neither one of them had a bad thing to say about the others SCT they both said for mowing outside of the lawn the SCT are going to be far superior. Also I don't have anything but retail prices but what they are asking for that X748 just seems crazy compared to the prices of the SCT with MMM. Then thinking about adding the PTO and 3 point to the X series then there is really no comparison. They also say if there is any chance that I want to do anything else other than mow I need to go SCT. In my mind the chances that I will do anything other than mow, move snow, or maybe shred is so remote that X series would get me by in those odd cases.

What's everyone think??? Price is going to be a huge factor but then again I will pay more for something that will hold up better. I am putting a lot of money into my landscape so the cut of the lawn will be important to me. But on the other hand I don't want to struggle or wear out a high dollar mower on pasture. Posts I've read say the X7 with the iron deck is a far superior mower, but how will it do out in the pasture, or maybe with a little shredder? I've included some picture I took for another post for what it's worth.

Thanks A lot!!!
 

Attachments

  • IMAG0152.jpg
    IMAG0152.jpg
    293.5 KB · Views: 181
  • IMAG0153.jpg
    IMAG0153.jpg
    298.8 KB · Views: 240
  • IMAG0157.jpg
    IMAG0157.jpg
    223.9 KB · Views: 209
  • IMAG0158.jpg
    IMAG0158.jpg
    288.3 KB · Views: 188
   / Advice for mowing 5 acres & lawn. SCT or X7X8 Series
  • Thread Starter
#2  
One other thing that I found interesting today...Both JD and Kubota said their SCT MMM would give just as good as cut as any mower. They also said with the turf tires there is no difference on the lawn between a lawn tractor and a SCT. Do people believe these 2 statements to be true? I just read posts saying the 7 Iron deck is one of the best cuts available and the JD rep is telling me this with one sitting 10 feet away...
 
   / Advice for mowing 5 acres & lawn. SCT or X7X8 Series #3  
So in my last posts a lot of people recommended the X7XX series from John Deere. I like the X728/48 and a local dealer has a X748 with a 7 Iron deck. Then I went to a big farm show today. Kubota and John Deere both had national sales folks to talk to. John Deere steered me to the 1026R and Kubota to the BX2660. While neither one of them had a bad thing to say about the others SCT they both said for mowing outside of the lawn the SCT are going to be far superior. Also I don't have anything but retail prices but
what they are asking for that X748 just seems crazy compared to the prices of the SCT with MMM.
Then thinking about adding the PTO and 3 point to the X series then there is really no comparison. They also say if there is any chance that I want to do anything else other than mow I need to go SCT. In my mind the chances that I will do anything other than mow, move snow, or maybe shred is so remote that X series would get me by in those odd cases.

I have to agree with you. It
seems very crazy.
 
   / Advice for mowing 5 acres & lawn. SCT or X7X8 Series
  • Thread Starter
#4  

I have to agree with you. It
seems very crazy.

It may be completely irrational but I just don't feel comfortable spending $15000 on a mower but when the reps quoted me about the same price for the jd/Kubota scut I think that's a pretty good deal. I have to believe the scut will hold up better. Just looking at the front axel and how the wheels tie in looks a lot more substantial on the scut. I just pulled out my books and I see the 1026r weights more than twice as much as the x748! I didn't expect that much difference. That has to relate to a lot more strength... Right? On the other hand if I am just mowing and want a nice yard cut does it make sense to buy a scut?
 
Last edited:
   / Advice for mowing 5 acres & lawn. SCT or X7X8 Series #5  
It may be completely irrational but I just don't feel comfortable spending $15000 on a mower but when the reps quoted me about the same price for the jd/Kubota scut I think that's a pretty good deal. I have to believe the scut will hold up better. Just looking at the front axel and how the wheels tie in looks a lot more substantial on the scut. I just pulled out my books and I see the 1026r weights more than twice as much as the x748! I didn't expect that much difference. That has to relate to a lot more strength... Right? On the other hand if I am just mowing and want a nice yard cut does it make sense to buy a scut?



Check your weights again,
 
   / Advice for mowing 5 acres & lawn. SCT or X7X8 Series #6  
I have been using a compact tractor with a rear finish mower for the past 20 years...
I mow around 5 acres with some areas rougher than others including the front lawn...
I ran the Land Pride 14 years and replaced 1 wheel and 1 belt...
So far I have replaced nothing on my Woods PRD 7200...
Personally, if I were in your shoes, I would look very hard at a compact tractor with RFM...
I think that a zero turn or garden tractor would be hard pressed to hold up as well...
 
   / Advice for mowing 5 acres & lawn. SCT or X7X8 Series #7  
I have been using a compact tractor with a rear finish mower for the past 20 years...
I mow around 5 acres with some areas rougher than others including the front lawn...
I ran the Land Pride 14 years and replaced 1 wheel and 1 belt...
So far I have replaced nothing on my Woods PRD 7200...
Personally, if I were in your shoes, I would look very hard at a compact tractor with RFM...
I think that a zero turn or garden tractor would be hard pressed to hold up as well...

I've bought 4 tractors over the last 23 years. The first one had a belly mower and the rest had RFM's. At first, I only had a bit over 2 acres to mow. Then I started mowing for a nearby relative and had about 7 acres for many years. A couple years ago my relative sold the property and now I'm down to about 2-1/2+ acres. A few months ago I bought a new L3200 HST / Loader and a Landpride 6 foot RFM to replace a similarly equipped (except 5 foot RFM) B7500 . Even though it's the heaviest tractor I've had so far, the L3200 with R4's leaves the least tracks through the grass of any tractor I've had. Previous tractors had turfs, R1's and R4's.

Kept the 6 foot scraper blade from the last tractor. That and the loader will handle snow - we range from nothing one year to to blizzards another. The loader is something I never thought I'd use as much as I do. Aside from the normal snow and dirt relocation, it's a mini crane to get stuff on and off my truck, a handy tub to mix and place small batches of concrete, and good for wherever a 32 horsepower wheelbarrow may be needed.

It's going to be one of the tools used to wreck a tree trunk in about an hour or so. There's a tree someone "repaired" with concrete when it was found to be hollow many years ago. Recent storm damage made it necessary to drop the tree. I described the trunk as "sorta like one of those Combo snacks", except instead of peanut butter the center is concrete. And instead of pretzel, the outer part is about 6" of wood. Since the work is a couple miles away (involves jackhammer, saws, in town, with people sleeping in) we figured it'd be nice to wait till after 9:00 AM.
 
   / Advice for mowing 5 acres & lawn. SCT or X7X8 Series #8  
You haven't listed your location. That would be a big help for those of us that are trying to help you. Conditions in Maine are different than Washington, Texas, Hawaii or Idaho.

You mentioned the possibility of attachments.............buy the SCUT now and save headaches in the future.

You haven't mentioned Massey Ferguson. Dunno if you have no dealers in your area, or you just never thought of them. Give them a look if possible.

A friend of mine has the BX2360, he does not like the cut on the mower deck. Apparently the Kubota deck is not supposed to ride on the wheels, but must be suspended in the air. My friend says he gets an uneven cut.

I know nothing about the mowing capabilities of the JD(forum posts say they cut good).

I get an extremely good cut with my Massey Ferguson.

I'm also going to make the suggestion that you get an FEL(front end loader), on your SCUT. You WILL thank me later for that advice. I use mine for picking up rocks, sticks while mowing, digging of course, leveling humps. carrying weeds, grass seed, mulch, concrete blocks, rocks for my pond...stream....waterfall, vegetables from the garden, ashes from my stove. Add a few hooks, and you can lift heavy items from your truck bed, or load your truck with items or dirt, sand....or whatever..........uses are endless. Just today I leveled gound, moved rocks, and cleared a trail through the woods..........uprooting small trees, moving large blowdowns, and filling the holes left by the stumps I removed today.....that I cut the trees from 16 years ago.

Just make sure you prepare for the future. A scut will prepare you for that.

Try all the brands, choose the one that suits you the best.

Happy Shopping.
 
Last edited:
   / Advice for mowing 5 acres & lawn. SCT or X7X8 Series #9  
I have a BX2360 and I really like it. I think it does a good job cutting. It chops the grass up real fine and stripes pretty good. They are not supposed to ride on the anti-scalp wheels. The 2360 has tons of power for a mower. I mow some really steep stuff with it. I pull down and back up the hill. I have R4 tires and I don't have any regrets about getting them. They work good in the yard and work good for using it as a tractor. I really don't recommend a zero turn because all you can do is mow with it. You will be very surprised what you can do with a SCUT. Have you considered a larger tractor like a B3200, you can get a 72'' mmm on it.
 
   / Advice for mowing 5 acres & lawn. SCT or X7X8 Series #10  
zero turn mower, I have an old Dixie Chopper and I mow 5 acres of grass takes 2 hours if it were smother I could do it less. Not saying get a Dixie they are expensive I got mine on a special deal used,. But all zero turns will do the same.
 
 
Top