Tractor Sizing D series, LA series, x series, or do I move up to a scut or cut?

[SBorch]

D series, LA series, x series, or do I move up to a scut or cut? It almost sounds like a foreign language. I have been pursuing the idea that 6 acres of pasture needs a scut or cut tractor and my favorite is JD 2520 or 3320 or Mahindra 3016. Buutt I have this nagging feeling that a riding mower would do me just fine and I am only feeding my ego with something bigger. No my wife isn't talking. Will the small tractor work for mowing a flat pasture or will I kill myself because I went cheap? Any suggestions?

[K7LN]

How much of the 6 acres are you going to cut, and to a degree, what type of finish cut do you want? I mow 4 acres around the house with my JD 455, and that would probably be equivalent to the current X700 series. I definitely would NOT go for a D, LA or x300 series. If you're doing 2-4 acres, the 2520 might be good enough, above that and the 3320 might be a better choice.

[Johndeere3720]

I second that, I would avoid anything under the x310, the transmission isn't great and the overall quality of the LA & D series is very low IMO. Depending on what kind of cut you want on your 6 acres would help determine what model is best for you. If you aren't on a limited budget and like the 2520 I would go for that, it would cut down the time of mowing significantly vs. a lawn/garden tractor. Plus the Diesel 4wd tractor is much more versatile and if you decided to purchase other implements down the road the compact tractor will prove to be a more easily adaptable machine, plus the implements are easier to come by both new and used. Hope this helps!

[SBorch]

I will maybe have 1/3 acre lawn, 1/3 acre riparian brush and the rest bunpy/rutted pasture. Minimal rocks. So the reviews about quality on the D and La series are over done? Thanks for the tip. I'm not looking at the 1026R because it is quite noisy compared to the 2x20 series. The 1026R howled when I engaged the PTO. Maybe the dealer didn't set up properly.

[boggen]

not sure how much is mowed here, i want to say an 6 to 8 acres mowed (finished mowed) like a front yard would be. a riding lawn mower or garden tractor. it can be done, but painfully slow.

a larger zero turn mower would be ideal if you wan front yard (finished) mowing it all. say in commercial range.

garden tractors and tall weeds i would skip the idea. ya you can get pull behind rotatory cutters (bush hogs) with an engine on them. for pulling behind a riding lawn mower or 4wheeler or like.

or you could step up to SCUT (sub compact tractor) with cat 1 (category 1) 3pt hitch. that will more likely have a belly mower (MMM = mid mount mower), that will have higher range setting that might be able to handle taller weeds as long as you take 1/2 to 1/3 of deck width swipes at the taller weeds, but it can be brutal on belts and blades.

or go with SCUT that has belly mower for the finished mowing, and get a 3pt hitch rotatory cutter, to deal with the tall weeds.

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finishing mowers. just do not handle tall weeds. even if you set deck high as possible. and take 1/2 width cuts. way to easy for weeds to wrap up around the blades and spindles under deck, and then burning up the belt due to blades are packed up solid with weeds.

rotatory cutters (bush hogs) can handle the thicker weeds, due to they only cut the weeds / grass once, vs finishing mower that tends to cut things a couple times before it all blows out of the deck. plus blades on rotatory cutters are bigger and stronger. to handle cutting small size trees 1 to 2" in size.

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if all you are doing with tractor is mowing. a SCUT to CUT in the range of 20 to 30HP should do what you want. turf tires would more likely be better for you, you could go with R3 tires that have some tread. but not sure if you would benefit from it.

[glc24]

If you're doing 2-4 acres, the 2520 might be good enough,

No "might be" here.It is definitely enough tractor for what the OP wants to do. I will attest to that.

Greg

[buickanddeere]

D series, LA series, x series, or do I move up to a scut or cut? It almost sounds like a foreign language. I have been pursuing the idea that 6 acres of pasture needs a scut or cut tractor and my favorite is JD 2520 or 3320 or Mahindra 3016. Buutt I have this nagging feeling that a riding mower would do me just fine and I am only feeding my ego with something bigger. No my wife isn't talking. Will the small tractor work for mowing a flat pasture or will I kill myself because I went cheap? Any suggestions?

. A low end basic CUT with a real drawbar, real 540rpm pto, real rockshaft/three point hitch and a scc. Runs in the same ball park price range as an oversized lawn tractor. May as well have something that usable. In the future you will have something that a FEL or backhoe can be bolted to if your property suddenly requires drainage repairs. The 540rpm will power a real generator to operate your home on diesel when the power fails
Instead of puttzing around with a rope start portable gas gen set.

[bradrich18]

Do not go with the LA series. That is what I had before I purchased a 1026r. I bought it specifically for mowing, particularly hillsides. I later bought a box blade and now I'm looking at getting a FEL. I like having the option to add attachments if I want to.

[jenkinsph]

If you want to buy something that will mow the six acres fast enough not to be drudgery and have enough ability to repair the property as you have time and resources I recommend you get a 2720 with a 72" drive over deck. I would consider adding other attachments over time such as a tiller, boxblade, landplane, seeder and fel as you can afford them. This would be all the tractor you would need for a six acre parcel. You can over time fix the bumps and ditches to the point you could use a zero turn mower or the 2720 at higher ground speeds. Long term you will want to mow this in as short a time as possible the 2720 will mow faster than the 2520 by a good margin.

You could get by with an x748-749 such as I have or a 1 series and still use the attachments listed above but everything would take longer to do. After a summer of mowing this you would be tired of the time spent . Mowing takes hp to do so I wouldn't expect these 24 to 26 hp machines to vary much in mowing area/hr.

The key to this is fixing the problem areas that slow you down and cause you to spend an inordinate amount of time with mowing.

[jenkinsph]

. A low end basic CUT with a real drawbar, real 540rpm pto, real rockshaft/three point hitch and a scc. Runs in the same ball park price range as an oversized lawn tractor. May as well have something that usable. In the future you will have something that a FEL or backhoe can be bolted to if your property suddenly requires drainage repairs. The 540rpm will power a real generator to operate your home on diesel when the power fails
Instead of puttzing around with a rope start portable gas gen set.

I agree he would be better served with a CUT but you keep commenting on threads about the rear pto, 3PH and diesel as if these are non existent on the smaller machines and that is incorrect. My x749 can easily handle a 10kw 540 genset, I don't have one because I have several gas and diesel gensets already. But I do have tillers and chippers that utilize the rear pto.