megotatractor
Veteran Member
After 4 1/2 years with my 2210 I'm beginning to reconsider the "all in one" approach to equipment. The weekly cleaning of the MMM mower is getting old and the quick attach loader doesn't seem so quick when I just want to use it for a few minutes for yard cleanup. And so I dream of the perfect set of multiple, dedicated machines....
the perfect mowing machine would have a front mount mower deck like one I once used on a General Electric tractor. When in my early teens Dad had decided to test out a used General Electric lawn and garden tractor. It was rated an equivelent 16hp, had a 6 speed gearbox, a forward/reverse toggle switch, a "go" pedal, and brake. It had a very nice ride with its load of perhaps 500lbs or more of golf cart batteries and I could ALMOST finish mowing the 5 acres on a charge before having to plug it in for 15 hours. As I recall must have been about a 50" or larger mower deck mounted on a pair of struts out front, had three motors on it -one for each blade- and plugged into an outlet on the front of the tractor. There was an electric winch that raised the front deck nice and high for transport and the top gear was very very fast. Anyway, with the front mower deck raised fully one could simply grab hold and lift it easily to a completely vertical position for the easiest maintenance I've ever seen. And it did a beautiful job of cutting.
This ideal deck mount -pto driven- would be on something that looks like a short wheelbase Gator with a full suspension and either all wheel steer or perhaps articulated. It would have a nice cushy suspended seat too. And I am sold on the economy of a diesel engine. Also it must have a folding ROPS for mowing under my apple tree without knocking off all the apples onto the tender top of my head -as with my 2210.
For winter - just dreaming of ideals, money no object- I would just pave the danged driveway and use a plow on the front of my little Ranger 4x4 pickup which came with a comfy heated cab for a quick getaway to work in the morning. For cleanup of the large piles on the weekend I will use the front mounted two stage snowthrower on perhaps a 3000 series cab tractor. This little tractor might also be nice to use for loader work so I'd have a second one so I don't have to change attachments. Although I have a sh** pile of dirt, stones, concrete, broken glass and junk so I'd have to have something with a backhoe to bury the crap.
On a budget though I suppose the all in one system isn't so bad...
the perfect mowing machine would have a front mount mower deck like one I once used on a General Electric tractor. When in my early teens Dad had decided to test out a used General Electric lawn and garden tractor. It was rated an equivelent 16hp, had a 6 speed gearbox, a forward/reverse toggle switch, a "go" pedal, and brake. It had a very nice ride with its load of perhaps 500lbs or more of golf cart batteries and I could ALMOST finish mowing the 5 acres on a charge before having to plug it in for 15 hours. As I recall must have been about a 50" or larger mower deck mounted on a pair of struts out front, had three motors on it -one for each blade- and plugged into an outlet on the front of the tractor. There was an electric winch that raised the front deck nice and high for transport and the top gear was very very fast. Anyway, with the front mower deck raised fully one could simply grab hold and lift it easily to a completely vertical position for the easiest maintenance I've ever seen. And it did a beautiful job of cutting.
This ideal deck mount -pto driven- would be on something that looks like a short wheelbase Gator with a full suspension and either all wheel steer or perhaps articulated. It would have a nice cushy suspended seat too. And I am sold on the economy of a diesel engine. Also it must have a folding ROPS for mowing under my apple tree without knocking off all the apples onto the tender top of my head -as with my 2210.
For winter - just dreaming of ideals, money no object- I would just pave the danged driveway and use a plow on the front of my little Ranger 4x4 pickup which came with a comfy heated cab for a quick getaway to work in the morning. For cleanup of the large piles on the weekend I will use the front mounted two stage snowthrower on perhaps a 3000 series cab tractor. This little tractor might also be nice to use for loader work so I'd have a second one so I don't have to change attachments. Although I have a sh** pile of dirt, stones, concrete, broken glass and junk so I'd have to have something with a backhoe to bury the crap.
On a budget though I suppose the all in one system isn't so bad...
