Considering a Kubota BX.....

[Baucom]

It would be A LOT cheaper to add a quick hitch to your 4320 to make changing implements quicker and easier than it would be to buy a BX to mow with. With 5.5 acres to mow, I would be wanting to use the biggest mower that I could, and since you already have a JD lawn tractor to mow the lawn around the house, I would be looking into either: a) a 6'+ flail mower or b) a 7'+ grooming mower. Unless your 5.5 acres has a ton of trees to mow around, either one would be a good bit quicker than a BX with a 5' MMM.

As for tilling the garden--if the 4320 is a bit too much to till it, then a good rear tine walk behind is probably tiller enough. I don't know how big the garden is, but my garden is 30' x 50', which is pretty small and that would take a minimum of 5 passes with a 6' tiller. There's no harm in making short work of a task so long as it's done well.

But, if you're just looking for justification to buy another machine, then the BX does make an excellent mower and garden tractor.

 

[deere4320]

It would be A LOT cheaper to add a quick hitch to your 4320 to make changing implements quicker and easier than it would be to buy a BX to mow with. With 5.5 acres to mow, I would be wanting to use the biggest mower that I could, and since you already have a JD lawn tractor to mow the lawn around the house, I would be looking into either: a) a 6'+ flail mower or b) a 7'+ grooming mower. Unless your 5.5 acres has a ton of trees to mow around, either one would be a good bit quicker than a BX with a 5' MMM.

As for tilling the garden--if the 4320 is a bit too much to till it, then a good rear tine walk behind is probably tiller enough. I don't know how big the garden is, but my garden is 30' x 50', which is pretty small and that would take a minimum of 5 passes with a 6' tiller. There's no harm in making short work of a task so long as it's done well.

But, if you're just looking for justification to buy another machine, then the BX does make an excellent mower and garden tractor.

I am not that familiar with Flail Mowers. I know there are hundreds of threads on TBN about them. My one question is, Aren't they only made to do the job of a brush hog, not a RFM?

 

[LBrown59]

They both are great tractors, but i woud definately prefer the BX2230, considering the pricing that you recieved and the improvements of the model line. The BX2230 is a very good Kubota tractor.

I would go with the BX2230.

 

[leonz]

No please dont think that the flailmower is just for mowing brush and road ditches, It can do both grass mowing and brush very well with a finish mower rotor with 122 blades like the TM1900FSC.

You get a beautiful mowing job with flailmower and the rear roller guarantees a level cut with no adjusting wheels or linkages other than the proper positioning of the top link using the rear roller to regulate the cuttting hieght
by unbolting it and setting it in one of the gauge holes-done and done.



You mow slowly at 540 rpm with high engine rpm for the 540 speed and slice the blades of grass with the grass knives, and you can mow brush the same day with no issues, just mow with due care and slowly.



All that left is narrow windrow of grass clippings that can be recut or left to compost with aid of mother nature.

You will be able to dethach your lawn and brush filled areas to plant grass seed by broadcasting it too.

This method of mowing or brush cutting is referred to as verticutting as the rotor spins a large number of knives(in the case of a finish cut rotor and slices a small bit of grass with the other blades behind it mowing whats left to slice as it advances or reverses.


The rotary mower tears the grass blade where the flail mower geass knife slices it cleanly and it reduced the stress on the lawn from mowing too.



Each grass knife creates its own suction with the centrifugal force created by the rotor to carry the clippings up and over the rotor and back down on the ground.

You also can mow wet grass or brush, and if you have little or no snow cover during late fall or early winter you can knock all the brush down during that time with no problems.


There is no worrying about cleaning grass build up with a flail mower as the grass does not have time to stick to anything as the suction created by the rotor and knives lifts and throws it up and over back on the ground and you can recut everything if its overgrown quickly as it simply lifts slices and dumps the cuttings behind the rotor.

The larger flailmowers have baskets that are used to collect the clippings using a diverter door and the rotor has four paddles to create more suction to carry the grass into the basket for collection and disposal or composting,
some of these flail mowers have hydraiulic lifts to dump the clippings into trailer or small trucks.


If you do not have the engine at its rated speed for the 540 rpm and you are mowing heavy brush in a higher gear you may burn the the belts out.


Heavy brush requires you to mow at very low forward speed and high engine speed for the 540 rpm to avoid stalling and belt burn out.


This enables the finish mower rotor blade to rotate at its full rated rpm and velocity to slice the brush quickly and throw it over the rotor (some flails can be operated in reverse throwing the cuttings forward in some major brands).


Like anything else they require care and grease (the Caroni flailmower has grease fittings behind the belt guard that require greasing like many other brands) to operate properly and will handle heavy shock loads from mounds of grown brush or ant hills.

The biggest benefit is safety as it does not throw objects like a rotary mower will do as the object is impacted, carried, and recarried to the discharge chute or rear of the rotary mower.

And the flail mower makes much less noise than a belly mower.


Any mower will skip if you operate at too fast forward speed simply due to the speed of movement.

The flailmower will be able to eliminate the tire marks of flattened grass if operated slowly enough or used to overlap and recut.

The rear roller creates the flat ribbon pattern if you like to have that, or simply mow and mow with no issues as it will simply be a nice carpet cut even at a high setting.


The thing about good turf is this; the longer the grass blade the longer the root and the healthier the sod, but if you do not have a good sod cutting it down flat prevents a lot of weed growth and possible invasion form poison ivy which is much more abundant this year due to the excesss CO2 in the atmospere and much more clear cutting of forests in the USA.


You will not go wrong with a purchase like this in my opinion.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Hi All,
My family and i are looking for a new SCUT for mowing. We have about 5 and 1/2 mowable acres. My deere 4320 is a little too much for mowing and tilling our small garden. Plus, i don't have an iMatch or a quick change system, so i would be a pain switching between a RFM and the old brush hog. I would plan to eventually purchase a tiller. Our terrain is hilly so 4WD is a must. I have been doing research on the BX vs. the competitors and i think the BX is an all around better tractor. I am only fifteen years old so i have been saving since winter, working all summer so far, and plan to sell our deere lawn tractor. On our way home from Charlotte today we saw a Kubota dealer in Maryland and stopped to see what they had. They had some nice used BX's. I had wish a bought a camera with me, but there were already on tractor house.com. The first is a 2004 BX2230 w/ 414 hours and a RCK60 MMM for $7,500. The other was a 2002 BX2200 with 670 hours and a RCK60 MMM for $6,900. They both seem to be in great shape. Was there any big difference between theses tractors? I know that there is a $600 price difference but the BX2230 has 200 less hours than the BX2200. Has anybody had both of them? Whats a better deal?

Sorry I don't know how to post more than 4 pictures so the pics of the BX2200 will in another post.

What made you go with the TN tractor instead of the MD one?

 

[montelatici]

I believe one of the main changes from the BX2200 to the BX2230 was the loader design. With the BX2200, you would disconnect the FEL, but the control valve and stick would stay with the tractor. With the BX2230, the valve and stick were mounted on the FEL frame and came off with the FEL. And, sure enough, you can see the control valve and stick on the right side of the BX2200 in that picture! But the rest of the loader seems to be missing... no mounting brackets, etc. I would want to know the story behind that. Seems a bit wierd that it originally had a loader and it was taken off.

Not necessarily. I bought my BX1850 brand new off the "showroom" floor and it had the hydraulics and joy stick but no FEL.

 

[keyman1808]

I thought on the 50 an 60 series the loader valve came standard?? Maybe someone with more knowledge would know

 

[SeymourBota]

I thought on the 50 an 60 series the loader valve came standard?? Maybe someone with more knowledge would know

Most dealers order them that way, but they can be ordered without.

The extra cost when ordering is small compared to over $1,000 for parts and labor to add the valve/stick afterward.