AMR
Gold Member
I finally had a chance to get some seat time on my new B3030 this weekend. My most pressing task was mowing the lawn, we have about 2 acres of lawn with slopes from 0 to about 18 percent.
I set the mower to 4", that is where I thought I was cutting with my BX23. I took a tape measure to the blade and it was exactly 4", my grass was about 4.5 to 5" tall. The mower was easy to adjust, I did need a socket for the right anti-scalp, I was surprised by this, but then I will only adjust the cutting height once every probably.
Since I have only 1.6 hours on the tractor I only ran the tractor up to about 1,800 RPM and tried to vary it down to about 1,400 RPM for break-in.
The mowing results were good. I think that the BX23 definately gave a slightly better mow but I still think that this machine did great. I think that I was really not cutting at 4" with my BX23, when I set the dial to 4" I really think it was 3.5 or so. So the fact that the grass is longer the tracking from the wheels on the deck and from the loaded turfs is probably a little more pronounced. But after 24 hours there was no difference in appearance. The cut looks great, but I think I am going to lower it to 3.5" and it will look as good as the BX23.
My B3030 is immensely more stable on the slopes, I can not express how much more comfortable I feel on the cross slopes. The front left wheel on my BX23 always used to leave the ground on one or two passes. I cut across the slopes this weekend because this is how it worked out, I cut 90 degrees to the old cut everytime. I used to leave the FEL on the BX23 when I mowed, not on the B3030, I have enough weight so getting into tight spots was no problem, a full bagger may make a difference when I get it on. I feared that loaded tires would have hurt the lawn but it didn't, I bet that spring may be more of an issue though. I did turn too tight a couple times and left a little rut with the front tire, I can't make the same aggressive turns I did with my 23, I need to be a little more gentle.
Also, I NEVER used 4wd once this weekend, my BX23 was in 4wd 100 percent of the time when I mowed previoulsy as I would lose traction and slide down my front hill.
I can't wait to run the RPM's up all the way and I can't wait for my bagger. Overall I would give my B3030 a solid 9 out of 10 mowing.
I had a pang of regret this weekend, I always bagged with my BX23, I mowed with my B3030 and no bagger this weekend and did not feel that grass clippings where going to be an issue on the lawn, the 72" deck would have been quicker to mow with, but the bagger will be nice for the leaves. Always a compromise somewhere.
I set the mower to 4", that is where I thought I was cutting with my BX23. I took a tape measure to the blade and it was exactly 4", my grass was about 4.5 to 5" tall. The mower was easy to adjust, I did need a socket for the right anti-scalp, I was surprised by this, but then I will only adjust the cutting height once every probably.
Since I have only 1.6 hours on the tractor I only ran the tractor up to about 1,800 RPM and tried to vary it down to about 1,400 RPM for break-in.
The mowing results were good. I think that the BX23 definately gave a slightly better mow but I still think that this machine did great. I think that I was really not cutting at 4" with my BX23, when I set the dial to 4" I really think it was 3.5 or so. So the fact that the grass is longer the tracking from the wheels on the deck and from the loaded turfs is probably a little more pronounced. But after 24 hours there was no difference in appearance. The cut looks great, but I think I am going to lower it to 3.5" and it will look as good as the BX23.
My B3030 is immensely more stable on the slopes, I can not express how much more comfortable I feel on the cross slopes. The front left wheel on my BX23 always used to leave the ground on one or two passes. I cut across the slopes this weekend because this is how it worked out, I cut 90 degrees to the old cut everytime. I used to leave the FEL on the BX23 when I mowed, not on the B3030, I have enough weight so getting into tight spots was no problem, a full bagger may make a difference when I get it on. I feared that loaded tires would have hurt the lawn but it didn't, I bet that spring may be more of an issue though. I did turn too tight a couple times and left a little rut with the front tire, I can't make the same aggressive turns I did with my 23, I need to be a little more gentle.
Also, I NEVER used 4wd once this weekend, my BX23 was in 4wd 100 percent of the time when I mowed previoulsy as I would lose traction and slide down my front hill.
I can't wait to run the RPM's up all the way and I can't wait for my bagger. Overall I would give my B3030 a solid 9 out of 10 mowing.
I had a pang of regret this weekend, I always bagged with my BX23, I mowed with my B3030 and no bagger this weekend and did not feel that grass clippings where going to be an issue on the lawn, the 72" deck would have been quicker to mow with, but the bagger will be nice for the leaves. Always a compromise somewhere.
