bushhog vs finishing mower vs Belly mower

[DPForumDog]

I love to bushhog on my JD 5203 tractor, but thought I might want a better finish close to the house. So I bought a little gasoline garden tractor with a 54" undercarriage. The finish is not that much better and it so slow. I want to cut as fast as my JD 5203 tractor. so now I am looking for a smaller used tractor (because my husband is always hogging my JD 5203) . I want a tractor that is FAST as my JD 5203 tractor but smaller maybe 16-20HP diesel. But what kind of mower do I want?


Finish? I noticed that some of these 16-20HP have both a belly mower and a finishing mower? What is the differences/advantages of one over the other?

Speed? I want to go faster than the dinky gasoline tractor. What should I look for?

Thanks
Granny DP
DPForumDog

 

[DPForumDog]

I am moving this thread to "Attachments"
Sorry

 

[newbury]

Have you investigated a ZTR?
They are made for mowing.

 

[bcp]

My personal preference is for a 3pt finish mower instead of a belly mower. You can buy the brand and quality you like and keep it when you change tractors.

Bruce

 

[Popster]

Get yourself a 50" SCAG and never look back. You can cut a lot of grass at 8mph!

 

[RoyJackson]

I'm another proponent of buying a ZTR mower with a 60" deck.

 

[art]

The belly mower and a multi-blade three point hitch mower are both finish mowers. The differences of the mowers overall design is small but they do add up to the cut quality. Many designs of finish mowers have limitations of one sort or the other with in the deck and that relates to the job that you desire to have as far as the looks of the lawn. The mid mount mowers have the advantage of not driving over the grass with all the tires before it is cut comparing to the the three point hitch mower. The mid mower is a little more versatile for mowing around things and not having to look backward all the time. Many mower decks if looking for speed do not cut well past about 5 mph for a quality look even though they may go faster.

 

[labhaven]

Love my zero turn. You can mow incredibly quick with one compared to a belly mount.

 

[EddieWalker]

I have a 6 foot bush hog, a 7 foot finish mower and a 5 foot zero turn mower. Each has their places, but I have found that most of the time, I use the bush hog on areas I don't spend a lot of time at and only mow a few times a year to keep the weeds and trees from taking over. The zero turn gives me the nicest results and it I mow on a regular basis, it's the fastest. It fails at tall grass, which is where the finish mower behind my tractor comes in. Last year I was pretty good at keeping up with everything and never used my finish mower a single time.

 

[rgr33]

I have a bush hog, flail, finish mower, and zero turn, there is a lot of mowing going on around here this time of year. The quality of the cut is in the reverse order that they are listed. The only thing I don't like about the z-turn, is that it is a bit squirrly on a hill, and it tears up the turf a little when the ground is really soggy, and this is Oregon, so yeah....