Cheating on my Deere Toys

   / Cheating on my Deere Toys #1  

Deere Toyz

Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2013
Messages
33
Location
Connecticut
Tractor
Deere 2520
Hi all-This forum has been a great resource and is in many ways responsible for my love and loyalty to all things the correct shade of green. I have owned 3 Deere tractors, with my current being a rock solid 2520 with FEL, 62D green deck with Deere blades, blower, plows, york rake, etc. My previous 2210 was a good one too. I need the 2520 primarily for grading a long driveway, snow work, the garden and processing fire wood for the wood stoves(it helps stacking about 7 cords a year). I also have used it for 8 or 9 years now cutting 2 1/2 acres of lawn. The 62D required a TracVac to achieve a groomed look. The cut was pretty good and looked a lot better than the neighboring lawns, but the amount of grass processed would leave heavy grass clippings undispersed every other pass. The TracVac is great and took care of the issue when I use it. However, that process took about 4 hours to complete the lawn with light trimming. Now to the point of this thread.

This year I went without the TracVac and just left the clippings to save time. That cut the mow time down to about 2 1/2 hours with a light weed wacker trimming. The lawn looked good when cut, but the 2520 is a heavy machine and I decided to deal with the tire depressions in the lawn that I had become used to and accepted. I thought, time for a Zero turn to compliment the 2520 and other green gear. I wanted a Deere. It had to have a 52" to 58" deck to fit my trailer. All of the Green dealers had stock, but all available units had the 62" 7 iron decks. I looked at the Scag Tiger Cat and the Ferris IS2100z's as well. I made my mind up to spend some cash and my beloved green was not immediately available. I lost sleep. I found myself dreaming of infidelity and the color was RED! I could not believe I actually got seduced by the red one with suspension and the oilguard Vanguard. I was feeling a little guilty.

Now here we go. This year, up until last weekend, my 2520 took care of business but all of the grass clippings for the year would still seem to rise to the surface as the grass grew. It was all over the tractor after cutting--I mean quite a bit. I assumed that this was the nature of big deck cutting. I cut once a week at about 4 3/4 inches as the weight of the 2520 would sink into the turf a little. I will figure out how to post pics from an i pad and show you the amount of grass that was left on the machine . Well, I took the Ferris out for a spin last Saturday and All all the grass clippings from the entire season disappeared! The ICD deck ate up and dispersed all of it. The lawn looked like it had been gone over with the Trac Vac. Cutting time was easily halved, if not more. And, I was a newbie nimrod figuring out zero turn operation for the first time!

I read all of the forum posts here and elsewhere about the ICD decks and wet grass, caking decks, etc. I have the luxury most of the time to avoid cutting wet grass. I vacillated over JD vs Scag vs Kubota vs Ferris vs Xmark. Man, I sort of wanted them all. I love my JD but I have to say adding a little bit of red, while initially painful, seems to have been the correct decision for me.

Has anyone had similar experience with the 2 belt ICD deck's cut and ability to really finely process the clippings and is the 7 iron deck that much different from my 62D? I am toying with the idea of getting a 7 iron for 2520 just in case the Ferris needs servicing at some point.

Anyone else engage in Green infidelity? Is my soul damned?
 
   / Cheating on my Deere Toys #2  
Anytime you put something on a Pedestal (Especially a Woman) you leave yourself open to abuse.
 
   / Cheating on my Deere Toys #4  
I have a 60" deck on my 2025R with the mulch kit. It seems to do a pretty good job of making the clippings disappear. Do you have mulch kit on you 62" JD deck?
 
   / Cheating on my Deere Toys #5  
Sell your narrow trailer, buy a wider one. Get the deck you want.
 
   / Cheating on my Deere Toys
  • Thread Starter
#6  
I do not have a mulch kit on the 62D. My deck's baffles and the velocity is such that if I cut wet, the deck clogs up pretty fast. I assumed, perhaps in error, that adding more baffling would make the caking of grass worse. I do have a processed driveway which cna be a bit dusty in Summer and some remote areas that can also be a little dusty. That dust combined with wet grass is a recipe for coating my deck and a bad cut. I have read that the G5 blades will improve this and they have beenused by a lot of JD folks with great satisfaction. I have 3 sets of the standard Deere blades so I never tried others. Different blades would save me the 3K plus a new 7 Iron II or Pro would cost. I plan on using the 62 D and Trac Vac combo for Fall leaf work or thatching. The blades would be a logical place to start with improving that deck.

The Ferris, based on what I have experienced so far, will be the grass cutting machine. I think any zero turn really fulfills this function better than a 2800 pound utility tractor and belly deck. At the time I bought the 2520, the dealer suggested that z turn alternative to a 3K deck. I just wanted to ride that beautiful tractor and speed of cut never entered my mind. I also believed at the time that I could not afford both. If the Ferris lets me down, I know where there several Green dealers close by who will take my confession, forgive my infidelity and and put me on a 7-ironed Green machine without issue.

Ray.
 
   / Cheating on my Deere Toys
  • Thread Starter
#7  
I thought about swapping out the trailer to a 10 x 6 to accommodate the 62" decks that were on all of the ready to go Deere Z turns in my neck of the woods. My trailer is aluminum and can haul close to 3000 lbs. The huge oak rounds it can handle amaze me. I initially planned to keep it outdoors so I went with aluminum. It was not cheap. If I traded the existing trailer in towards the bigger version of it, I would be adding about 2K to the overall price. I elected to keep the deck to 52" and it actually is just about right for the property. I would overlap my cuts with the 62D by about a foot anyway to have the blades go over the indented tire track from the previous pass anyway. So I was really cutting at 52" even with the 62" deck.
 
   / Cheating on my Deere Toys #8  
I don't have any experience with the 62D deck but have two 7-iron decks. I have a 72" on my 4310 and a 60" on my 1420 front mount mower. The biggest thing with the 7-iron (green decks) is that they are commercial grade. If you look at the JD z-turn mowers you will see that all the homeowner models have yellow decks and once you get up around the 7 series on they become green.

The decks have very good deck flow and can clean out pretty rapidly. It's definitely a heavy duty deck. Wife uses the 72 to mow weeds in the horse pasture without issue. As for mulching I really can't give an honest answer. I doubt you will have issues with your Ferris though, They make excellent commercial lawn equipment.
 
   / Cheating on my Deere Toys
  • Thread Starter
#9  
From what I can find, the 62 D is different from the 7 iron decks. It is a green fairly heavy duty drive over. It may be baffled differently. The cut is good, but it does not finely cut and will leave a grass trail a couple of rows over every pass without the Trac Vac running. I prefer Deere but I was pleasantly surprised by the Ferris cut. I know That a Deere zero turn probably would have wowed me too. I was surprised that the build up of grass clippings in/on the lawn disappeared with one cut with the Ferris.
 
   / Cheating on my Deere Toys #10  
I thought about swapping out the trailer to a 10 x 6 to accommodate the 62" decks that were on all of the ready to go Deere Z turns in my neck of the woods. My trailer is aluminum and can haul close to 3000 lbs. The huge oak rounds it can handle amaze me. I initially planned to keep it outdoors so I went with aluminum. It was not cheap. If I traded the existing trailer in towards the bigger version of it, I would be adding about 2K to the overall price. I elected to keep the deck to 52" and it actually is just about right for the property. I would overlap my cuts with the 62D by about a foot anyway to have the blades go over the indented tire track from the previous pass anyway. So I was really cutting at 52" even with the 62" deck.

Have the dealer deliver! Problem solved.
 
 
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