Mowing Commercial side and rear discharge deck questions

[sugarloafguy]

Side vs Rear Discharge,


I have had both Woods and Allis Chamers side discharge decks and am very fussy about cut quality. The 48" deep deck full rollered Allis side discharge probably the best mmm ever made by any company. Today I have a PRD 7200 Woods and my New Holland TC 24DA has the suspended 914 Auburn RD baffled deck with Gator Blades. Hands down the RD New Holland is my favorite and the Gators up the performance and cut quality over the standard blades on my Woods. Would never go side discharge again but you have to mow a little more often to hide the clippings.

Brian

 

[Code54]

Side discharge with a Grass Flap. All day.

A good high quality commercial S.D. deck will do a great job and with a grass flap you can just close it off for a few seconds when you pass a flower bed so you don't make a mess. There is one heck of a LOT of SD commercial decks out there and most Pro's run SD decks so they cant be all that bad....

 

[Hay Dude]

Yesterday, I had the chance to demo a used Kubota F3680 4WD. Even at 10+ years old, a VERY nice machine. It had a 72" rear discharge deck. I had the opportunity to mow a bank of light to moderate height grass. I didn't detect any unusual grass clumping, but only cut ~1000 SF of grass. Was wondering if a rear discharge with gator blades chopping it up even finer if it would be a great set up?
I see the downside, too. It's about a foot higher than a zero turn, kind of like a deck over trailer is higher than a trailer with fenders. So it also has a higher center of gravity.
As stated previously, I'm also trying to buy a Deere 1565. Basically a "green" version of the F3860, but with a cab. The test drive/cut with the F3860 gave me a window into what the 1565 will be like and more importantly, what a rear discharge deck will be like

 

[Creamer]

Yesterday, I had the chance to demo a used Kubota F3680 4WD. Even at 10+ years old, a VERY nice machine. It had a 72" rear discharge deck. I had the opportunity to mow a bank of light to moderate height grass. I didn't detect any unusual grass clumping, but only cut ~1000 SF of grass. Was wondering if a rear discharge with gator blades chopping it up even finer if it would be a great set up?
I see the downside, too. It's about a foot higher than a zero turn, kind of like a deck over trailer is higher than a trailer with fenders. So it also has a higher center of gravity.
As stated previously, I'm also trying to buy a Deere 1565. Basically a "green" version of the F3860, but with a cab. The test drive/cut with the F3860 gave me a window into what the 1565 will be like and more importantly, what a rear discharge deck will be like

Did the green machine leave it nice? I have seen more commercial guys with green machines leave stripes of hay than with almost any other mower. It seems some of the newer ones are better but I know a few guys who were pretty frustrated with green about ten years ago.

 

[Creamer]

Side vs Rear Discharge,


I have had both Woods and Allis Chamers side discharge decks and am very fussy about cut quality. The 48" deep deck full rollered Allis side discharge probably the best mmm ever made by any company. Today I have a PRD 7200 Woods and my New Holland TC 24DA has the suspended 914 Auburn RD baffled deck with Gator Blades. Hands down the RD New Holland is my favorite and the Gators up the performance and cut quality over the standard blades on my Woods. Would never go side discharge again but you have to mow a little more often to hide the clippings.

Brian

It has been a long time since Allis made a mower - is the Simplicity rebadged? They used to make Allis's mower - I had a Deutz Allis one that was an amazing cut. It only lasted a year though as the drive system would not hold up to my slopes. But the cut and grass distribution was fantastic!