merits of rear discharge mower

[Doublezero]

Pete,

I'm really new at this, so take that into consideration. When I was looking for grooming mowers, I wanted a rear discharge because it seemed logical (to me) that it would take less power to kick the "trimmings" out the back rather than move them all the way across a 6 foot rig and out the side.

I got a good deal on a side discharge unit from Agri-Supply and decided to give it a try on my soon-to-be-delivered JD-790. OK, another import... from Italy this time... Caroni! The 790 was delivered last week and I used the Caroni on FLAT, LEVEL, DRY ground but the grass and weeds were up to 2 feet in height.

The mower "whacked" the heck out of the stuff in 2nd gear. Stuff came out of the side discharge in no significant windrow. I'll give honest update when I get to try it on some serious wet stuff, but I was impressed. Might have been impressed with the new 790 mostly though. I love this Deere!

00

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I have a new Kubota 2710 and purchased a Howse 72" rear discharge rear mount mower this spring. I had used a 60" center mount side discharge mower on a prior tractor. I much prefer the rear mount and rear discharge for the reasons mentioned by other repliers. One advantage of the rear discharge I don't see in the other posts is that I can mow close to objects on either side of the mower, while on the side discharge only on the side opposite the discharge. Being able to do that reduces the number of turns I have to make. That is why I purchased the 6' Howse instead of the 5' model - the wheels on the 5' model are outside the blade path limiting how close one can mow on the sides. The wheels have the same spacing on the 6' mower as the 5', but the blade path is wider than the wheel spacing on the 6'. I'm pretty happy with it so far with only one significant problem - a seized spindle bearing after 2 hours that was repaired under warrenty.