Which would you choose?

[rf33]

OK I'll be the lone wolf. I know little to nothing about the other two units, but I have a John Deere MX8, and I am quite pleased with it. I have no reason to believe it to be inferior in any way to the other models. I would be interested in hearing from the other members as to why they seem to think that the Deere is so bad. I agree that some of there light duty units are made pretty flimsy, but I can not seem to hurt my MX8 no matter what I run into with it.

rf33

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[Anonymous Poster]

Paul,

On "regular" duty? stuff 1" and under, yes I agree KingKutter probably offers the most value for the money.

But on 2" stuff, the KingKutter pricing is almost that of Bush Hog and I have to shift gears to BH. {and a few others /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif}

Bush Hog really shines in this Medium Duty and Med/Heavy Duty category... but start to get pricier as everybody does in this range.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I really like the JD 609/709 HD series...

I think the JD MX series is an innovative designed deck for shedding water and rubbish... but I think that two thin layer deck is going to come back to haunt them...

As soon as something punctures the bottom layer... now junk gets up inside, corrosion sets up, it starts ripping underneath... all this happening while your eye only see's the top layer and thinks "Wow... solid, great shape..."

But time with tell...

 

[rf33]

Good point JM III... I suppose that I never thought of that. By my logic, it makes sense to have two thinner decks, one designed to shed water and debris off of the top, and the other designed for lift for the cutter assembly. I guess that time will.

rf33

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[PaulinSD]

Glad to know that, John, thanks.

Paul

 

[dmccarty]

utahmule,

I have the MX6 and am happy with it. I like the two deck approach JD has used. Its very easy to clean the top of the cutter after use with a broom, water just runs of the deck and does not puddle up anywhere. I don't see how it will ever rust out from the top. John makes a good point about getting a hole in the lower deck. I have hit stuff and seen the top deck bounce a bit. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif And I have chewed a couple of rocks maybe 5 inches in diameter into much smaller rocks without any problems.

I don't mow alot of land or often but what I mow is full of rocks, sticks, timber slash, and stumps. And I hit the rocks, sticks, timber slash and stumps. Not real often but more often than I would like. The only damage I have done was to the wheel assembly on the MX6. I bent it when I backed up with the mower lower to the ground than I thought. The wheel caught a hole and got bent a bit. But that is hardly a JD design/build problem. The %^&*() hydraulic toplink had let down a bit and the mower was lower than I thought. I pay real close attention to that wheel now a days! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

The MX6 is supposed to handle two inch diameter wood. I try to keep it at one inch or less. I just wanted the extra to keep me covered when I do hit something.

I would look at the price of the cutter, the thickness of the deck and sides, the weight of the cutter and the price. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif I doubt you could really go wrong with any of the three brands....

Have you thought about slip clutches? If so you might want to check on how easy it is to do PM on the clutch.

Later...
Dan McCarty