Mowing Taking the gamble on a finnish mower for my Yanmar 186D

[Pete Judd]

I have been looking at the HF 5 foot finish mower for a while at the Harbor Freight web site. 5 Ft. 3-Point PTO Finishing Mower At 600 bucks, it looked like a good deal, but with a 100 buck shipping charge, was a little out of my budget and did not need one until spring anyway. About a week ago, they reduced the price to 374 plus the 100 buck shipping, and I thought if only I could find a discount coupon. Well on the day before Thanksgiving, they emailed me a 25 percent off internet coupon. This dropped the price down to under 300 bucks, but still with the 100 buck shipping. I went for it. It only to 6 days to get here, and today I started unpacking it. WOW, I have bought a lot of big heavy items to have shipped, and I am impressed with the packaging, inside the cardboard box, I found a welded and bolted steel angle iron and box tube frame that this was bolted and wired to. I have not gotten it assembled yet but from first glance, looks great. I will keep everyone informed as things go along.

 

[shawnjvl]

We can't wait to see pictures. You got a deal its $499.00 now.

 

[winston1]

I will attach pictures of my mower I purchased in early 2008. It came from a company "Chase Distributing" which is no longer in business. I believe Harbor Freight started carrying their mower after this date. I have painted it yellow since then. It does a nice job of mowing. That is about the only thing nice I can say about it. If I were a gambling man I would wager a bunch the Harbor Freight mower is the same mower. The on line Harbor Freight manual and mine are identical. I keep my covers removed for ease of greasing bearings and washing it off. Should you ever need parts I can help you out with sourcing. I use Oregon mulcher blades on mine now. Also has Yazoo wheels now. Won't go into any more detail, you wouldn't want to hear it. The one picture is of the original blade and the Oregon mulcher beside it. One thing for sure, at the price you got yours at you could buy 2 and still be cheaper than most finish mowers. I gave around $800 for mine. :ashamed:

 

[careyo63]

This is true I bought this Woods/JD.Frontier Off CL. for 550.00 delivered. I was going to give the Man 25.00 of that to deliver it so we didn't have to put it in the back of my pickup. I knew that something may have been wrong with it but for that price it didn't matter. He said it also came with a extra set of blades. When he arrived and I seen it and started talking his reason for selling it he needed to get a bigger setup. He was going back with a JD. and seen my Ym2000 and told me it would work fine.He said that he new all about the 2000/240 an commented on how bad he was going to take a beating trading his present Tractor in. And If he known that some of the JD's were Basicly Yanmars he would of done the same. The reason for his price was that was all they were going to give him for it on trade so he would rather give it to someone who could use it :thumbsup: WHAT a GUY !!!! He was actually only asking 500.00 for it and I was only going to give him 25.00 to deliver it. After hearing that and seeing the shape it was in I only Had 50's so I gladly told him to keep it Again true story. We put this FM on the 5103 last Yr. It's not manufactured by woods with no comparison in the quality of the cut. I believe the FM blades that are setup like a BH is the reason. It was used from JD. and bought used for 1400.00. Mighty expensive 2ft. I was still in the Hosp. and use to do the front fields and around the house in the pic. with my yanmar and FM. It only took once or twice useing her BH. to see that wasn't going to get it :laughing:

Carey

 

[phatgemi]

Curious about the trailer you are sitting on. Doesn't look too big......

 

[careyo63]

Just rite for my needs. 7000lb 18' DT. With dual axle brakes. It also has a Winch with a Remote. That is a big plus,my days of picking up a car with a Come Along on the side of a road are long gone

Carey

 

[California]

How much truck do you need to pull that size trailer?

 

[clemsonfor]

I have a 16ft dovetail wood deck and 2 3500lb axles as well. I can easily pull it with my 30 yr old 1/2 ton. The trailer itself weight between 1200-1500lbs. The manufacturer told me 1500 but i think it may only be around 1300, but for weight figuring i use 1500 to be safe. I can easily pull it with my old 1990 ranger thats a little down on power, but it must be unloaded or something verylight on it (not the yanmar). Honsetly you need this size trialer when you start pulling your stuff. When i put my disk harrow on it or the field cultivator, the RR track for a weight (300lbs or so) the yanmar with 150lb weight bumper, the bushhog on the back and the boxblade on the trialer as well you really need this size trailer to hold it all.

 

[careyo63]

How much truck do you need to pull that size trailer?

Imo Cal. Better to have alittle to much than just Not Hardly enough Not saying anything about Make/ Manufactuer but a F-150 would be plenty of Truck but I use a F-250 with a 5.4and 373. I had the Ym2500 and a BH on it, Perf. 16' deck fit. With the Brake setup and a little more weight then my normal load just made the Truck Ride/Dr. even better. Thats another reason I stayed 2wd. it gets alot of Hwy. miles also.

Carey

 

[shawnjvl]

I have been looking at the HF 5 foot finish mower for a while at the Harbor Freight web site. 5 Ft. 3-Point PTO Finishing Mower At 600 bucks, it looked like a good deal, but with a 100 buck shipping charge, was a little out of my budget and did not need one until spring anyway. About a week ago, they reduced the price to 374 plus the 100 buck shipping, and I thought if only I could find a discount coupon. Well on the day before Thanksgiving, they emailed me a 25 percent off internet coupon. This dropped the price down to under 300 bucks, but still with the 100 buck shipping. I went for it. It only to 6 days to get here, and today I started unpacking it. WOW, I have bought a lot of big heavy items to have shipped, and I am impressed with the packaging, inside the cardboard box, I found a welded and bolted steel angle iron and box tube frame that this was bolted and wired to. I have not gotten it assembled yet but from first glance, looks great. I will keep everyone informed as things go along.

Mower is back on sale now. $375.00, maybe Pete can share the 25% coupon code?