Have any implement purchase regrets?

[daugen]

daugen, have you tried different blades? High lifts, low lifts, Gator type blades, etc.?

no...and I just bought another set of standard blades, and looked at them. Very little lift...
Here's the problem, and it's already a serious problem with the standard blades, and why I believe they don't put high air velocity
blades on the machine. What is directly in the path of the output of this six foot mower? The mower's engine...
I have to air blast this thing clean almost every time I use it, grass gets stuck in every orifice.
The mower is out front and I'm sitting to the rear of the mower and the engine is right behind me.

I'm sure it's just standard Kubota engineering but this mower has never gotten over two bars of temp. Out of 8 bars.
Seems to have excess cooling capacity, which in this case may be a very good idea if one is blowing dirty material at high velocity
nearby. So if I keep it clean, it's not hurting anything but a rear facing mower on an outfront design machine has some serious challenges.
Sure makes getting around my many hundreds of trees easier though, the overall design is super, and since I can't use a ZT due to a bad arm,
was my only option for a diesel six foot mower. I just think I bought the wrong deck for it... but then we have had really unusually wet weather along the East Coast recently. Dry weather is coming I see.

So I might try the high lift blades, will ask about them at dealership. Thanks for suggestion. Problem is this dealer sells very few of these and has limited knowledge.

 

[tjkubota93]

no...and I just bought another set of standard blades, and looked at them. Very little lift...
Here's the problem, and it's already a serious problem with the standard blades, and why I believe they don't put high air velocity
blades on the machine. What is directly in the path of the output of this six foot mower? The mower's engine...
I have to air blast this thing clean almost every time I use it, grass gets stuck in every orifice.
The mower is out front and I'm sitting to the rear of the mower and the engine is right behind me.

I'm sure it's just standard Kubota engineering but this mower has never gotten over two bars of temp. Out of 8 bars.
Seems to have excess cooling capacity, which in this case may be a very good idea if one is blowing dirty material at high velocity
nearby. So if I keep it clean, it's not hurting anything but a rear facing mower on an outfront design machine has some serious challenges.
Sure makes getting around my many hundreds of trees easier though, the overall design is super, and since I can't use a ZT due to a bad arm,
was my only option for a diesel six foot mower. I just think I bought the wrong deck for it... but then we have had really unusually wet weather along the East Coast recently. Dry weather is coming I see.

So I might try the high lift blades, will ask about them at dealership. Thanks for suggestion. Problem is this dealer sells very few of these and has limited knowledge.

Gator blades will last longer for the same money. Be sure to look at them.

 

[kneedeep]

This, CL junk

 

[Skip77]

When I bought my tractor I got a 7 foot Titan brand brush hog because I didn't want the added weight of the 3 gear boxes just to get the 8 foot. Now I have a only used once mower that I hate because it wont cut out the width of the tractor. We looked at the specs of the tractor width and thought it would do that but reality is that what looked good on paper doesn't measure the same it real life. I should have gotten the 8 foot or 12 foot pull behind.

 

[majorwager]

SKIP 77,

Believe an 8 ft rotary demands less hp than a 7 ft. Also many of the 8 ft models (Kodiak as Example) only utilize two gearboxes because the mower is actually offset in 3 point version. The cut improves w/ the 8 foot model.


TWO SPINDLES, 4 BLADES W/ A SHORTER STROKE DO NOT WORK AS HARD AS THE HUGE SWEEP OF THE SINGLE PAIR OF BLADES ON A SEVEN FT STUMP JUMPER.

Just look at the multi-spindle multi-blade format demonstrated by finish style mowers.

 

[drs1023]

This machine doesn't qualify as equipment, but the WORST garden tiller made is a Mantis. Bought new, replaced carb, then the engine under warranty. 10 hours use later and out of warranty, won't idle. 5 hours later, won't start. $50 repair later, it ran about an hour and I finally slung it into the woods. My next scrap iron run will include this piece of trash.
I don't use a skid steer enough to justify what I paid for mine. Same with my backhoe. I have 2 tractors but only need one on rare occasions. These last 3 items were "wants" rather than "needs". That's what I get for being raised on a 600 acre farm to my little 20 acres now.

 

[fried1765]

This machine doesn't qualify as equipment, but the WORST garden tiller made is a Mantis. Bought new, replaced carb, then the engine under warranty. 10 hours use later and out of warranty, won't idle. 5 hours later, won't start. $50 repair later, it ran about an hour and I finally slung it into the woods. My next scrap iron run will include this piece of trash.
I don't use a skid steer enough to justify what I paid for mine. Same with my backhoe. I have 2 tractors but only need one on rare occasions. These last 3 items were "wants" rather than "needs". That's what I get for being raised on a 600 acre farm to my little 20 acres now.

I have no equipment NEEDS!
I only have equipment WANTS!
I am almost 78, and have only 12 acres.
If I want it,... and I can afford it .... I buy it.

 

[sixdogs]

no...and I just bought another set of standard blades, and looked at them. Very little lift...
Here's the problem, and it's already a serious problem with the standard blades, and why I believe they don't put high air velocity
blades on the machine. What is directly in the path of the output of this six foot mower? The mower's engine...
I have to air blast this thing clean almost every time I use it, grass gets stuck in every orifice.
The mower is out front and I'm sitting to the rear of the mower and the engine is right behind me.

I'm sure it's just standard Kubota engineering but this mower has never gotten over two bars of temp. Out of 8 bars.
Seems to have excess cooling capacity, which in this case may be a very good idea if one is blowing dirty material at high velocity
nearby. So if I keep it clean, it's not hurting anything but a rear facing mower on an outfront design machine has some serious challenges.
Sure makes getting around my many hundreds of trees easier though, the overall design is super, and since I can't use a ZT due to a bad arm,
was my only option for a diesel six foot mower. I just think I bought the wrong deck for it... but then we have had really unusually wet weather along the East Coast recently. Dry weather is coming I see.

So I might try the high lift blades, will ask about them at dealership. Thanks for suggestion. Problem is this dealer sells very few of these and has limited knowledge.

As others have said, try high lift blades. You can't mow effectively in wet matted grass with anything but high lift in damp conditions is OK. Just remember the extra lift will pick up things like gravel and the garden hose. Even though you think you can go slow over the hose, I've learned multiple times that you can't.

 

[ranchito]

Bought a bush hog and used it once to mow down a small field. Since then, the ZTR keeps it under control. The best implement is a set of forks. I use them almost as often as the FEL bucket. I bring an empty pallet when shopping and unload with the forks at home.

 

[sixdogs]

And one attachment that i have rarely used is the Boom Pole. In my ignorance and hindsight I've seen that the FEL will do better in most cases. Boom Pole, too, just sits near the tree line....I've repainted it just for the hellava it.:confused3:

Cheers,
Mike

That's interesting because I've seen lots of boom poles over the years and never saw anyone use one. Most were stored with respect and under cover. Equally odd, I've seen quite a few that the owner painted--and still never used. The boom pole must be like the Rodney Dangerfield of farm equipment. No respect.