Mowing 1500 and 6 foot finish mower??

[jdmar]

OK, OK, i know most recommend up to a 5 foot finish mower on a YM1500. BUT, has anyone run larger? I would love to use a rear mount 3pt 6 foot since I could also easily use it on my JD4300. There are also many more 6 foot used mowers out there for sale in my area. I am trying to fit a 5 foot undermount rear PTO type but doubt it is going to work (since I have large turf tires that take up a fair amount of space) so I may be going with a rear 3pt mower. Any advice from you all with much more experience than me would be greatly appreciated. If needed, i can easily add front weight.

Peter

 

[gbirky]

As you say, I would recommend a 5' finish mower max. But...a buddy of mine was in the same position, and he now mows with a 6' finish mower on the back of his YM1500D. He says it powers it just fine, but the deck is a bit heavy for the tractor and he has to be quite careful. So...it can and has been done. I think you will definitely want some extra weight on the front of the YM1500 to do it.

 

[crb478]

I have a 1720D and a 5 foot finish mower. I would not want a bigger mower on mine. While it would pull it I think it would just work the tractor too hard and be dificult to manouver around the yard.

 

[DavesTractor]

While the 1500 may spin a 6' finish mower in optimal conditions, it seems unwise to cause the tractor to be overworked everytime you mow. It would think it would shorten the life of the tractor. If you had a pyrometer on it and could really monitor exhaust temps and carefully monitor engine coolant temps as well, then it might be OK to try it. The 1500 has no water pump, so they will heat up when worked hard perhaps a little quicker than a model with a pump.

I have a diesel engine that I overwork all the time, but I am careful. I pull a 24K lb triple axle gooseneck trailer with my Banks turbo'd F350 Ford Diesel Dually. When I have over 15K behind me (trailer and load on trailer) and have to pull a grade it works it real hard. I get away with it because I monitor EGT's and engine and trans temps carefully, often shifting down when I still have plenty of power, just to keep the EGT's under 1000 degrees.

Sorry to go off on a rabbit trail here, but has anyone put a pyrometer on a little tractor? Is it a useful number to watch when working one hard?

 

[jdmar]

Thanks to everyone for the advice. Seems like 6 foot may work but push the envelope a bit too much. I would probably bogg in heavy grass etc. I'll keep working on the under mount (thought of some new fixes last PM) to try to get the 5 foot undermount running.

Thanks for the advice, everyone

Peter