24 D Buying questions

[woodworker]

Hi everyone. I have been following this web site for months now, but this is my first post. I got 5.1 acres of flat
land that we are currently building on. Am going to have a lot of mowing to do, no doubt. This is going to be a mixture of
both lawn grass and regular field/saw grass.
Have ben thinking about the 24 D. Went and talked to the N.H. dealer about a week ago. He said that the 24 D was going to run me
about $ 11,500.
We talked about mowing impliments and a FEL. This is where I get really confused, and could use some really good advice.

What FEL do I want? What mowing impliments are recommended. Im not sure that I really want the MMM.

He was talking about a Rhino Flail mower. Any body here who can help straighten me out on all this?

I think he is trying to make his money off the impliments. But of course, that is his job right?


Thanks for any and all advice.

DAN /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[jimg]

Youll really like the 24 alot. Its a pretty strong machine and not so big.

The loader, 12la, is pretty good. So far Ive used it to move loam, stone dust, a bit of light digging and moving a manure pile. Its handled everything well. BTW the 12la is the only NH loader for this machine. Im not familiar w/ any brand X loaders for the 24.

The type of mower depends on the type of finish you desire. A finish mower will do just that...give a pretty smooth 'lawn mowed' appearance. A rotary cutter may or may not depending on conditions. The later is mainly used for rough work like keeping pastures knocked down or road side trimming. I have a 5' Land Pride pull behind and it makes a real fine cut. However, if youre only interested in keeping the grass length down w/o regard to appearance then a brush mower would be fine. I think though a flail mower wouldnt be what you want. First, its more expensive than a rotary cutter and theres more maintenance. Oh, I think it probably reqs more HP than a comparably sized rotary mower. BTW you can get flail mowers w/ finish blades so theyre not just for rough work.

 

[rinh]

Just to let you know, I have a 24D with a New Holland 914A Mid Mount Mower.
This mower can cut through brush, tall grass and just about anything else without
clogging or leaving clumps of cut material.
It will propell the clippings five to ten feet with the engine RPM @ 2,400.
I have been quite impressed with it.
The issue for the dealers is it take a skilled person to set it up correctly.
Dealers don't want to spend the time or may not have the people to do the work.
Most dealers want to sell you a rear mount because of the ease of set up.
F.Y.I If you get the Front Loader, get a Ballast Box!!! The hydraulics will out lift the buckets
weight capacity and the tractor will tip. (I mean Tip Over not just have the rear wheel come off the
ground.) /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[stvman]

Hey Rick, Its steve from Chappell's, glad you found the place. Welcome to the party!!! Steve...

 

[Bob_Skurka]

I use a 24D with a 60" Befco finish mower on the 3pt. I had the mower so when I bought my 24D I did not bother to price out any of the NH decks.

A mid mount mower is usually easier for most people to mow with so that is a nice advantage.

However, many people like the 3pt decks for a couple reasons.

First, they are usually easier to put on/take off.

Second if you are doing things with the FEL and are in some rough stuff, then you don't want to leave the mower deck on the tractor when you are working the FEL (you do not have to remove the deck to use the FEL, only when you use the FEL on rough terrain or when doing some rough work).

Third, and the reason I like a rear mounted deck, I can back the deck under low branches on trees and mow right up to the tree truck.

That stuff said, a MMM is a fine mower and for mowing what you describe would probably make you very happy and give you a nice looking yard. I would agree with the earlier post about the flail mower not giving as fine a cut. I presume you want a lawn, if you want it to look like a lawn, a 3 blade finish mower about 60" wide would be a good choice for you. Your question is choosing between Mid Mount and 3pt Mount.

As for the tractor choice, a 24D for 5 acres is possibly a bit on the large size for a mower, but it is a very very nice choice. I use my 24D, along with a Cub Cadet lawn tractor, to tend to 11.5 partially wooded acres. You could consider going down to the 18D, but the tractor size is virtually the same so the only advantage is saving money, the trade off is reduced power.

 

[OkeeDon]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( You could consider going down to the 18D, but the tractor size is virtually the same so the only advantage is saving money, the trade off is reduced power.
)</font>

Or, wait for the new TZ18 to come out, It will apparently be a little smaller than the current TC18-21-24, and will come standard equipped with a mid mount mower. new compacts