4610 or 4710

[yellowsocks93]

I don't know how we just got a new one in last week from the factory. 4710 E-Hydro, 4x4, Titan turf tires. Nice looking machine I must say.

 

[Eyehelp]

Thanks for all your input. If I can find a 4710 that is the way I will go. My dealer has a 4610 on the lot so I hope he can find a 4710 and make me a good deal. Otherwise I may go with the 4610 if the deal is much better.

Woodbeef, my thinking on the two mowers is that I will start out with a brush mower to get the pastures more tame and clean up the creek banks and then move up to the finish mower to increase cutting width and quality later. I assume I can run a larger finish mower than brush mower?

 

[timb]

Nick - I sure hope you're right, I haven't gotten a quote or comment back yet from my closest dealer. However, that's what Kevin (Kevin37) was told two weeks ago. On the up side for him, his dealer was able to track down a 4710 in another county. I've seen the 'out of production' comment on a few other forums as well. Well, all I can do is ask and see how motivated the dealers around here are to make the deal work.

Tim

 

[MikeInIdaho]

You will probably be happy with either. I have a 4710 and the only time it seems stressed is blowing very heavy deep wet snow (as in berms), or deep tilling heavy damp soil with the 680 tiller (80") I have the 390 flail mower and it doesn't seem to require all the power, at least in my (mostly grass) field. I don't see the point of using a finish mower on a field unless it is very even with no rocks. I use the flail mower on the highest setting and I still hit rocks or scalp down to the soil occasionally.

 

[timb]

MIke,

If you don't mind my asking, what did you end up paying for your 390 mower and what do you think of it in actual operation? I will be needing to cut about 12 acres of heavy grass 'pasture' (up until this year had been hay/forage production), plus about 1-2 acres of 'lawn' that I had been maintaining with a riding mower but it doesn't need to be that good. Since nothing has any serious heavy stem/woody material (yet) and some of this is near houses/roads I've been wondering if a flail mower might make a better choice for both areas rather than buying both a finish and rotary mower for now. Never had an opportunity to use a flail mower myself yet.

Tim

 

[Woodbeef]

Ok,but I'm still lost as to why you want to use a finish mower on pasture land?

 

[_RaT_]

I use a finish mower on my "pasture" land. I have a 80" brush mower and a 84" finish mower. The finish mower works so much better. It has four wheels so my sprinklers in the ground stay safe from the skids of a brush mower. The blades are shorter but turn faster and do a much better job of completely mulching the grass. It pulls the grass up and cuts. Suprisingly, it's blades are lasting as long or longer then my massive brush mower blades. The finish mower I have will easily handle 1" and smaller sticks. It lays the grass out the back very evenly as opposed to my front and rear chained brush mower. It requires about the same HP and stops much quicker when I disengage the PTO since there is far less length on the blade. Adjusting the height to an exact height is a snap. The blades change easier then my brush mower. It works better in wet conditions. There's my short list of why I like a finish mower and am selling my brush mower. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Rat...

 

[MikeInIdaho]

I think I paid about $3900 for it. I like it because it is tolerant of hitting rocks and other obstacles and it has a 12" offset that makes mowing the edge of a ditch easier. I've never tried it on a lawn because, regardless of how well the mower functioned, the R1 tires would tear up the grass.

 

[timb]

Hmm. That's pretty much as expensive as a decent rear mount finish and a rotary mower combined. No cost savings then, just a different approach. I still might chat with my dealer about it, I don't really have that much need for a true brush hog as in 1-2" woody stuff, I just didn't want to tear up a new finish mower on the rougher fields.

...regardless of how well the mower functioned, the R1 tires would tear up the grass...

Have you actually had trouble running your 4710 on your 'good' grass and had the tires make a mess? Seems like a lot of folks assume that R1s will automatically damage a lawn. Now we're sure not trying to keep a really nice suburban-quality / fairway level lawn here, but we run our Ford NAA (for pratical purposes same size and more rear tire ground pressure (loaded narrow tires) as a 4710) over the lawn regularly. Unless it's sopping wet it's nearly a ghost and doesn't seem to leave any more of a mark than our garden tractors. In fact the one GT with turfs seems to make a more visible track than the other with bar tires. Now when a full-sized ag tractor has to cut through the edge of the 'lawn' (like a 10,000+ pound IH) to bale - that leaves some tracks. Regardless I want the R1s for other purposes but it will be interesting to see what it does on our local clay/lawn.

Tim

 

[Woodbeef]

Hey Rat,

Ok makes sense.......