7 iron 72" deck

[billyvan]

Wondering if anyone can tell me how short you can cut grass with a 7 iron 72" deck. I will be buying a 3120 very soon with turf tires. I have my own RC aircraft runway, I'd like to be able to get it down to at least an inch if possible. I'm told JD will have this deck available as a drive on quick attach deck very soon, might wait for that. Also wondering how well a box blade will work on my driveway when it gets hard packed. Quarter mile of driveway is made of a sandy clay material with 1 1/2 crush gravel on top and can pack pretty hard. Thinking a 60" box blade for the 3120, will be my first tractor which is replacing my L130 riding mower and my quad I use for clearing snow.

 

[Killer_B]

Hi Billy,

I have a tractor set up very similar to the one you are getting. My son and I also like to fly RC planes and helicopters. We prefer the electrics these days, but have a few glow fuelers as well. The Lipo batteries and brushless motors have been the best things to come along in years.

I'm sorry, but I can't tell you how short the 7 Iron will cut as I keep mine about 4". Nor do I have any experience box blading a gravel drive. But I suspect it will work quite well if you catch it when it's not too wet or too dry, but that in between state where it can be easily graded. My 3320 will pull a 60" BB full of anything without even grunting.

Best of luck to you.

KB

 

[billyvan]

Hi Killer, people come from all over to fly on my RC field, lots of electrics too. I assume this is not your runway at 4" high, would be tough to get off the ground. I've been to your pictures, the day one is awesome! Have been using it as my desk top background since I do not have my 3120 yet to take my own picture. Perhaps I owe you a fee for that! lol Thanks for the advice, sounds like the 60" box blade is a good choice then.

 

[billyvan]

Hi Billy,

I have a tractor set up very similar to the one you are getting. My son and I also like to fly RC planes and helicopters. We prefer the electrics these days, but have a few glow fuelers as well. The Lipo batteries and brushless motors have been the best things to come along in years.

I'm sorry, but I can't tell you how short the 7 Iron will cut as I keep mine about 4". Nor do I have any experience box blading a gravel drive. But I suspect it will work quite well if you catch it when it's not too wet or too dry, but that in between state where it can be easily graded. My 3320 will pull a 60" BB full of anything without even grunting.

Best of luck to you.

KB

Killer, forgot to ask you, how tough is it to remove that 7-iron deck from under your tractor? Do you usually park on a concrete pad when taking it off or have you done this parked on a lawn? Just curious since I may decide to wait for the drive on deck version that is supposed to be coming out in June. The drive on will be much easier I'm sure and be similiar to the current 62D for the 2520 which can also be picked up with the 3pt hitch iMatch and moved around. Does the non-drive on deck have the mounts to pick it up with an iMatch?

 

[Wayne_H]

Billy: We have an RC field (www.flymha.com) but the 6 foot mower has problems scalping when you cut the grass that short. We usually use a 15 foot gang mower that floats over the bumps and small hills since it is not graded 100% flat. The gang mower has 7 gangs, and the max width on any one is 30 inches. Grass really fllys when we use it. Or in this case while I'm drinking a beer watching my wife cut the grass....

Wayne

 

[billyvan]

Hi Wayne, you have my interest here, thanks for the idea! I will spend some time researching this type of mower. What is the price range for such a mower and what do you do about sharpening or replacing blades? My field is very flat since it was groomed with a cat when I built it but it's still not perfect.

 

[kennyd]

Kenny here, good friend of Wayne's and the prez of the club...

The gang mowers are great, just do not let the grass get to tall or you will have problems with cut quality. The blades are self-sharpening by a friction bar that touches them in the rear and is adjustable for optimum drag on the reel. We bought our setup used about 10-12 years ago...not sure what we paid.
Check around some golf courses, find the maintenance shop and have some cash and beer with you, you might just get lucky!

Another thing to remember when using it is to plan your route carefully, you CANNOT back these things up! We used to tow it with a pickup truck before we bought tractors!

 

[billyvan]

Hi Kenny, never expected to meet so many RCers on here. I beleive you are the third one now and I haven't been a TBN member very long. I have a private field on my own land. There are few locals in the area that fly here regularly and a few weekends a year we have people come from within a few hours away to camp, relax, socialize and occasionally fly a plane or two. Been tough to keep up with my 48" L130 but it did do the job. A new tractor is much needed for snow removal when my 1/4 mile of driveway blows in during the winter months. Here are some pictures of my setup. Thanks for the information and ideas.

 

[kennyd]

WOW That sure is impressive!

I rememberd today who made our reel mower, it's Jacobsen, and I think Toro also made some...
So search for:
Reel mower
Gang mower
Jacobsen mower
Toro mower

 

[Killer_B]

Killer, forgot to ask you, how tough is it to remove that 7-iron deck from under your tractor? Do you usually park on a concrete pad when taking it off or have you done this parked on a lawn?

Does the non-drive on deck have the mounts to pick it up with an iMatch?

Billy,

It takes me about 5 or 6 minutes to mount or dismount the deck. It is not the drive over type. I do it on a concrete garage floor. It is quite simple once you have done it a time or two. However, I think it would be tough to do on gravel or grass as you have to roll it sideways after you unhook everything.

I do not have an Imatch. I don't know if it can be picked up that way or not. I just use a short strap and lift it with the bucket for cleaning etc.

BTW: Very nice looking field! Our club's field is rather rustic by comparison.

KB

 

[billyvan]

ProMow gang mowers look pretty good.
ProMow: Reel Gang Mowers, Commercial and Residential
Hope to order my 3120 this week so have to decide soon, thinking I will buy the 7-iron and try it first. Then maybe buy a small gang mower to use on the runway portion only if I can't get down to a desired height. Have al lot of other grass I cut at a normal height where the 7-iron with a mulch kit should be really good.

 

[kennyd]

Sounds like a good plan, and it will give you time to possibly locate a used one.

 

[billyvan]

Billy,

It takes me about 5 or 6 minutes to mount or dismount the deck. It is not the drive over type. I do it on a concrete garage floor. It is quite simple once you have done it a time or two. However, I think it would be tough to do on gravel or grass as you have to roll it sideways after you unhook everything.

I do not have an Imatch. I don't know if it can be picked up that way or not. I just use a short strap and lift it with the bucket for cleaning etc.

BTW: Very nice looking field! Our club's field is rather rustic by comparison.

KB

Killer,
That's the answer I was hopping for, 5 minutes isn't bad. I won't bother waiting for the drive on model to come out. They say June but it could be longer and will surely be more expensive anyway. I have a concrete pad outside I can use to remove the deck. A sling on the loader to pick up the deck to do maintenance sounds safer than crawling under a deck supported by the iMatch anyway. Thanks for the compliments on the runway, it has been a lot of work and we do little improvements every year.

 

[Wayne_H]

Our first mower was a three gang jacobson. I bought this one from a golf course in PA, it's a Toro as Kenny D said. It's not quite as good as the Jacobson units, but it's 15 foot wide versus 6. We've pulled this with Kenny's tractor, my 4400, my B and an IH-340 I had a few years back. It really needs 25-30 HP to pull, especially when the grass is a bit tall. My one wheel drive F-250 won't pull it under many conditions. The bad part is, it cuts many many acres per hour. Hardly enough time to finish one beer and I'm done with the field...

The web site TurfNet.com - The TurfNet Media Network has used turf equipment on it, and the prices are way better than anything I've seen on Fleabay.

later

Wayne

 

[Nuru]

Hi Kenny, never expected to meet so many RCers on here. I beleive you are the third one now and I haven't been a TBN member very long. I have a private field on my own land. There are few locals in the area that fly here regularly and a few weekends a year we have people come from within a few hours away to camp, relax, socialize and occasionally fly a plane or two. Been tough to keep up with my 48" L130 but it did do the job. A new tractor is much needed for snow removal when my 1/4 mile of driveway blows in during the winter months. Here are some pictures of my setup. Thanks for the information and ideas.

What no RC Jets? Ducted Fans would be capable on your field.

 

[billyvan]

What no RC Jets? Ducted Fans would be capable on your field.

Nope, no jets or ducted fans yet Nuro. There is about 60 acres of hay field to fly over on that side so plenty of room. The gassers that come here are getting bigger and bigger every year though!

 

[Nuru]

Nope, no jets or ducted fans yet Nuro. There is about 60 acres of hay field to fly over on that side so plenty of room. The gassers that come here are getting bigger and bigger every year though!

That very cool, very cool.

 

[billyvan]

Not much grass out there yet as we have a very very late spring going here. But I have tried the 7-iron II deck at its lowest setting and the result was the grass is plenty short enough with this mower for my RC runway. I didn't have the deck perfectly level with the rear of it being a bit lower. This was noticed when I stopped and backed up and did a bit of scalping on a high spot, oops! However this was the only scalping I had as the field is fairly level. I will level the deck for the next time. I also left a few tire marks when accelerating. After reading the manual later that day I realized there are accel/decel rates from 1 ~9 you can easily set with the push of a few buttons, cool. This is an awesome feature, no more spinning the tires on the lawn. Easy enough to change the rates for other work as well, only takes a few seconds to adjust.
I wonder what else is in that manual that I don't know about, hmm.

 

[Nuru]

Not much grass out there yet as we have a very very late spring going here. But I have tried the 7-iron II deck at its lowest setting and the result was the grass is plenty short enough with this mower for my RC runway. I didn't have the deck perfectly level with the rear of it being a bit lower. This was noticed when I stopped and backed up and did a bit of scalping on a high spot, oops! However this was the only scalping I had as the field is fairly level. I will level the deck for the next time. I also left a few tire marks when accelerating. After reading the manual later that day I realized there are accel/decel rates from 1 ~9 you can easily set with the push of a few buttons, cool. This is an awesome feature, no more spinning the tires on the lawn. Easy enough to change the rates for other work as well, only takes a few seconds to adjust.
I wonder what else is in that manual that I don't know about, hmm.

LOL! Yes, we do have a lot of bravado, sort of like reading maps on a trip in the old days!

 

[billyvan]

I am totally impressed with how well the mulching feature works on the 7-iron II deck so far. Seems to just turn the clippings into powder and magic, it's gone! I used to bag grass with my old JD L130 because it just didn't mulch very well at all. After reading on here somewhere where someone commented on how well the 7-iron mulching worked was one of the many reasons I decided on the 3120 vs the 2520. Cost me a bunch but so far worth it and saved a bit not buying a collection system like I was going to on the 2520. Will have to see if it still works well as the blades become dull and the deck starts to build up with grass. That's where my new JD pressure washer will come in handy!