72" MMM vs. 272 finish mower

[RoyJackson]

For my needs (keeping my 2.5 acre feild/pasture mowed) I don't need a MMM. I have a 322 with 60" deck that I use to mow the yard around the house. Last year I used the 322 to mow the field too, but it takes a while and is beating up the 322 as the field is a lot rougher than the yard.
For my intended use, is there any reasons why I shouldn't be looking at a 272?

You might be better off with a rotary cutter (rather then a finishing mower) if your field is rough. That would beat up the RFM just as much as it's beating up your 322.
I'm sure someone will bring up flail mowers too.

 

[bp fick]

You might be better off with a rotary cutter (rather then a finishing mower) if your field is rough. That would beat up the RFM just as much as it's beating up your 322.
I'm sure someone will bring up flail mowers too.

+1 :thumbsup:

 

[kude]

A 272 is a nice a nice mower and easy to maintain. My MMM on my 755 has rusted away and is a pain to to put on and take off. It is now taken off for good.

 

[JD955SC]

If one was using the tractor for only mowing, then a MMM might be better in a sense of manuverability.

But for a multirole tractor, especially one that sees rough terrain use, then the rear mounted mower makes much more sense. Also consider that it's a lot less work to replace the belt or maintain a rear mounted finish mower.

We use a rear mount finish mower with our 955. Slightly more manuevarbility in tight spaces isn't as critical to us since we leave the 70A loader in place anyway fulltime. We switch back and forth between the FM and the bushhog throughout the summer.

 

[Mechanos]

Well, I've been looking for a 6' RFM for quite a while now. There have been plenty for sale, but they're just priced a bit more than I wanted pay. Guess I was holding out for a really good deal. I found one earlier this week and went to look at it yesterday... ended up buying it and hualing it home. I think it was a decent deal. It has been sitting for a while since the seller bought a zero turn mower. He was tired of tripping over it and wanted it gone. It also helped the price that the mowing season is pretty much over and those wanting to sell their mower are motivated to deal instead of storing the mower for another winter.

I was looking at all brands of mowers, but it just so happens that the right-priced deal I came across was a JD 272. It needs a good cleaning up, a new belt, little straightening here and there, a couple of cracked welds repaired, a new set of blades and a fresh coat of paint.

I started tearing it down today, got all the pulleys, idlers and spindles removed. I don't see an "easy" way to get the belt off. It appears that I will need to remove the gearbox (or at least loosen it to raise the drive pulley a little to let the belt pass underneath). That seems a little odd to me that you'd have to go such measures just to get the belt off. It's kind of moot in my case, since I'm pretty much stripping the whole deck to prep and paint it.