Anyone mow with a 6' out-front mower like a Grasshopper?

[sixdogs]

A neighbor has a 6' wide out-front Grasshopper mower that we might trade for. That's pretty wide and I wonder how an out-front mower like that handles on open ground like a few acres. Is it easy to control and does it mow fast? Does it handle like a zero turn with the mower underneath? Does the extra width pose any unexpected problems? Any advice or comments appreciated.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Well people are going to disagree. I have a 6 foot out front deck for my Steiner that I am selling. If it's side discharge (which I hate) then you have an even wider deck with the chute, which is the first thing I take off. The bigger the deck, the worse it cuts uneven ground. For a smaller machine, I have found five feet to be a reasonable compromise. But, I do have larger machines, so I am a bit prejudiced because my many acres does get cut much faster than that. Just around the house, it's five feet at a time though. Rear discharge all the way.

My particular Steiner 430 is quite awkward for out front mowing. If I had to do a lot of back and forth and around trees, I wouldn't be using it.

 

[RandyT]

Wider decks don't tend to mow as well on uneven ground because of the width can't follow the contours very well. Unlike a normal Z turn which basically moves the front of the mower in what ever direction you steer, the grasshopper operates more like spinning top, and you are the center of the axis. So if you are turning left the deck front edge goes left, and the rear tail wheels go right and you basically stay in one spot as you rotate around.

I prefer the grasshopper type mowers over the normal Z turns because you can reach under things better than you can with a normal Z turn, but can also mow just like normal.

 

[MossRoad]

Yep, the wider the deck, the more likely to scalp on uneven ground, UNLESS.... it's an articulated deck.

 

[sixdogs]

Very good reviews. I had forgotten the side discharge hassle and it all came back to me quickly. The mower I'm looking at is a side discharge and I could imagine it being a problem with clumping.

Presently, I mow with a 7' pull type Woods rear discharge mower and I can go through the thickest of spring grass and it just spreads evenly out the back. I don't think I want to go back to the side discharge so I'm thinking I'm going to stay with the setup I have. A question I have about a rear discharge Grasshopper is whether they leave tire tracks over the freshly cut grass? You do drive over it after it's cut so that sounds logical?

 

[nyone]

Place i use to work at had a big out front like your asking about. Blade tip speed was very slow slow, it sucked in soft ground too. I bet my 48in ZTR could cut faster. You just didnt have the ability to cut with any decent ground speed. They also had a snowblower for it. that thing really sucket.

 

[blacktruck]

A long time ago we had a JD diesel (not sure of the model) with a 72" deck mounted in front. On perfectly flat ground on short grass it did a decent job and was easy to drive. Throw in a few obstacles and some tall grass and then not so much. In some of the lesser cut back areas and around the edges of the property it really sucked. I was working at an airport at the time so it was generally pretty short and flat in most of the places we mowed. A side discharge on more than a 60" mower doesn't seem to be able to get the grass out of it when wet or thick. The width with the chute made getting close to anything out of the question. My opinion is that a zero turn is far easier to handle if there are any obstacles and anything over 60" deck should be a rear discharge.

 

[sixdogs]

Great thread and info. Thank you all.

 

[RalphVa]

I mowed with a Scag that had the deck out front back in the 80s. Don't recall the width: was somewhere around 5 to 6 ft; had 3 blades which you could easily remove or put back on in about 5 minutes because the deck would crank up. Cut the mowing time in about 1/2 vs. use of underbelly Sears tractors for the approximately 5 acres there.

No problems at all in the early years.

Ralph

 

[QRTRHRS]

I had a Woods Mow'n'Machine which was a front mount made by Grasshopper. And before anyone questions that, indeed Grasshopper did make mowers for Woods for a short period.

Anyway, the deck was 61" wide as I recall and it did do an erratic job. Something not mentioned though; IMHO, the front mount is a lot more stable on side hills than the standard belly mount zero turn. And, yes, cleaning and blade maintenance is great on the front flip up deck.