Anyone mowing with a B50 series?

[MikeBo]

Ok, I have mowed my yard twice with my B3350, I mowed the back yard with the FEL on, I removed it and mowed the front. It did an outstanding job, as I mentioned my front yard is 5-8 feet of fill, so the results were better then expected. Mine also has industrial tires, the only place I got some compression was in a wet ditch. Overal very pleased

 

[Fiziksgeek]

Thanks for reporting back! What is your yard like? How big? Is it wide open, or lots of obstacles to mow around?

 

[Oldgreybear]

My cabbed 2650 with 60"MMM does not tear up the ground if it is dry. It does less damage than my 61" Scag ZTR, but mows at about 1/4 the speed. (over 175 plants on 8 acres). Only mow with it in the hot sun. The A/C works really well!. I use the tractor for most other things that I need a smaller tractor for otherwise it is off to the 5083 JD. I seldom take the MMM off the tractor, I just pin it up if I need to use the 3point, or the BH. All in all I love the little tractor much better than the BX25D I traded on it.

 

[MikeBo]

My 3 acres has about 15 trees to mow around, so not a lot, one thing I don't like is the lack of a mulch kit, it's been fine in most places, but the irrigated and fertilized front yard leaves quite a grass windrow that I have to blow with my blower. Part of this is the wet spring we have had. It has excelled at removing rock piles, dirt piles and box blading my rough areas... Can't do that with a zero turn.

 

[Fiziksgeek]

My cabbed 2650 with 60"MMM does not tear up the ground if it is dry. It does less damage than my 61" Scag ZTR, but mows at about 1/4 the speed. (over 175 plants on 8 acres). Only mow with it in the hot sun. The A/C works really well!. I use the tractor for most other things that I need a smaller tractor for otherwise it is off to the 5083 JD. I seldom take the MMM off the tractor, I just pin it up if I need to use the 3point, or the BH. All in all I love the little tractor much better than the BX25D I traded on it.

What kind of damage did you get from the Scag? I've heard that you can really tear up the turf with ZTRs if you are not skilled.

How much ground clearance do you have with the deck locked up?

 

[Fiziksgeek]

My 3 acres has about 15 trees to mow around, so not a lot, one thing I don't like is the lack of a mulch kit, it's been fine in most places, but the irrigated and fertilized front yard leaves quite a grass windrow that I have to blow with my blower. Part of this is the wet spring we have had. It has excelled at removing rock piles, dirt piles and box blading my rough areas... Can't do that with a zero turn.

ZTR are optimized for mowing, and they do it well, but tractors are much more versatile. There is a mulching deck available for my Massey, but its a dedicated mulching deck, you can't just remove a mulching kit and have it side discharge. Seemed like a risk to hope that it mulched well. So I went with the 60" side discharge model, which once the guard it removes, is disperses the clippings pretty well. BUT, it blows far enough, that there are several areas of my yard where you would end up blowing the clippings into planter beds, so I bought a PTO powered grass catcher. Other than a change to the mower deck attachment boot, I can use it with any tractor which is nice.

 

[MattEffinCameron]

What kind of damage did you get from the Scag? I've heard that you can really tear up the turf with ZTRs if you are not skilled.

How much ground clearance do you have with the deck locked up?

I have a 2920 so its totally different and likely irrelevant, but im not thrilled with the ground clearance with the deck "up". I mean its not bad, but its not to the point where I dont even know its there and I can operate as I woudl if it were not installed. Also the width of the deck makes operating with it on inconvenient sometimes.

I just started mowing with my machine in the last week or so. I have thought immediately after mowing that the cut looks outstanding. But then the next morning all the dandelions that the deck for some reason couldnt cut stand back up and it looks pretty ******. This is puzzling to me. I understand that people say "a ZTR is going to give a better cut" but in my head both are swinging a piece of sharpened steel around at the same RPM (I assume)...why would one cut a dandelion and the other not?

Anyway, I bring this up because Oldgreybear's comment on the speed of the B vs the ZTR. I feel like I can mow pretty well at a decent speed, but to have any shot at cutting the dandelions I have to slow waaay down and crawl over them...which sucks.

 

[Fiziksgeek]

I have a 2920 so its totally different and likely irrelevant, but im not thrilled with the ground clearance with the deck "up". I mean its not bad, but its not to the point where I dont even know its there and I can operate as I woudl if it were not installed. Also the width of the deck makes operating with it on inconvenient sometimes.

I just started mowing with my machine in the last week or so. I have thought immediately after mowing that the cut looks outstanding. But then the next morning all the dandelions that the deck for some reason couldnt cut stand back up and it looks pretty ******. This is puzzling to me. I understand that people say "a ZTR is going to give a better cut" but in my head both are swinging a piece of sharpened steel around at the same RPM (I assume)...why would one cut a dandelion and the other not?

Anyway, I bring this up because Oldgreybear's comment on the speed of the B vs the ZTR. I feel like I can mow pretty well at a decent speed, but to have any shot at cutting the dandelions I have to slow waaay down and crawl over them...which sucks.

Overall, the B50 series has a couple extra inches of ground clearance that the B20 and B01 series, but I'm not sure this translates into 2 extra inches of clearance with the mower deck on.

Mower deck design is a whole thing in itself. Blade tip speed is one thing, but the ability to produce upward suction is a big as well. That's what pulls the grass upward to be cut, otherwise it just lie down and gets missed. High lift blades are one aspect, but the depth of the deck and the design of the airflow underneath is very important. Also, the ability to handle the volume of grass being cut plays into it. Think about it, when you cut a couple inches off the grass, how does the grass get out of that swirling wind? What happens to the airflow when you intoduce all this cut grass? Lots of things to consider..