At Home In The Woods

[Obed]

Are you sure the pully is on tight and the belt is tight and not streached? Your hydrostat should out last the mower esp for that small yard your cutting?

The drive belt appears to be somewhat loose. I'll replace it and see what happens.

Obed

 

[farmer2009]

Be sure to check the reviews on the cub cadets. My grandparents have one and don't speak highly of it. Much prefer their hustler. The deck covers you and it with grass. Plus have had some issues with gas running out the muffler.

 

[chim]

Chim, you must really enjoy mowing. 2 1/4 acres was not enough yard for you so now you have 3 1/2 acres to mow. My place takes about 1 1/2 hours to mow with my Kubota when I mow the yard, the garden area, and the property entrance. You appear to be able to mow twice as much acreage than I mow in less time.

Obed

I do enjoy mowing or anything else that gets me on the tractor. However, the short story on the added grass is that there were 4 lots carved off a farm. BIL and I bought the end lots. Creek cutting through land required bridges to access the sites. Bridges were built on the property lines and each bridge is to serve two lots. We got to thinking about the potential problems of co-owning bridges and parts of blacktopped driveways and looked for a way to avoid that. After researching the costs of buying the two lots, combining them into one, BIL and I taking some land off each side of the new lot, re-engineering for a third separate bridge, etc, it made more sense for us to each buy the lot adjacent top our existing properties.

Here's a satellite shot of our place taken before we planted the extra grass. The original lot stopped at the yellow line. The creek is hiding under trees, but you can see the bridge out near the road. I was pleasantly surprised to see the increased mowing capability brought by going from 21 HP to 32 HP and from a 60" deck to a 72" deck.

 

[PAGUY]

Obed - Glad to see you back posting.

I think your problem will be the belt slipping because of prior posts. You leave your grass grow quite a bit between cuttings plus the blowing the leaves into the woods with the mower will definitely put a strain on the belt. Two years of that kind of abuse could be the reason for the poor performance as compared when you replaced the belt and oiled the tension pulley back then.

Equipment requires regular maintenance to keep working correctly and last. It is as the saying goes "Pay (maintenance) now or pay (dollars) later"

PAGUY

 

[Larro Darro]

Equipment requires regular maintenance to keep working correctly and last. It is as the saying goes "Pay (maintenance) now or pay (dollars) later"

PAGUY

I might not have learned much from my time in the Navy, but one thing has always stuck with me. There was an old Chief in the Electrical Department that was fond of saying, "proper preparation prevents piss poor performance." Doing your maintenance would fit in the proper preparation slot.

 

[Obed]

We got to thinking about the potential problems of co-owning bridges and parts of blacktopped driveways and looked for a way to avoid that.

Chim,
I certainly understand not wanting to share ownership of a bridge with the adjacent lot owner. if the other land owner does not want to spend money on maintenance, you can end up having to pay for all the maintenance yourself anyway. Better to own it yourself.

Regarding the empty lot, I would probably plant wildflowers or something so I didn't have extra grass to mow; but that's just me. I do, though, really enjoy the look of nice mowed grass, especially large lots. We planted wild flowers at the entrance to our property so I do not have to mow the entire entrance.

I did think a little bit about the suggestions to buy a finish mower instead of an actual riding lawn mower. Unfortunately, because of the hilliness of our a lot, a finish mower would have some challenges.

Obed

 

[Diamondpilot]

Be sure to check the reviews on the cub cadets. My grandparents have one and don't speak highly of it. Much prefer their hustler. The deck covers you and it with grass. Plus have had some issues with gas running out the muffler.

I will second that. My neighbors bought a $4000 Cub Cadet mower. What a POS. The deck and its lift mechanism was junk. I bet I welded something back on 10 times. The electrical circuits were junk. Switches failing, ect. The transaxle broke. Finally year 5 the motor seized. I bet they spent $1500 in repairs in 5 years. Axle was 2/3 of that. Plus they borowwomy mower a good 15 times while there unit was down.

On the other hand they have a Cub Cadet snow blower as do I and my father. They are bullet proof.

Chris

 

[Robert_in_NY]

I will second that. My neighbors bought a $4000 Cub Cadet mower. What a POS. The deck and its lift mechanism was junk. I bet I welded something back on 10 times. The electrical circuits were junk. Switches failing, ect. The transaxle broke. Finally year 5 the motor seized. I bet they spent $1500 in repairs in 5 years. Axle was 2/3 of that. Plus they borowwomy mower a good 15 times while there unit was down.

On the other hand they have a Cub Cadet snow blower as do I and my father. They are bullet proof.

Chris

I dislike our cub as well, it's a GT 1554 and every year one spindle goes to heck. They are greased regularly but don't hold up. The deck pull covers are off now as the bolt holes are wore out. Engine has been fairly reliable but the throttle is a joke, wide open or almost wide open.

It does throw the grass clippings well as long as it isn't wet. We paid $3k for it and will never get another. Next lawn mower will be a Kubota BX and hopefully will last the rest of my life with common maintenance.

 

[bake321]

Obed, Howdy buddy. My house is done except for trimming the stairwell. Got sidetracked building up my cattle business.

 

[Obed]

Obed, Howdy buddy. My house is done except for trimming the stairwell. Got sidetracked building up my cattle business.

Congrats!