B3200 vs B2920 question

johnw549 · Mar 18, 2010

Greetings everyone,
I am another newbie who has lurked here for a while but never posted.:newhere:
I am going to be hopefully doing a step up this spring. I have a BX 2350 and have had it for one season. I plan to move up to a B3200 or a B2920. :licking: The BX 2350 is a fantastic lawn mower, but I want to be able to have other capabilities with a little bigger tractor.
I have been reading, researching the net and whatever trying to decide on the right one. I have a little over 5 acres, with garden, and some wooded. I mow about 3 acres as my yard.
I was talking to a sales rep at the dealership. I currently have the flotation 54" mowing deck that you set the cutting height with a dial knob just below the seat on the BX. He told me that the B3200 has the deck that the cutting height can only be adjusted by the deck wheels heigth. It doesn't have the flotation system that a BX or a B 2000 series has.
He told me I would be doing a lot more scalping on the mowing because of this difference. Has anybody here used both systems and can tell me if that is true? Not that I don't believe the guy. He says that the dial height system
is the way to go. Thanks and glad to be here.

TripleR · Mar 18, 2010

I won't say he doesn't know what he is talking about, only that it does not match my experience as I have had both. If you set your height correctly, you won't get scalping with either and if you don't you will get it from either. I do prefer the suspended deck as it is easier on the lawn especially when wet or when turning as you will tear grass when the wheels are supporting the weight of the deck and going sideways. Don't mow when it is wet or make really sharp turns with your deck down and you shouldn't have any problems.

Both are good tractors as are several made by other manufacturers which you might want to look at. I have looked at both of these and I don't think either has position control on the 3-point, so I would look at a xx30 series as they do; pretty sure anyway.

johnw549 · Mar 18, 2010

Both are good tractors as are several made by other manufacturers which you might want to look at. I have looked at both of these and I don't think either has position control on the 3-point, so I would look at a xx30 series as they do; pretty sure anyway.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the reply TripleR. That brings up another question. Is the 3 point position control much preferred over the 1/4" system. The way I understand it is that if you don't have the position control system of the xx30 series has, then it is aggravating when you are bush hogging to have to adjust the attachment cutting height after some use?? Is that what you are talking about? Thanks

devildog1 · Mar 18, 2010

Welcome John,
First off sales rep is correct in saying that the cutting height on the B3200 is adjustable with mowing deck wheel height. That being said it does follow the slopes of the ground or lawn, If you think about it, It can be a good thing.Anytime you have a wide cut mower and if ground is un-even you run the risk of scalping some lawn.Even on my BX23 with 60" mmm just because of the width some scraping occurs.I have a Woods 72" rear finish mower behind my B3200 that I cut 2 acres of lawn with.
It does a great job of lawn cutting, that I believe is as good as the mmm systems.
DevilDog

johnw549 · Mar 18, 2010

Devildog1, thanks for your imput.
I have never used a rear mount finishing mower. Are they harder or easier than a mid mount? Does that depend on the terrain? I have a mostly flat yard and some slope. Is it hard to get used to a pull behind vs belly mower?
Am I missing out on a better way to mow??

TripleR · Mar 18, 2010

johnw549 said:
Both are good tractors as are several made by other manufacturers which you might want to look at. I have looked at both of these and I don't think either has position control on the 3-point, so I would look at a xx30 series as they do; pretty sure anyway.

Thanks for the reply TripleR. That brings up another question. Is the 3 point position control much preferred over the 1/4" system. The way I understand it is that if you don't have the position control system of the xx30 series has, then it is aggravating when you are bush hogging to have to adjust the attachment cutting height after some use?? Is that what you are talking about? Thanks[/QUOTE]

Yes, bush hogging, box scraping, grading can all be aggravating without position control as the cuter will drop over time and there is no easy OEM fix. Also on some without position control, you cannot set your grader/box blade in a "float" mode, there is an old thread on this.

I have ordered a set of chains to mount to my BX2660 3-point to remedy the bush hogging problem.

Mower Deck Height Stabilizers - SSB Tractor

I have used and own MMM as well as RFM and for yards much prefer the MMM while the RFM works well in large open areas; just an opinion.

devildog1 · Mar 18, 2010

John,
The rear finishing mower has It's place among mowers. Some like me like the ease of installation and removal with a Quick Hitch Also great for large open areas to mow and backing in under trees where It's hard to get with a belly(mmm) mower.I like the to take off mower to do loader work and or to go into woods for firewood, because leaving mmm on reduces ground clearance. To be fair there are pros and cons for each type, just depends which is easier for you.
DevilDog

DelSc · Mar 18, 2010

I have used both the suspended mmm on the BX and the ground engaging mmm on the B3030 on my lawn. Both were 60".

My lawn is not perfectly smooth or flat, and I actually get a better cut with the ground engaging deck than I do with the suspended deck. The wheels on the ground engaging deck are better able to follow the little ups and downs on the lawn which results in the grass being more uniform. On a really smooth lawn it might be different.

I actually cant see how a ground engaging deck would scalp worse than a suspended deck. Its easier to set the cut height on a suspended deck, but other than that, I prefer the ground engaging deck.