Mowing Commercial right of way mowing

DirtyDusty · Jun 7, 2007

What model tractors are the guys doing the pipeline mowing using? I talked to a guy the other day that said John deere made an industrial tractor that was yellow and had 100 hp. that was the Ideal setup, but I haven't been able to find any info on it. He said that it had a beefed up undercarriage on it. Any body know anything about these?

LBrown59 · Jun 8, 2007

DirtyDusty said:
What model tractors are the guys doing the pipeline mowing using? I talked to a guy the other day that said John deere made an industrial tractor that was yellow and had 100 hp. that was the Ideal setup, but I haven't been able to find any info on it. He said that it had a beefed up undercarriage on it. Any body know anything about these?

The state here usees the green JDs here and so do most of the farmers they contract some of the right a way mowing to. I've also seen a red MF or 2 .
Makes it hard to rell who is doin the mowin/ state or private.

RollTideRam · Jun 8, 2007

My state used to use yellow tractors of many makes. Now I see county and state mowing with regular ag tractors. I noticed a couple of cab model Deeres and NH's parked the other day. I also could not find a yellow tractor on the deere website either. JC

RoyJackson · Jun 8, 2007

The tractors I've seen in PA have been yellow New Hollands or Fords. These are quite low slung (more like an old 8N) then one of the CUTs or UTs we normally discuss here on TBN. On the PA Turnpike, they've been using flail mowers behind them, but I have seen some pull type rotary cutters (looks like 7 or 8 footers...) at the Turnpike maintenance shops.

Locally, I see two UTs running around doing bank trimming. One is a larger NH, the other a big UT. Sorry, wasn't close enough to see the model numbers. Both these machines were big enough to handle a flail mower on a boom. I do not think they were state or county owned. I'm pretty sure they were contractor machines.

RalphVa · Jun 8, 2007

What they SHOULD be using are flail or sickle or reel mowers. I once got a 50 calibre-sized hole in my drivers' door when driving across Aligator Alley in Florida from a mowing rig. Yeah, it was missing some chains and even had a hole in the top of the brush hog deck, but I still question the safety of using a horizontal rotary rig right next to traffice.

When we first moved here, I was forever calling in about or stopping and pointing out the dangers of people mowing with their discharge diverters open and up. They almost all do it. Only the rigs doing the golf course are using mulching decks. You can even get stuff slung out from mulching decks with the uneven topograpy that we have here.

Someone was mowing in front of a church near Baton Rouge, lawn sloping away from the road. It slung sometime up into a pickup's door passing by, and even had its discharge covered.

Ralph

Turkeyman · Jun 10, 2007

In the South for power/pipe ROW lines in the woods most use New Hollands from WoodBoss or Hinton Machinery in Alabama. These are not highway tractors, as most of these use forestry tires( 24 ply), 1/2 skid plates and 20 k hyd. winches. Most mowers are Brown or BH 406. Most highway mowing is private in SC and you see a few 5 and 6 series Deeres. GR Mfg outfits most of Deere's units and yes many of them are Yellow.

mjarrels · Jun 10, 2007

When I was a kid, a lot of highway mowing was with hand tools by groups of men being guarded with a state uniform guard carrying a sidearm and holding a shotgun! Guess things have changed.

mark

unit40 · Jun 10, 2007

I'll look to see tomorrow what we use at my Highway Dept. to mow the sides of the road. Right now I can tell you it is a large green JD with an enclosed cab with AC. And i believe it uses an ALAMO brand flail that runs off of the side, so he can mow over and down guardrails and embankments. I have seen the front PTO powered Hydro pump for it, a huge counterbalancing hydro tank. He has a diamondplate aluminum tool box mounted to the rear Class 2 hitch. I've moved it around the site a few times but i can't remember the exact model. Our neighboring town has a Cat yellow Deere tractor.

BarryinMN · Jun 11, 2007

Here the power line ROW is cut once every 10 years or so with a large CAT payloader with a large cutter on the front, huge flotation tires on it so it can swim for awhile. I imagine it rarely gets stuck but if it does

County mowers are alamo mounted on JD 6430's. State ROW is contracted & the operator makes small square bales. Saw the whole family out throwing the bales up on a gooseneck trailer behing a PU last Fall.