Do I need a bigger tractor?

[petebx1860]

I have a bx1860 with loader and 54mmm(127 trouble free hours). How large a rear finish mower can i handle wanting a 60in or larger.

 

[jenkinsph]

I would think an MX5740 would be a good upgrade, should handle a 60" finish mower like it wasn't there.:thumbsup:

Get it with the cab, ac and cupholder for beer.

 

[RaydaKub]

Petebx1860, :welcome: to TBN.

I disagree with Jenkinsph. If you did that, you'd have to change your handle to petemx5740.

I have no experience with an rfm. Just wanted to say Howdy.

 

[jeff9366]

Check your BX1860 Owners Manual under IMPLEMENT LIMITATIONS to see what Kubota recommends.

BX1860 is only 1250 pounds (+/-) and 13.7 PTO HP when new. I would guesstimate you could pull a 36"-48" finish mower with the BX1860, but check the Operators Manual.

To use a 60" finish mower you need one of the Kubota 'B' series. Don't find yourself with not enough tractor again.

In the Owners Manual for my B3300SU, under IMPLEMENT LIMITATIONS, Kubota recommends maximum of 72" mid-mount mower and 72" finish mowers, either 2-blade or 3-blade. B3300SU is largest of the 'B' series.

 

[murphy1244]

Jenkinsph is right, get the big Kubota with Beer holder and optional cooler for more fun.

 

[Grandad4]

Any rear mower bigger than about 60 in. will be heavy for a BX. So I'm wondering what advantage would be gained removing the 54" deck and replacing it with a 60" rear mower. The added 6" cutting width hardly seems worth the trouble, and you end up with something that's less maneuverable as well. Here's a thought... if you need to improve your productivity, for not a whole bunch more money you could get an offset pull-behind (Swisher, etc.) and mow 96" or more on each pass.

 

[Will_C]

You will mow quicker with the 54" MMM than a 60"RFM. If you really need to go bigger than 60", I would look for 25 PTO hp and up.

Will

 

[chim]

In my experience the amount of time it takes to mow didn't have anything to do with where the deck was mounted. I'm still mowing the same 2 acres here that we started off with 23 or 24 years ago - and will be until we get the adjoining lot seeded. The first three tractors would all do the entire 2 acres in a little over 1-1/4 hours. The first tractor had 16HP and a 60" MMM and the next two had 17 and 21HP and 60" RFM's. The current tractor with 32HP and a 72" RFM reduced the time by about 15 minutes.

 

[kneedeep]

You can ALWAYS use a bigger tractor!!

:thumbsup:

:cool2:

 

[farmerhulio]

If you want a 60 inch mower just check and see how much horsepower it takes to operate it safely then see what your tractor has then you will know. good luck.

 

[oldnslo]

I have a bx1860 with loader and 54mmm(127 trouble free hours). How large a rear finish mower can i handle wanting a 60in or larger.

Since you have a 54" MMM and it works just fine I would expect that it would handle a 60" RFM also. You may have to adjust your travel speed according to the load but that is part of what the HST tranny provides. Only issue with weight is that now you are pulling the load Vs carrying the load so if you have hills this could be a problem.

Side note: JD puts 64" mower decks on their 25HP gas X485 models and my son has 1400+ hours on his with no problems.