Mowing Engine RPM for mowing

[prosperity]

OK, on to my next question.
I've been mowing (finish mowing) commercially pretty much all my life, and mostly with JD equipment. I also run a large boom arm mower at work (80hp). Whenever I am mowing, I've always run the engine full out (diesel). I've never had any problems. You need the highest blade speed you can for a good cut.

Now that I have a 2210 (MMM - 2000PTO), I'm second guessing myself. I find myself running it at PTO speed (2900RPM) instead of full out (3100RPM). I guess I'm trying to bread the machine in easy - after my 50 hours I'll probably run it full out.

How do you guys run your machines while finish mowing?

 

[Bird]

Whether mowing (with either finish mower or brush hog), tilling, cutting hay, or baling hay, I always just ran the tractors at the PTO rated speed always leaving just a little bit of throttle in reserve /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif, but more importantly, just a tiny bit quieter. I don't really think you'll hurt the tractor running it full out, but that's just my opinion and personal preference. The only time I ran my tractors full out was when I went somewhere on the road with it, and then I wanted all the speed I could get. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

The first few times I mowed with my 2210 I tried very hard to keep the RPM needle right on the PTO mark. However, I have a few spots in my yard where I need to throttle down (bare dirt, patches) and trying to match RPM's became tedious when I had to do this on every pass. The last two times out I have just cranked her up. I wish Deere would have put some kind of detent in the throttle at the PTO speed, would make setting the RPM's a lot easier.

I agree with Bird, backing off a little makes sense, but at this point I have decided to just ignore the setting and run her out when I mow. If you maintain the deck bearings, belts and lube I don't think 5-10% more Rev's will cause any problems. If this were the case I think Deere would do more to warn you not to do this.

 

[prosperity]

I also agree with Bird when using 540RPM rear PTO equipment. These implements should be run at their rated speed. I just never thought much about the shaft driven MMM.
When commercially mowing, blade tip speed is important. The higher this speed, the better cut you get and the faster you can go. All commercial mowers are made to run full out, so this shouldn't be any different I guess.

I can't find a rating of the blade tip speed of the 62C. I would like to compare it to the ratings of commercial mowers. Mostly just curious - so far the 62C rivals the cut and speed of a commercial.