When I sold my old tractor several months ago I also sold the KK 6' finish mower I had. The mower worked pretty well but I got tired of that funky hitch. I'm thinking I might be able to get a deal on a mower sitting on a dealer's lot now that winter is here. Does anyone have anything to add to the past discussions of Landpride, BH, Woods and Rhino mowers or ideas on prices for those in 6' size? I'm not sure yet on side discharge vs. rear.
Check out http://www.ironsearch.com for some ideas of price. Another place to try is www.machinerylink.com. You reminded me of a funny story. About 7 years ago, before I had a front loader, we got about 8" of the real light fluffy snow. As I had no way to clear the 250' driveway, I jumped on the 855 and fired up the mid deck. Blew the snow right off the driveway. Was amazed how well it worked. Tried the same thing a couple of weeks later with snow that was a little wetter, and it was a miserable failure.
I bought a Carroni (made in Italy) from Agri Supply this past Summer and put a lot of hours on it doing about 12 acres of nice flat pasture/field work. I have no previous experience with other brands, but this is an inexpensive (compared to many discussed here) alternative. So far, it's worked well for me hooked behind my JD790. I estimate that I put 40 to 50 hours mowing time on this 6' side discharge unit and haven't had to do anything other than intense maintenance. I've probably used six tubes of grease and kept it clean. I haven't even had to tighten the belts yet.
I've kept the unit clean and dry and haven't hit any stumps, big rocks or bursh with it, so I can't speak to really rough serivice. I do like the mower and like the fact that Agri Supply provides excellent parts availability (I haven't had to replace anything yet though). You can go to their web site http://ag-supply.com and request a brochure on the Carroni. That may be a good starting point. If you want something made in the USA, you will probably have to pay about twice the price. Since my experience is very limited, you should seriously take the advice of more experienced members of this board.
Like you mentioned, there should be some off-season bargins out there this time of the year.
I have a 5' Buhler/Farm King rear discharge. I paid 1700$ CDN for it (about a 1000$ USD). I like it a lot. The rear discharge allows you to mow in whatever direction is convenient, rather than having to worry about which side the clippings are going. Also (this is just an hypothesis) the larger chute of the rear discharge would seem to be less restrictive. I had a MMM on another tractor, and couldn't see the logic of the blade furthest from the chute having to "pass along" its clippings to the other blades in order for them to be discharged. I always used to end up leaving a big clumpy line of clippings between blades 3 and 2(blade 1 being nearest the chute).
