GC2300 / 1428v for 12ac of land, help.

[MrSteve]

Jerry... LOL no kidding!

Thanks for the info Nasty.

Hills are no problem on my land, completely flat. After going and looking at the tractors I know what you mean about the sizes.

Well I can’t have everything I guess. Here is what we came up with at the dealer.

…MF-1533 with SDT trans (Synco Shuttle).<<< wife wouldn’t go for the extra $ for Power Shuttle or Hydro. Don’t know if this is std or not, but has Factory Joystick control for front Hydraulics and R4 tires

Add ons…

....1525 FEL 60”
…Kodiak 60” or 72” bush mower ($200 more for the 72”, HD I think)
….Box Scraper 60” (don’t know the maker of this right now)

So with everything above, (w/60” mower) is a total of $18,745.00 (before tax)

How dose that price sound?

 

[JerryG]

Tell her that you will save the price of the power shuttle the first time you have to change the clutch. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Nasty135]

With as much ground as you have ,I would go for the 6' mower for sure...$200 is not much when it comes to making fewer passes to get the grass mowed quicker and use less fuel doing it /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

But that my thinking & your money /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[MrSteve]

LOL I wish my wife was the kind of person that I could say "It will cost this much to fix later, so we should get this one now", BUT she isn't. I am sure the std trans will be fine, a bit more leg work.

We are going for the 6 foot cutter. My thought was it didn't make much sense what so ever to get a mower that is "SMALLER" then the the tire track or the machine. I mean how in the heck would I get up to fences and so on.

Now with saying what I did above... What would be the draw backs of having a box scraper that is smaller then the tire track of the tractor? Mind you we really at this time don't have any use for the scraper, BUT I am sure the wife will find something for me to do.

Oh by the way... The wife has found things for me to do, she is going to put me to work on this thing. She said there isn't much use for such a big machine unless we would like to go into a "Small" land clearing (cutting only) business (isn't that just great). I guess that's fine, living here in West Florida I think WE can make some money doing that... Any thoughts on how much to charge? Should we charge per Ac or Per hour?

 

[scott_vt]

Steve,
Sounds good, I think youve got the wife convinced!
A 5ft box scraper is about as big as you want to go without going for a big hp machine, along with a heavier machine. As far as the mower, if I had a finish mower I would have a 6ft. As far as a bushog, I have a 5ft and I need all 32 hp going up some steep hills, but if my property was flat I think it could handle a 6ft if the field wasnt too high. With my rear wheel setup right now, the bushog cuts to about the center of the rear tires. So when Im mowing the fields off I can look down and try to keep the inside edge of the right tire just to the right of the unmowed section. Darn, hope thats clear! Anyway, keep us updated. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

scotty

 

[MrSteve]

Clear as can be, thanks for the reply.

Ok I'll stay with the 5 foot box, but I think I will have to take the 6 ft mower. Just like you said MY land is flat as flat can be. I know the tractor I used to 1st clear this place was no where near as good (HP, Condition and Size) as this 1533 and that old timer "thing' did ok.

Side note... I don't know if it matters, but this mower I am getting is only a 40hp gear box and 11ga deck (made by Kodiak, 5200 series I think), so I would have to say it is a light duty mower. I thought I seen somewhere when you go with a bigger HP gear box the tractor has to work harder to turn that gear box... Do I have that right?

 

[scott_vt]

Steve,
If your just cutting field grass, that light duty mower should be fine. My Woods is a medium duty I believe and occasionally I will cut down some very small saplings encroaching the field with no problem. As far as using more HP on a heavier mower, Im really not sure, I would think once that mower is up to PTO speed the extra hp would be neglegable. Keep us informed.

scotty

 

[MrSteve]

Thanks Scott...

Maybe you can help me on this one...

I know there is allot of different things we are looking at for this I am about to ask. OK we know my tractor is going to be a 8x8 trans . What gear should I use to cut grass? Now when I ask that MY land is cut and will never go past the length that a garden tractor could cut (well yes a little because of where my horses like to fertilize), say a max of 8" to 10" in length and also my land is flat.

Next... Say now I am doing some real clearing with the mover. The grass (weeds, brush) is high as the headlights... What gear for that type of work.

When you reply so I am not confused (lol real easy to do) tell we what range the trans is in. Don't get me wrong I have done some of this type of work before, but it has been a long time ago and the machines were allot older 1960s/70s and I think smaller in HP.

My thought.... Trans in high range, 3rd gear for cutting MY grass. Trans in high range, 1st gear for cutting the heavy / tall stuff.

 

[scott_vt]

Hi Steve,
Well, like I said my MF 1040 is 1986 vintage 4x4. That being said, I think you should ask guys like Jerry and Nasty, because they have newer machines. My 1040 has 3 ranges, high, medium and low with four foward gears in each range. I hardly ever use low range other than moving large stones. When I bushog the fields I use 4th gear in mid range, I believe its about 3.5 mph, only because Im pulling some pretty steep hills up here in the Green Mountain State. If I was using a 6ft fm I would probablly use 1st or 2nd in high range. I think if you try using 3rd in high, that would be too fast. Like I said, I would like you to get more input from owners with more modern tractors.

scotty

 

[Syncro]

Steve- I've followed this thread and am happy about your new machine, I like MF products and am sure you will too. Maybe I can shed a little light on some of your questions, I own a MF 1240 which is a 28 hp machine. It is the series just before the 1428, but close in size and power.

I use this tractor a lot for bush hogging, box blade work, and general farm work. My recommendations based on my experience with it is that a 66" box blade is about perfect, 5' is too small and 6' is marginal. I have all three sizes so I have used this tractor will all 3 and the 66" really is optimum size. I've done some pretty heavy work for a 28hp machine with my 66" Brush Hog brand blade. I would suggest though that you get a medium to heavy duty box blade as these are far less apt to get bent up in use.

I also use a 5' bush hog and mow over 20 acres with it. As for gear selection, that depends on the grass. When I am cutting thin loose weeds I use a pretty high gear at a low engine RPM, mostly around 1500 engine RPM which makes a far lower than 540 PTO RPM. This lets me cruise right along with a decent cut, providing the grass is not too dense. Now when I get into thick green pasture grass, like near the irrigation ditches, I push the PTO RPM's up to 540 and shift down as far as I have to to get through, even with that in real heavy thick grass 28 hp is marginal. With that statement I should say that such heavy cutting like that is rare for my farm, the great majority of my cutting is limited only by the rough ground and not by tractor hp. Bottom line is there is no set rule, just find a gear ant PTO RPM that feels 'right'

Have fun
/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif