jcmseven
Veteran Member
Fellow Posters,
I wanted to ask the panel's opinion regarding mowers. I currently have a mid frame John Deere with a 72" rear finish mower. I have very little grass to mow at my home, but I regularly mow a large (six acres) athletic field for the community. About twice monthly I mow my parents' lawn (about two acres). These are the reasons I invested in the mower for my tractor. In the next few months, my parents will be completing a small cabin that has about one acre to mow, but not more than once monthly for me. I absolutely love my tractor and RFM for the soccer field, but it is a bit ungainly for the lawns (although it does a really nice job, overall). My tractor is painful to haul two hours to my folks; (Tractor/mower/trailer combo is about 7500 pounds). I work at a hospital, and our grounds staff has asked me if I would consider selling them my RFM, as they have a mid frame tractor they use to mow the large lot in front of the hospital. If I do so I would either go back with the RFM, or with either a ZTR, front cut, or compact LGT. What are thoughts on this? I have had a ZTR in the past (Gravely) which I liked a lot (I do like the concept), but I did not see that it was THAT much faster than my 595 John Deere with a 62" deck that I owned afterwards. I do not want to be wasteful. By this I mean I do not want to buy something that EXCEEDS my needs. The primary (flexible) stipulations would be: I would not want to spend over $7,000 if possible, and even though I live in the mountains, hills where I mow are not a major issue. I would want something I would not be "stuck with" in this hilly area if I found myself decreasing my mowing volume in the future, and I would want something that is fairly easy to haul ( ie pull on trailer and go). I do not necessarily need something that could do other tasks as I have the tractor for that, BUT I also do not want something that is too single task-oriented. I am not against used equipment, but would prefer new if possible. I would like headlights, but this is not a major issue. Thanks in advance.
John M
I wanted to ask the panel's opinion regarding mowers. I currently have a mid frame John Deere with a 72" rear finish mower. I have very little grass to mow at my home, but I regularly mow a large (six acres) athletic field for the community. About twice monthly I mow my parents' lawn (about two acres). These are the reasons I invested in the mower for my tractor. In the next few months, my parents will be completing a small cabin that has about one acre to mow, but not more than once monthly for me. I absolutely love my tractor and RFM for the soccer field, but it is a bit ungainly for the lawns (although it does a really nice job, overall). My tractor is painful to haul two hours to my folks; (Tractor/mower/trailer combo is about 7500 pounds). I work at a hospital, and our grounds staff has asked me if I would consider selling them my RFM, as they have a mid frame tractor they use to mow the large lot in front of the hospital. If I do so I would either go back with the RFM, or with either a ZTR, front cut, or compact LGT. What are thoughts on this? I have had a ZTR in the past (Gravely) which I liked a lot (I do like the concept), but I did not see that it was THAT much faster than my 595 John Deere with a 62" deck that I owned afterwards. I do not want to be wasteful. By this I mean I do not want to buy something that EXCEEDS my needs. The primary (flexible) stipulations would be: I would not want to spend over $7,000 if possible, and even though I live in the mountains, hills where I mow are not a major issue. I would want something I would not be "stuck with" in this hilly area if I found myself decreasing my mowing volume in the future, and I would want something that is fairly easy to haul ( ie pull on trailer and go). I do not necessarily need something that could do other tasks as I have the tractor for that, BUT I also do not want something that is too single task-oriented. I am not against used equipment, but would prefer new if possible. I would like headlights, but this is not a major issue. Thanks in advance.
John M
