Mowing Help on mower selection Belly or Rear

[TerryinMD]

I have a 4100 with a 54" MMM and I use the lift locking kit (I think that is the name). It is a dealer supplied item and costs around $75.00.

There are pros and cons about the MMM and the locking kit. As others have stated, once you get used to taking the MMM on and off, it's a breeze. Once the MMM is removed, the locking kit does not interfer with the 3 pt hitch. However, the control arms for the MMM do get in the way sometimes because they can catch on things. That is pretty much the only con.

Hindsight being 20/20, I would have gotten the RMM. Why? Because it is cheaper and you do not have to worry about setting up the MMM to get a good cut.

The bottom line is that you have to decide what works best for you. If you do not have many contours, trees, etc. in the way for your mowing a RMM will work fine. If you have to do a lot of turning to manuver about, the MMM will probably work best.

Good Luck.

Terry

 

[millsnhills]

Great feedback guys as usual... It getting down to freezing tonight does not make me think about cutting grass to much but I also don't want to wait until spring to have a solution.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

I have 2 tractors for mowing, but the primary mowing tractor is a Cub Cadet with a 54" deck. It mows about 70% of the lawn areas we have and it used to mow 100%. I added a rear finish mower a couple years ago and use it with my NH TC24D, but can't get next to the small trees with it. The one advantage to the RFM is that you can back up to trees and get under them, ditto along creeks and ditches. With many of the trees on our property (we have HUNDREDS of those nasty Hawthorn trees) you can't get a tractor close enough to them to use a MMM unless you cut the branches up to the point that you get the entire tractor UNDER the branches. And we do that with to get the Cub Cadet up close, but because even a full size Hawthorn is a small tree, there is no way to cut the branches up high enough to get close with a compact tractor unless you want your face to come in contact with those 1" long spikes on the branches. Also the Cub is used around the house, patio areas, and other places that a larger tractor simply can't get into, even if it had a MMM, I couldn't get the NH into some of the spots I get the Cub into and the NH is a small diesel by almost any standard.

 

[kennyd]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( However, the control arms for the MMM do get in the way sometimes because they can catch on things. That is pretty much the only con.

Terry )</font>


Terry, I use wire ties (cable ties, zip ties, whatever you know them by ties...) to hold up the MMM lift arms when I have the deck off, real simple to do.

 

[TerryinMD]

Nah... sometimes they must come off. Like when using my 16" single moldboard plow, grading new ground with a rear blade and the FEL, and occasionly when using the rotary cutter.

Later,
Terry