How do you mow waist high grass?

[pennwalk]

Anyone remember Ductape's pictures of plowing snow with a mid mount mower? Well it looks like they can also be used for rough grading. I noticed my neighbor running back and forth over a rocky high spot smoothing it out. Now he is using the FEL to collect up the big pieces. That was a real nice looking little blue tractor and real quiet running. I don't know about the damage deposit but I'll bet it needs new blades.

Chris

 

[john_bud]

Oh man, remind me to NEVER buy a rental tractor, Yikes!!

jb

 

[MiserableOldFart]

The 24 year old 12 hp C125 Wheehorse here has been cutting waist high grass for about half its lifetime. Now that I'm here most of the time, without the annoyance of that hideous nighmarish torture-thing called a "job", it won't get that high, I hope, except in places that are soaked by this year's torrential rains to the point where I can't get to them.

The first thing is, it has to be dry- if it's not, forget it. The second thing is third gear in low range is about the most you can do, and at this speed, you will feel most hidden rocks with the steering in plenty of time to stop. And of course, the mower deck is set as high as it will go. The real problem is that the blades are like 15 inches each on the 42 inch deck, and when the grass is long enough to bridge the 15 inches, it doesn't all get sucked up into the path of the blades. So, you cut in one direction first, and then, if you can, cut in exactly the opposite direction before the stuff stands up again. This little tractor has never ceased to amaze me with what it can do. It has now been demoted to part-time work, as last month I bought a New Holland TC26DA to cut most of the big patches of grass (though the monsoons prevented me from using it for several cuttings because the ground was too soft.)

My father bought the WheelHorse, almost by accident, because the tractor he had ordered from Sears turned out to not actually ever exist. He paid about $1500 more for it than the Sears machine was supposed to be, about $4K as opposed to $2500 at that time (A lot of dough in 1982), and it was probably the best accidental thing that ever happened to him. I have no doubt that that Sears machine would have been long buried many, many years ago. Whenever I see other brands of lawn and garden tractors, even very good ones, the overall build looks like junk compared to the WheelHorse. Of course, I have no idea if the current models are built like that, but I believe they still carry one machine from the same line, a 15 hp "legacy" machine or something. There have been literally dozens of times when I have driven the mower deck into a rock hard enough to stop the tractor, and hundreds of times I have hit rocks with the mower.

Last winter I installed the third mower deck on the machine, migrating everything except the deck itself and the blades from the last one. It was a tough job with every ancient nut and bolt an adventure, but it's cutting as good as new. The new deck is about half as heavy as the old one, so I'm sure it won't last the 12 years or so the first two did.

 

[skent]

Been there, done that.

Use a sickle bar mower.

 

[Soundguy]

waist high grass with a finish mower? .. Boy.. that mower is going to be a POS when it is returned. That's why I look over rental equipment real well before considering purchasing it..

Better would to have been to rent a tractor and rear 3pt rough mower, and mow with it raised up, then go back with the short grass and manually collect the rocks.. then mow as normal.

I've mower grass and weeds over the top of the canopy on my ex NH-1920 before... just slow going, and alot of cleaning the radiator filter..

Soundguy

I have been wondering how the guy next door who is building a huge new house was going to mow the waist high grass which has a healthy salting of football sized rocks. I couldn't imagine how to do it safely without screwing up the equipment. But it was just a matter of time before one of the neighbors complained to the Township and this guy got a notice. Well today I found out. You rent a compact with a mid-mount mower from the New Holland dealer, raise the deck up a bit and have at it. No worries. Unless you are the New Holland dealer. Sounds pretty rough over there but the rocks don't seem to be flying too far. The good thing is that when he gets around to mowing it again in October the football sized rocks will be softball sized. You know, neighbors can be pretty entertaining.

Chris

 

[MossRoad]

How do you mow waist high grass?

Like this!

 

[CDsdad]

If it was at all feasible, I'd mow it with a fire lane and a box of matches.

 

[RobJ]

If it was at all feasible, I'd mow it with a fire lane and a box of matches.

How about a little midnight spraying with Remedy? That'll knock it down after a few days.

 

[scott_vt]

The 24 year old 12 hp C125 Wheehorse here has been cutting waist high grass for about half its lifetime. Now that I'm here most of the time, without the annoyance of that hideous nighmarish torture-thing called a "job", it won't get that high, I hope, except in places that are soaked by this year's torrential rains to the point where I can't get to them.

The first thing is, it has to be dry- if it's not, forget it. The second thing is third gear in low range is about the most you can do, and at this speed, you will feel most hidden rocks with the steering in plenty of time to stop. And of course, the mower deck is set as high as it will go. The real problem is that the blades are like 15 inches each on the 42 inch deck, and when the grass is long enough to bridge the 15 inches, it doesn't all get sucked up into the path of the blades. So, you cut in one direction first, and then, if you can, cut in exactly the opposite direction before the stuff stands up again. This little tractor has never ceased to amaze me with what it can do. It has now been demoted to part-time work, as last month I bought a New Holland TC26DA to cut most of the big patches of grass (though the monsoons prevented me from using it for several cuttings because the ground was too soft.)

Mornin MOF,
Well Im certainly not going to knock the C-125 because Ive owned one since day one and it is one heck of a tough little garden mower. But, it doesnt do well mowing fields IMHO. How would I know that, because I tried it on one of my fields when I first bought my property in Vt. I mowed maybe 3 acres with not very good results, the tractor took a beating, got a flat tire due to thorns in the field The turf tires were spinning like crazy trying to get up some steep hills on my property That little thing ( C-125)was totally in over its head Some of the hills are steep enough to start to lift the frontend off the ground on my 42 Farmall A with a rear mount sickle mower Had to add front weights to that tractor to keep the frontend down. I now use a 1986 MF-1040 FWD 32 HP diesel with a 5ft rear bushog. And even that machine has its hands full pulling steep slopes mowing waist high grass !!! Lets be realistic, tryin to mow an area 650' x 650' with a 42" finish mower will take foreeeever

Sorry, been there done that ! So let me finish by saying that the C-125 is a terrific machine for what it was designed for.

 

[777777]

Hi All,

Been sitting and kind of chuckling about some of the responses so finally decided to jump in.
How do you cut a field of 6' high grass\weeds ? On a garden. What else.

Moved from the city ( 25' x 127' lot ) to the country. Now here I am, and new country boy with 2.5 acres. From part around the house\front grass and about 100' behind the house had been kept but the rest was let to go wild.
After trying to cut the front with a push lawn mower, decided to get a "tractor". Now, being a city boy, these lawn and garden guys really suck you in as doesn't matter how big it is, as long as you call it tractor, you can fish the city boys in. Not alot of money after buying house. Bout 3/4 mile up the road is a dealer what has used lawn " tractors " so away you go. Bought myself used 11.5 hp for $900. Now, I am a country boy, Got myself a tractor. So, got a tractor but how do you get it home. No truck\no trailer and dealer didn't even talk about delivery. So, what else, drive it home. It's a tractor.

Now you got keep in mind that the grass\weeds are 5' - 6' tall and here I am, on my tractor, ready to go at it. Being realistic ( ya right ! ) figure better put it on the highest cut first to make it easy.
Wife, 2 kids standing there watching Dad, on his tractor, and away I go. Well, funny thing was that I kind of disappeared. Rather than really cutting the grass\weeds, it hacked at them a little and then closed up behind me.
Only way wife and kids could see me was to look for movement it the tops of the field to point out where I was untill I finished my first go around. Think that they just glad to see me again but away I kept going and disappeared again, and again, and again. Was **** finding my way out when I ran out of gas.
Long story short and, well, needless to say it was an experience. Eventually though, I did manage to get it all cut and at a reasonable level. Persistance pays and probably the laughter of the neighbours still echos in the area.
Little tractor finally died a very unnatural death.
This is one of my many, city boy goes country stories and unfortunately, they are all true. Like how not to stretch chain link fence using a garden tractor ( wheelies anyone ? ).

Have a great day

Tom