King Kutter L-60-40-p Rotary Mower Question

[Boria]

I have an option to buy this mower for $400. Its brand new, bought in january with a package deal, only been on a tractor one time. The fellow has no use for it. I only use a rotary mower a couple of times a year and I borrow one (land pride) from a friend of mine. My question is how durable is this mower? What is it capable of cutting? I know it has a 40hp gearbox and I am assuming that is light/medium duty mower. I mowed this weekend at my gun club with my friends mower and I am mowing brush up to 2' tall (mostly bahia grass and briars) with some small trees less than 1" in diameter. Will this mower handle that type of brush?

 

[DK35vince]

It should handle what you are cutting with no problem.
I have had the same cutter in 72" for years now and it works fine.

 

[Code54]

Yep - pretty much any brush hog will do 1" without breaking a sweat. For $400 if he didn't abuse it and it is still in good shape it should work very well and last you for a good while with what you are planning on cutting.

 

[Oldstuff]

I have the L60-40 also, I have had it since 2009 and mow same height and diameter that you are mowing, I am using a 1963 Ford 2000. It has held up just fine, the only thing I do NOT like is with the open front and rear I was getting a lot of "shrapnel" thrown forward and hitting me pretty hard in the rear of the calfs of my legs. Being new to tractors at that time I talked to a friend that has a lifelong experience with them and he told me of an incident where his cousin got hit in the leg and ended up with 17 stitches. So, I bought KK front chain guard- it is the type that gets welded on, I think it is a poor design but not sure what they could do to improve it. It sticks forward enough that I could not raise it all the way up- it was hitting the rear tires. My only fix for this was to buy a quick hitch in order to shift the cutter to the rear (about 6 inches). That solved the problem. Also, the safety chains were long enough that the center 6 or 8 of them were hitting the blades as they rotated- so I cut one link off each of the center 8 chains and that fixed that.

Oldstuff

 

[jeff9366]

I bought a used KK L-60-40 and used it for several years. It worked fine behind my Kubota B3300SU, 33-hp/25-hp PTO. It cut 1" fine. Max for me was 1-1/2" stuff well spaced out so the RC would not bog down. I had no trouble with expelled material over my ground. The deck is stout. I routinely backed it into heavy stuff without complaint or damage.

$400 is a very low price.

 

[arkbound]

I have the L60-40 also, I have had it since 2009 and mow same height and diameter that you are mowing, I am using a 1963 Ford 2000. It has held up just fine, the only thing I do NOT like is with the open front and rear I was getting a lot of "shrapnel" thrown forward and hitting me pretty hard in the rear of the calfs of my legs. Being new to tractors at that time I talked to a friend that has a lifelong experience with them and he told me of an incident where his cousin got hit in the leg and ended up with 17 stitches. So, I bought KK front chain guard- it is the type that gets welded on, I think it is a poor design but not sure what they could do to improve it. It sticks forward enough that I could not raise it all the way up- it was hitting the rear tires. My only fix for this was to buy a quick hitch in order to shift the cutter to the rear (about 6 inches). That solved the problem. Also, the safety chains were long enough that the center 6 or 8 of them were hitting the blades as they rotated- so I cut one link off each of the center 8 chains and that fixed that.

Oldstuff

Hello, I have the "Shrapnel Problem" and just yesterday took out our sliding glass patio door. I have been narrowly missed by huge rocks and brush thrown forward and yep stuff out the rear as well. I live on a rocky ridge and have recognized the problem will be on going due to the critters digging up sizeable rocks for the insects and not putting them back in the holes. So here it is spring/early summer and mowing has to git done. I have a L-60-4-P-YK five foot model and need to know what will fit for safety chains or what????? There does not seem to be a provision for attachment either. I figure something has to be welded vice drill and bolt on. Any help from you all that have done it and pictures also would be greatly appreciated. I found a weldable front chain from Orschlen Farm n Home store. Is that my only option? Looks like the 5 ft flex model may also be an option if I weld on an angle iron. Seems the blade might hit (?) the front chain in the middle. Thought??

 

[MESSMAKER]

I bolted 4 links every 1/2 inch or so to apiece of angle iron which I attached to the mower. It worked well.

 

[arkbound]

I bolted 4 links every 1/2 inch or so to apiece of angle iron which I attached to the mower. It worked well.

Ahoy Messmaker! I just got back on here after trying to order a front set of chains from Orshlen's and found out it is only available via the web site where I would have to pay shipping. so $190 for the front only chain for my 5 ft King Kutter PLUS $85 shipping. Looks like I am going to get into welding and fashion my own from designs I found here on our forum. Always good to learn a new skill. LOL Thanks for the suggestion.
I saw somewhere on here that a guy used a 4 inch square sign post and attached the chains to it. I will try to find that again and check it out.

 

[ruffdog]

If you keep the front lower than the back, it will use less HP because it will not mulch up the clippings. (when mowing forward)

 

[ruffdog]

Instead of chain guards, some will clamp on a piece of thick rubber that hangs down.