I just purchased a First Choice Finish Mower.... I bought mine from the Hoye Bros, Stan & Walley.. Picked mine up in Villisca, IA last Saturday...Haven't used it yet as we got 8.5 inches of Snow on Sunday the day after I bought it... Most of it is gone now and will be 60 degrees today, so I plan to put it on my tractor this afternoon..Hopefully winter is now over in Nebraska.!!!!
This company was started by a fellow who used to be with King Kutter, decided he could do it himself and designed a unit that has specific improvements he wanted...rear discharge only, better gearbox etc..
Originally was going to go with the 6ft but decided I had too many narrow clearances between trees and some uncut areas and I went with the 5 Ft... also will allow me to move around a bit easier in my second garage for storage etc...
I have an Iseki so I went with a blue one, First Choice I think maybe one of the few makers to offer this color option. Most are Red, Yellow or Orange..... I have another post on this so I do not want to repeat much but I did alot of research on finish mowers and looked personally at many of them or at pictures such as King Kutter, Woods, Caroni, Sovema, LandPride... I talked to several dealers that carry First Choice, I did not call Sweettractors by the way, and they were very impressed with them for the price... I paid $850.00, but again I picked it up myself....
I assembled it from the crate...Every part, nut, bolt etc. was there in the crate and I must say I am impressed with the quality of construction...all welds are complete and smooth, every part was completely painted, all decals are straight and every zirc fitting lines up with the access holes. This unit is every bit as heavy duty as the Landpride (which I would have bought had I not found this), maybe more so on some parts...
I could not believe the quality of paint job on this mower... I dropped several tools on it as I was tightening bolts and bumped it etc. and not a scratch or chip...not even a mark....the parts are heavy very guage metal...the deck is 3/16...
I especially like the system they use for the belt tightening...the gearbox is positioned on a sliding bolt carriage platform and then has a bolt and nut tensioner which allows you to easily tighten both belts in one step and then in a hands off process, batten down four bolts to secure the position.... ...
All of the holes lined up perfectly.....nothing was out of tolerance in the assembly process.
Here are my only comments on improvements.. They need some modification on the instructions booklet. It was obviously printed in Italy where the unit was manufactured as several words were misspelled or improper grammar was used. Not a big deal, but a small detail that should be fixed. Also, on several steps they could of broken down the process a little more by adding a page or two of diagrams or steps and making them bigger...my eye's don't see the detail as good as they used to...Also, several diagrams could have been a bit more detailed so as there is no confusion on the position of the top support pieces.. nothing that I could not figure out, it just would have made it a real no brainer on assembly... If these are the only issues with this implement, which I believe it will be, I am very happy...
I went with Mobil 1 75W-90W gear oil on the gearbox transmission and Mobil 1 grease for the pully bearings and wheel assembly.
If I get a chance, I will post a picture or two....
