Rear Finish Mower Limits of a Rear Finish Mower

[MF1455v]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( One other thing, is $2,400 too much to pay for a new 72" RFM like a Land Pride FDR25 or a Rhino FM? )</font>

I was quoted $2,500 for a Land Pride FDR2584 3 weeks ago.

I am most likely going to get a Bushhog RDTH84. It has almost the same deck design with a metal belt cover (the Land Pride has a plastic belt cover). It is priced at $1,900. The parts availability for Bushhog is much better in my area too.

There are at least 7 Bushhog dealers with in 40 miles of me and about the same number of Rhino dealers. There are several Land Pride dealers, but only one that has implements and parts in stock. All others will have to order.

 

[rbargeron]

We have a 7+ acre parcel of open land that is not smooth, but I like to keep it looking reasonably good. I cut it three or four times a year. I had used a rotary on it but wanted a more uniform cut. All the rear finish mowers I looked at had fixed blade spindles which I knew would take a lot of abuse on this land.

In 1997 I bought a Woods RM990 - a 90-inch commercial-quality finish mower with three spindles and 6 swing-back blades. It has been a very good solution. It has four castors so it is full floating. I have it adjusted for about 7" cut height - which sounds like a lot - but it makes the uneven land look great. The high-speed cut gives a very uniform finish, and the swing-back blades tolerate about anything.

Today's price for the RM990 is around $3400 I think - but it will do a nice job on tough land with low maintenance cost. Blades are easy to take off for regrinding or replacement. New Woods blades are around $15 each but Agri-Supply has comparable ones for $9. The RM990 needs about 35 pto hp to be happy. With 30 it slows down if the grass is dense or a little wet. Hope this is useful. Take care, Dick B

 

[creeper]

I have 8 ac. of horse pasture and cut it with a bush hog and from the front porch, you cant tell the difference in my nieghbors field who uses a rfm.I keep the blades sharp (once a year) and use it mostly for grass only. As others have said the nice thing about the rc is if you get behind because of weather the rc will handle it great. Bottom line if groomed appearance is your #1 priority, you should go with a rfm.Have Fun !

 

[RickO]

Riddler,
It seems obvious to me that if you want to be able to run over logs, 2x4s and saplings buy the cutter. If you want to mow grass and have it look nice buy the RFM /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[frank_f15]

as others have stated, the befco i have does a nice job of keeping my fields cut, but like all mowers, if the grass is too high or to wet it will clump. but like i say i am cutting a field but from the road it looks like lawn. if you are not cutting brush get the RFM.