Looking to replace finish mower....opinions welcome

Turbys_1700 · Jul 4, 2012

I've owned both Land Pride and Woods rear finish mowers...
I used a 5' light duty Land Pride for 14 years...
I mowed around 3 to 4 acres around 9 months out of the year...
In 14 years I replaced 1 belt and 1 wheel...
That light duty Land Pride held up real well...
5 years ago I traded up tractors and bought a 6' Woods PRD...
It is 200# heavier than the Land Pride was even though it is only 1 foot wider...
Heavier duty deck, gear box, bearings, ect...
I've run it 5 years now and have replaced nothing on it...
Just run it like the Land Pride...
I like both companies products but my Woods is a heavier made unit...
When I trade up again I will probably go with the RD 990X Woods...
Excellent unit...

Mark Headley · Jul 5, 2012

Just an observation, I see both LandPride and Woods were nice enough to round the forward edges on the mower where King Kutter did not.

Storm56 · Jul 5, 2012

I have a Woods PRD72 for use on the JD4700 and just picked up a RDC 54 for my Bolens G152. Both rear dishcharge, very happy with both.

OhioCowboy · Jul 5, 2012

Mark,
I gave up on the RFM after about 15 years of using a Coroni for 13 and a King Kutter for 2.
I changed to the flail about 4 years ago. I would have bought the Coroni flail if I hadn't found a used Ford 918H in great shape for less money. The flail is more versatile around my place and fewer down days for belts, bent corner wheel spindles and flat tires. Good luck on your choice.

kootch88 · Jul 5, 2012

I see where the Woods is a very heavy machine. I have a Mahindra, which is a Kodiak. I notice the wheels (solid) tend to dig in if the ground is the least bit soft, especially where I make my turns. How do the super heavy woods perform as far as the wheels are concerned? Also, do some of these RFM's have pneumatic wheels? I am getting some new wheels now under warranty due to the wheels getting torn up and wanted to go with pneumatic so i don;t have the same wheel failure.

mikehaugen · Jul 5, 2012

I have the hard wheels on mine and yes, they do dig in a little and I can see where they tear up the grass a little on areas that are driven over every time I mow. I try to alternate my mowing pattern to avoid this but there are some spots that I have no choice. I'm still not sure that I personally would switch to pneumatic tires only because I have yet to find a small pneumatic that isn't constantly going flat and I would end up filling every month. Maybe a foam filled would be a good choice, I am not sure.

mikehaugen · Jul 5, 2012

Also, I don't think I could tear up my hard laminated wheels if I wanted to. Unless perhaps I drug it down the road behind my truck at about 45 mph for a couple miles.

Mark Headley · Jul 5, 2012

I think the Kioti brand RFM I have uses a recycled rubber type wheel so it has some give to them- maybe you can find a tire for your more that isn't pneumatic made of a 'more desirable' compound.

chim · Jul 6, 2012

I still have a side discharge Caroni that I bought about 20 years ago when I bought my first compact 4WD diesel. For the first 10 years it was the only deck I had. It saw use on up to 7 or so acres a week for a while. To be honest, I have beat the snot out of it. It looks terrible and I've welded it back together in a number of places. It will still do a nice job. I did replace a couple "quills" - their terminology for spindles - after running into some unseen junk in a meadow and along a road. Still has the original solid tires.

Just traded a tractor and side discharge Landpride AT2560(?) 5-footer bought new in 2002. The LP was a great mower that for several years took over for the old Caroni. It had pneumatic tires and I replaced them about two years ago. At one time I thought pneumatic tires were the way to go because they acted like shock absorbers for the deck. That could be, but they did allow some uneveness in the cut where the deck bounced. It was definitely more sturdy than the Caroni, but I didn't cut any nicer. In fact, if the grass was a little wet the Caroni was the deck of choice because it doesn't spit wads of clumped-together grass.

The deck I have for the new tractor is a rear discharge Landpride FDR2572, a 6-footer that I haven't used a dozen times so far. It has solid tires. I was a little nervous about trying a rear discharge because of the poor job done by a Deere machine my in-laws had. That thing would leave three windrows of grass behind it everywhere it went. Fortunately the Landpride doesn't do that. I did wait a but too long a couple times and the LP did leave a small windrow on the right side. The solution was simple - mow counter clockwise and it disappears. One thing with the wide deck is it shows where the ground is uneven. As part of a current project (completing fill around 1,000 gallon underground LP tank) I'm levelling a few other areas to get rid of that effect.

One problem with going to a rear discharge is leaf and dried grass blowing. Working on another solution for that real soon.