M9960 with 12' or 15' Woods Bat Wing

[SDT]

Have a 15’ Deere batwing. Love it. I’ll run it in epto when it’s not real heavy. Saves a ton of fuel and plenty of power. I would get the 15 over the 12 for the reasons you listed. Really speeds things up. I just cut 23 acres the other day with several trees to go around in 3 hrs. Not bad in my book

Brett

More good information.

My 9960 does not make a great deal of torque at 1,600 RPM. The PTO engagement is electric over hydraulic. I like to engage the PTO at idle but doing so if in EPTO with the 7' cutter engaged will sometimes stall the engine unless I blip the foot throttle when doing so.

Moreover, sometimes I find myself in conditions (even flat ground, cutting annual weeds) where I have insufficient torque in EPTO high range 1st gear even if cheating and operating the engine above EPTO 540 PTO RPM (maybe 600 PTO RPM or so). This forces me to stop, change to low range, stop the mower, dismount and change to non EPTO, and mow in low range 6th gear, which is slower than I would like for the conditions. Of course, the power shifting HDC24 transmission would likely solve this dilemma but such is not available on ROPS models.

What is the PTO HP and displacement of your 5100E?

SDT

 

[rustyshakelford]

More good information.

My 9960 does not make a great deal of torque at 1,600 RPM. The PTO engagement is electric over hydraulic. I like to engage the PTO at idle but doing so if in EPTO with the 7' cutter engaged will sometimes stall the engine unless I blip the foot throttle when doing so.

Moreover, sometimes I find myself in conditions (even flat ground, cutting annual weeds) where I have insufficient torque in EPTO high range 1st gear even if cheating and operating the engine above EPTO 540 PTO RPM (maybe 600 PTO RPM or so). This forces me to stop, change to low range, stop the mower, dismount and change to non EPTO, and mow in low range 6th gear, which is slower than I would like for the conditions. Of course, the power shifting HDC24 transmission would likely solve this dilemma but such is not available on ROPS models.

What is the PTO HP and displacement of your 5100E?

SDT

100hp/85pto hp
276ci 4cylinder

I have the 24/12 trans and it helps a bunch with keeping the motor where it wants to be.

Epto is around 1700rpm for 540.

Brett

 

[ovrszd]

If I were getting a 12' BW and had 70+ HP I would give a serious look at the Modern AG units. They are a fair bit more HD than any of the others and completely galvanized.http://i1admin01.webstorepackage.com/modernag/virtualweb/images/12-Predator.pdf

I've got a dealer 20 miles from me.

 

[ovrszd]

I bought a Woods MDS 1260, 10.5' fully mounted cutter in 2008.

Yes, the maneuverability of a fully mounted cutter is attractive, but such mowers are heavy and do not mow well on ground that is uneven. You will quickly find all of your high spots. BW mowers will follow the contour of the ground much better but are less convenient.

After watching my MDS 1260 collect dust in the barn for 8 years, I sold it with less than 10 operating hours on it. Never again.

Recently, I saw a Woods 14' fully mounted cutter at my dealer that had been special ordered for a customer. Dealer told me that he planed to operate it with an 80 HP tractor. I mentioned that it was unlikely that his tractor could mount enough front weights for acceptable steering on anything but flat ground. I used a full set of front weights on my NH T4050 Super Steer FWA and still needed to use the turning brakes with the mower lifted (the prime advantage of using a fully mounted cutter) if not moving slowly on flat ground. The 14' cutter is, no doubt, 1,000 lbs. heavier than the MDS 1260 that I had.

SDT

My 10' mounted is a M1008 model. Stump jumper, slip clutch, twin spindle, 4 rear wheels cutter that I paid $1800 for. That's why I have it.