MMM or Rear Finish

Anonymous Poster · Mar 6, 2002

I need to decide between a 5 ' rear finish mower and a 5' MMM for the NH TC33D I plan to get. The Dealer is stearing me towards a rear finish. He claims the MMM is pain to remove and he thinks there'll be lot of times you won't want to drag it around (Like when you're bush hogging). He also said its a pain to remove the blades for sharpening where as its no big deal to lift up a rear finish mower with the 3PH and remove the blades for sharpening. Has anyone dealt with removing the MMM on the TC series? I saw a post recently that said "modern" MMMs can be removed in 5 minutes or so.

The dealer went on to argue eventually you'll figure out how to manuever the rear mount around stuff and plus you can back it under tree limbs and into corners getting spots a MMM could never get so there's less push mower follow up. What do you think will I have a sore neck and spend half the time going backward with a rear finsh mower?

Thanks for comments

crown · Mar 6, 2002

Newland,
I have a rear finish mower on my Kubota B-7500 and have no problems I think it is easy to attach and remove, nice not to have the MMM when bush hogging, it takes a time or two to get use to but after that you won't have to worry about any neck pain. That said their are many post on this subject it basically boils down to personal perference. I personally prefer the rear finish mower, but maybe you just don't miss what you don't have.
Best of Luck and enjoy your tractor it is a real nice machine/w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif
Crown

Bird · Mar 7, 2002

Newland, you might want to read <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tractorbynet.com/cgi-bin/compact/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=owning&Number=41934&page=&view=&sb=&o=&vc=1> this thread</A> in which this topic was discussed awhile back.

Moon · Mar 7, 2002

Newland, I'm new on this list and going thru the same decsion process as you, so I'm watching your post and reading all the previous posts one the subject. One thing that struck me from your post is that the dealer is sure wanting you to go with the rear finish mower. I gots to wonder if he just is overstocked in them or gets a bonus for selling them over the MMM. It just sounded like he pushing you rather hard to get the rear mower. Makes me suspisous. I might be way off here, but if it were me, for my own piece of mind I'd talk to a completely different dealer that sells the TC's and see if he says the MMM is so hard to take off like your dealer is saying.
Also, from those previous posts if you have a set of car ramps it sounds like blade sharpening wouldn't be much of an issue with either MMM or rear mower.
Good luck in your search.
Moon

Steve_in_Ont · Mar 7, 2002

For a TC33D, I'd suggest something a bit wider than 5'. 6' at least... unless you have a need to get into narrow places...

I have a 5' finnish mower behind a TC21D... It pulls it like nothing's back there.

wichiwichi · Mar 7, 2002

I have an FM60 servis rhino 3 point mower. Wonderful machine. I too went through that decision on mmm vs pull type. I like being able to get into corners and under trees compared to mmm. Also cost difference was a big factor.

EdKing · Mar 7, 2002

I would go with the 3PH mount my self. I feel it would be much easier to remove/sharpen the blades as well as cleaning the mower deck itself. I plan on a 3PH finish mower, either a 5 or 6 ft. I feel that belly mowers are more for lawn and garden tractors where you pretty much leave the thing on year round. Would just get in the way on my tractor.

I realize in saying this I'll be taking heat from all the MMM people, but that is my opinion.

Ed King

Moon · Mar 8, 2002

I have a question for all you Rear Mount Mower fans; for open field mowing, can you do a square without leaving grass uncut? I had problems with this with a brush hog a few years back ( and i only mowed that way > 5 times. So, yea, i'm not real experienced with it; but i alway had lots of clean up to do of little patches which was really a pain.
Thanks,
Moon

2thdoc · Mar 8, 2002

I had same problem with rear finishing mower. No way that I can see that one can make a 90 degree cut without making a 360 at the end of a cut.

Anonymous Poster · Mar 8, 2002

Has anybody used a 7ft. rear finish mower with a 33 horse tractor, does it have the horsepower to pull it?

Anonymous Poster · Mar 8, 2002

<font color=blue>...a 7ft. rear finish mower with a 33 horse tractor...</font color=blue>

It all depends on what "horses" you're talking...

On PTO driven implements, talk PTO hp...

On ground engaging implements, talk Drawbar hp...

Gross/Net "Engine" horsepower is basically meaningless as you don't know what the "losses" are... you need a "reference point" to base from...

I tried both a 5' and 6' KK finish mower on my Satoh 22 PTO hp unit... with normal grass cutting the 6' worked fine, but would certainly bog down with "higher grass"... the 5' worked very good up to 8-12", but the 4' "Brush hog" worked the field mowing the best and fastest... and for a field... looked almost as good as the finish mowing...

Back to your original ?... best bet is to try the 7' finish mower prior to purchase... with 33 PTO hp, there wouldn't be any problem.. in fact down to 30 PTO hp for 7' should be fine...

But... you know everything in life has these "grey areas" you sometimes have to sort out... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Henry · Mar 9, 2002

I've got a 5' MMM on my JD 790 and am perfectly happy with it. I've got a lot of trees to mow around, so the manuverability of a MMM was real important to me. I've got to agree with the Rear Finish guys.... removing my MMM is a little tricky. Now that I've pulled the MMM off & on a few times I can get the job done in about 10 minutes, but I get real dirty and need good flat spot to make it easy to roll-out from under the tractor.

Anonymous Poster · Mar 9, 2002

The horsepower I am talking about is PTO , not wet grass or tall grass , just my weekly lawn maintenance. Maybe I am confused with what a finish mower is, I just want to mow my lawn in 7ft. passes and I have never let it get over maybe 5in. long , which I only take off 2 or 3in. a week. I am not sure what scallping is either, could someone explain this? Thanks

EdKing · Mar 9, 2002

Scalping is when the blades hit the ground and actually cut below taking dirt and grass, leaving a brown dirt spot in your lawn.

Ed King

frank_f15 · Mar 10, 2002

my vote goes for the 3pt finish mower, i would imagine u are not using the tc33 to cut your lawn? i use a 5ft befco finish behind my b2400(24hp) and have no problem with field grass at all, so i beleive u could go at least 6ft, if u wanted. depending on what u need to cut.

Anonymous Poster · Mar 12, 2002

can I use a 33horse to cut my lawn?

frank_f15 · Mar 12, 2002

you probably could cut your lawn, depending on the size of your lawn and the weight of the tractor and conditions of the ground, these are all thing U have to determine. if your lawn is large and straight the 33 will work but if it is small and lots of obstacles, not worth the hassle.

Anonymous Poster · Mar 12, 2002

Thanks, I am planning my yard now, and I did'nt realize when I bought my tractor I could mow my lawn with it. First I was going with a small lawn -but if I can cut it 7ft. at a time then.... My thought was to get a set of turf tires to use in the summer, it is a questionable expence for me but I think it will be worth it , if I can cut that much at a time. My dream for my property is quite a bit different than my time for it. Any hints about design from anyone that cuts their lawn with a finish mower?/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

djradz · Mar 13, 2002

A 6 foot finish mower seems more appropriate to me behind a class II TC 33 tractor, but I'm sure you'll be successful with a 7-foot deck as well. I used a 6' behind a 28 horse Ford 1720 and am still using it behind my NH TC40D. Probably could go up to 7', but I like the way the 6' follows and does not stick out too far beyond the wheel width. Make sure whatever you get either has 4 caster wheels or else the front is supported by chains tied up to the tractor near the top link connection point. In all cases, the mower top link has to have some type of floating/toggle mechanism so it can give as you go up or down irregularities in the terrain or more drastic hills and valleys. Good luck!

JCooper · Mar 16, 2002

The only real use I see in a MMM is if your land has alot of trees. If not, then I wouldn't even consider a MMM. And sometimes there's those hard spots to get to that you can back in with a 3pt. hitch mower to cut. Heck, I'm just partial to the 3pt. configurations as opposed to the MMM because the MMM looks like a riding lawn mover. I gotta look good while I'm mowing!!