Mower help for 2710

[bobn]

I have pretty much decided on a 2710 with loader and rear blade (for driveway grading and general grading/landscaping). My question is a mower for my 7 acres of fields. the fields do not have brush so I want to get by with just a finishing mower, but a good one. Also, I have planted 1500 pines which are just tiny seedlings. I want to mow around these without covering them with clippings. I have been considering a rear discharge bush hog 60" finishing mower. I am concerned about the quality of the cut for general mowing though. Does anyone have any experience to share?

 

[Bird]

bobn, I have a brush hog also for the pasture, but I'm mowing my yard - close to 3 acres and pretty rough for a lawn - with a Bush Hog RDTH 60 (60" rear discharge finish mower) behind my B2710. I got the tractor and the mower 8/12/99. I doubt that you can find a much better one. I do quite a bit of my mowing at full speed in mid-range, and it handles the yard very well at that speed. I tried it out along the road right-of-way in grass and weeds over knee high and you can run fast enough to keep it from cutting clean, but it never bogged down at all, and if you just slow down, it'll cut clean. I think you'll be happy with the Bush Hog rear discharge mower.

Bird

 

[Kelvin]

I posted in the Attachments about the same time you posted here, with similar questions. You might keep a watch on the responses to my post at well.

One question for you: Why are you not looking at the 72" Bush Hog brand rear discharge finish mower? Locally I am getting prices of $1450 for the 60" and $1525 for the 72". For the $75 difference I'd rather have the 72" as long as their aren't any problems.

Bird...You unknowlingly answered my question to you in my other post (did you use the 5' Bush Hog finish mower on your B7100?). Since you bought your finish mower with your B2710, why did you not buy a 72" mower? Just curious. You may be helping both bobn and myself.

 

[Muhammad]

Not bad prices on those mowers, Kelvin... (last quote I got was $1965 for a RDTH-720 60" about a year ago I think) I would also vote to consider the 72" mower for the size of fields mentioned (7 acres). But consider the plant spacing of those trees - 72" might be too wide.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by Muhammad on 6/26/00 02:05 PM.</FONT></P>

 

[JimBinMI]

bobn,

Not trying to confuse you but I have a Woods RD6000 60" rear discharge 3 pt. finish mower that I use behind my NH TC18, 18.5 hp tractor. I bought this mower in the package with my tractor for $1300! It has an awesome cut and I'm really happy with it on my 3 acre lawn and the trail that I mow through my other 5 acres of mostly wild flowers and grass.
I used to mow with an Allis Chalmers 16 hp garden tractor with belly mower, this was made by Simplicity and they are respected for having a very good mowing deck...the Woods is as good or better than the Allis was. I've never used Bush Hog brand and don't know anything about it, but I just thought that I would let you know my experience.

In addition, since my TC will handle the 60" I should think that you could handle the 72" easily if you decide to go with that width.

Good Luck, JimBinMI

We boys and our toys!

 

[Bird]

Kelvin, those prices sure do sound good; I paid $1,695 for the 60" Bush Hog finish mower. And I see nothing wrong with going to the 72" one. I don't know what the weight difference is, but the B2710 manual specified max. weight of a mower at 500# and my 60" one is supposedly 536# (there's certainly no problem but with the loader off and no weight on the front end of the tractor you can tell it's a little light on the front end when you pick the mower up). But the real reasons I went with the 60" are (1) my salesman's recommendation, and (2) most importantly it'll fit on my trailer, inside the rails, and the 72" one won't./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif And no, I never used it on the B7100; I got the B2710 and the new finish mower at the same time. When I had the B7100 I was mowing the yard with a Cub Cadet AGS2130 (38" cut riding mower).

And when I had the B7100, I used a Bush Hog Squealer SQ48 brush hog, and when I got the B2710, I traded for a Howse 500 (60") brush hog - traded up in size, down in quality a bit, but tough enough for my use (I think and hope)./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

Bird

 

[Muhammad]

Bird,

There is the chance that the prices of the BH RDTH mowers have gone down - I'll e-mail BH today.

 

[JimBinMI]

Bird,

My Woods RD6000 60" 3 pt. finish mower weighs in at a whopping 605# without anti-scalp wheel and with the rear chain guard. One could assume (which I know you're not supposed to do too often since it can make an {@ss} out of {u} and {me}) that it's beefier than the Bush Hog brand...don't know. My TC18 handles the weight just fine with 190 lbs. of suitcase weight on front. What's your 3 pt. hitch rated at 24" aft the hitch, mine is 1265 lbs.

JimBinMI

We boys and our toys!

 

[Bird]

JimBinMI, the B2710 is only rated at 1300# 24" behind the lift point and 1655# at the lift point, and it certainly lifts the mower easily enough, and I've had no problem steering, but you can feel that it's lighter on the front end (I have no weights on front end at all and mow without the loader on the tractor). And the Woods mower may be beefier; I really don't know. Apparently it must have an extra 69# somewhere.

Bird

 

[JimBinMI]

Bird,

My tractor was delivered with a small 57# suitcase weight on front and it was very light in front when I lifted the mower, the front wheels would bounce off the ground. After I informed the sales guy, he set me up with two 90-95 lb. suitcase weights and that eliminated the problem.

Your 3 pt. lift capacity could be one reason why Kubota seems to recommend 3 pt. implements that are smaller and therefor lighter than what New Holland recommends for similar h.p. tractors. For example, the TC25-33 have a 3 pt. lift capacity at 24" aft the hitch of 1635 lbs. Just a thought!

JimBinMI

We boys and our toys!

 

[bobn]

Thanks for the info Bird, It was the RDTH 60 I was looking at. Kelvin, I got a quote for the RDTH 60 at $1595.00 and thought it was a fair price, still do. About the 72" I didn't even get a quote, but I might now, I hadn't considered it for two reasons; the first being that I thought it might bog down in the heavier stuff before the 60" and, as Muhammad noted, my spacing between trees is 8' which would be kind of close manuevering with the 72". The whole 7 acres w/trees I will cut a couple of times a season, otherwise just a couple of acres of lawn and paths regularly.

 

[W5FL]

Large Rotary mowers seem to have a cg that is futher away than 2 feet. That is why most tractors list the recommended weight for the mower as well as the cutting width. Another consideration, particularily for 6 and 7 ft mowers is they are soooooo long. However; a good criteria for a mower, is if the tractor runs over it, the cutter should cut it and if the tractor won't run over it, you should still be able to cut it, you will just have to back over it! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[bobn]

JimBinMI,

Thanks for the info on the Woods RD6000 60". My dealer steered me towards the Bush Hog, maybe he doesn't sell the Woods, I'll ask.

 

[bobn]

Bird,

A couple of questions, if you don't mind. First, what kind of tires do you use, and second, do you have any problem with grass compaction/cut quality on the lawn or is it a good clean cut?

 

[Bird]

bobn, I'm running plain old fashioned R1 (ag) tires, which I would not recommend to most people; however, my entire place is "Wilson clay loam" which is a hard clay surface, so the only place you see tire tracks is the occasional bare spot (you don't sink in). Now whether the tires have anything to do with it or not, I don't know, but with the Bush Hog I have, there is no problem with compaction. I get a good clean cut, even running all 4 tires in the uncut grass.

Bird

 

[Kelvin]

Bobn,
For comparison I was quoted a price of $1450 for the 60" Bush Hog rear discharge. Seems like I actually heard the same price from two different dealers (several counties apart). It seems like the prices I am getting are pretty good compared to what you guys have been quoted.

Bobn & Bird: The local dealer started the season with two-60" units and two-72" Bush Hog units. Now he only has the one 72" unit left, so in a sense, I would be purchasing the only unit available on the lot (like Bird). As I mentioned before, he also has a couple of 72" Woods rear discharge mowers for the same price as the 72" Bush Hog ($1525).

To All: You can check out manufacturers sites for specifications on each of the mowers. It is nice to be able to compare weights, deck thickness, blade tip speed, etc.

LandPride: www.landpride.com
Woods: www.woodsonline.com
Bush Hog: www.bushhog.com
Farm King: www.buhler.com
King Kutter: www.kingkutter.ocm

 

[Alan L.]

Bird, I have a 60" finish mower and would like to have a 72" but have the same trailering problem. Do you reckon we could just raise it up and set it down on TOP of the trailer rails? It might take more tie downs, but it seems like that would work.

I wish I had gotten the bigger mower since I would probably take a beating trying to trade up.

 

[W5FL]

It is probably not as bad as you think. After using my Rhino SE-6 for 6 years and paying $1000 for it, I got $750 for it. $40/year really isn't bad. Then I bought another 6 ft Bush Hog Medium Duty Cutter Model 260. It has slip clutch, safety chains, 1/2 inch x 4 inch uplift blades, fabric type rear tire, and 110 hp gearbox. It has 1/4 inch plate for the sides so less chance of a blade coming THROUGH the side - it happens! The Bush Hog is more expensive, but a better mower. It would be a little heavy for a 2710, though. It is NOT a finish mower, but it does a very nice job on the pasture grass that I call a yard. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Bird]

Alan, I'm sure you could probably make it work by setting the mower down on top of the rails, but it might be more trouble that it's worth. Just don't forget that when the 3-point picks it up, the back end is tilted upward, so when you set it down on the rails, are you going to be able to let the back end down fairly level to fasten it down? It might partially depend on how high the rails are on your trailer. Fortunately, I like what I have, so I don't have to worry about trading up in size (at least for now)./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Bird

 

[JimBinMI]

Bird,

Don't know about trailering it but my backend tilt is adjustable with my top link.

JimBinMI

We boys and our toys!