Mower options for 1430

[tommott77]

Hi all,

I’m going to be in the market for a mower for my diesel 1430 this year. It’ll see rather infrequent use and would only be mowing very small yards as a time

Here’s my options

1) PT 60” commercial finish mower. Haven’t seen one in person. Almost $4000. Not sure if i can justify the cost to only be used for small jobs 10-12 times/year.

2) 60” brush cutter. More realistic price for may application. Again haven’t seen one in person and not sure if i could get a decent finish cut with it on small lawns though.

3) Buying a 3pt finish mower, hydraulic motor, and adapter plate to make all work. I know there’s some math equations to size the motor but that’s all above my head at this point.

4) Not sure if the 425 mowers may work? There’s a 48” and a 60” deck, maybe the 60” deck is new as i don’t seem to remember seeing it? I believe the 425 mowers come with a different sized attachment plate than the 1430 to avoid swapping implements from 425 to 1430. Not sure if i could just swap attachment plates or if the pro math on 1430 won’t work on the 425 mowers.

Any advice/recommendations?

 

[woodlandfarms]

IMO pts mower is mediocre. The brush mower is better. If you want a good grass mowing buy a dedicated mower.

 

[m5040]

I would be inclined to buy a quality finish mower and then size the hyds. Just remember you have to mount it backward, so it keeps to the correct direction it was designed to travel.
You could shop and pick up a good used one for 1/4-1/2 the price of new. Not too many PT used attachments out there.
I didn't check the price, but a 425 mower plus the cost of the plate change and then you would use it at a reduced RPM because to the 1430's higher flow and it would be constructed lighter duty. Might be even better on fuel due to running at reduced RPM, but could OVERSPEED if you were to rev up the 1430 (a dangerous situation). PT might not honor any warranty if they know you are mix matching attachments.

 

[MossRoad]

In all seriousness, when I bought my PT425 and 60" finish mower in 2001, the mower deck was $1200. I could have bought a 48" riding lawn mower new for the same price at the time. The only reasons I went with PT's mower deck are that I did not want another motor to maintain, the mower deck would take less space than the riding mower, and, of course the larger cut.

But I recall many discussions in the conventional tractor threads at the time that brought up the same issue: should I pay big bucks for a 3pt finish mower or just buy a riding mower for less money and replace it every 10-15 years.

I guess it comes down to a few questions.

How large of an area am I going to regularly mow?
Do I want to maintain another machine?
What's the best use of my funds?
Am I going to be transporting things between properties?

Stuff like that.

As for quality of cut, I'm happy with the quality of the cut of the PT425 60" finish mower, however, I don't have a 'show lawn'. Keep the blades sharp and it does a nice job. The rear discharge tends to create a windrow on the right/rear of the deck if you wait too long between mowing, and if the lawn is long and damp, it'll throw that windrow right in the path of the right front tire and pack it down. So I don't mow the lawn if it's wet. I can minimize any windrowing effects by slightly overlapping the next pass, but that makes it harder to have a nice striping effect on my lawn, which I like.

You can get better/easier results with a dedicated mower, just like any task can usually be done best with a dedicated machine.

 

[MossRoad]

I posted these photos back in 2002. As I said before, it's not the best mower, but it works well enough for my needs/wants.

Before

After

 

[tommott77]

Unfortunately a dedicated mower isn’t an option. The areas to mow are too steep for 2wd, it’s long drive up and down my steep mountain road for a slow garden tractor, and i don’t have room to store another tractor/mower.

My options are a mower deck for the PT, a weed eater (which i’ve been doing), or perhaps a AWD push mower transported up and down our property with the PT. Obviously the mower deck for the PT would be the most fun, It’d probably only be used dozen times/year though.

I guess finding a used mower for a 1430 would be the best option, but the chances of finding one probably aren’t too high.

 

[woodlandfarms]

If it where me I would look around for a mower head from a golf course mower. Those can be had at a good price and for a couple hundred you could have someone adapt it.

 

[PowerTracManiac]

In the market for a mower myself. What about a tow behind mower?
My area to mow is not that big. This one does a 44 inch cut.
Guy wants 850.00 for it??

 

[sirmombo]

I have the brush cutter and finish mower for the 1430. The brush cutter doesn't have a very smooth cut and the blades can get hung up on each other causing a balance problem. It does a decent job clearing a field. I like the finish mower. It results in a smooth cut and is easier to service than any other mower I have used. Being able to list the mower in the air and change the blades without crawling under the mower is very nice. The 1430 won't mow as fast as a zero turn, but it will mow areas that a zero turn can't.

We put Carlisle TruPower tires on a John Deere 997R mower and use it for the bulk of our mowing. Even with those tires, traction isn't close to a 1430 and it does more turf damage turning than a 1430. The 997 is much faster on the terrain that it can handle.

I would let the 1430 brush cutter go cheap is anyone is interested.

 

[MossRoad]

I can't remember which member (maybe bubenberg) had a PT425 that he towed 2 acreaze self-powered mowers behind him. Both on the same side. I think they were 60" with an overlap, but being both on the same side, he could drop them over a berm for about a 9' cut off to his side. Pretty impressive.