Mowing Speed Kubota L2501

[George the Beagle]

Mowing at ten mph just ain't going to happen. Accept the fact that if you have a large area you want to keep mowed, budget the time for the job depending on what you have for equipment.

 

[motownbrowne]

Driving anything without suspension over a field at 10 mph sounds awful! If you want to mow faster, you need a bigger more and more HP. There's a couple of real decent JD 3020s on my local Craigslist right now. Something like that would pull an 8-10' Bush hog at a speed that will be comfortable (bigger tractor improves operator comfort as well) and leave room in the budget for a new twin spindle cutter. You could definitely pull an 8' twin spindle behind a l3901, but it'd better by hydrostatic, because you're gonna be slowing WAY down in thick grass.

 

[dodge man]

I live on three acres and mow with a Kubota BX with a 60 inch deck. I mow in low range about as fast as I can go and that is real bumpy. Just a guess but my speed woukd be 2 or 3 mph. Any faster you have to have a real smooth yard. My BX has a top speed of 7 or 8 mph and on pavement and you hit a bump it gets bad let alone trying to mow.

What do you really need? Most people on rural property find the need an FEL for their driveway, moving fire wood moving dirt etc. The big advantage of the Kubota you are looking at is its a large size but the engine is derated so it does not need emission equipment. It low HP rating is deceiving but it still will not power a large mower.

You also need to decide are you going to finish mow or brush hog the large areas. Rough cutting them means once a month ot even a couple times a year but it will not look as good.

It is expensive but maybe you can rent some stuff and try it out and see how it works for you, then decide. Good luck.

 

[mikester]

How fast can I run a bushhog on a l2501 on mostly flat, clear property (free of obstacles) and what is the appropriate size BH. I know if I let it get overgrown this will affect operating speed. Assuming the grass is 1-2 feet tall can anyone tell me an approx. speed. On another forum/post someone said they operate at around 2 miles per hour. If that is the case my exmark would likely be faster even with a 42 deck. If not faster then close enough in speed to make buying a tractor impractical.

Please excuse long post and thanks for your opinions, advise and expertise.

I knew I needed a bigger loader tractor and I struggled with what you are considering.

I was cutting about 4 acres with a 72" rear mower on a similar sized tractor in about 6 hours total. (Lots of trees to cut around and hills)

I sold my 25HP tractor and bought a Kubota zero turn and a 60HP CUT (I needed a compact tractor to fit in tight areas).

My 60" ZD326 now does 4 acres total in 1.25 hours.

Here's the bottom line - No one machine will do everything well. A universal machine does a little of everything but excels at nothing.

Buy the best machines you can afford for what you really need.

The Kubota ZD's are built like tanks will eat the Exmark's lunch. If you have 7.5 acres with no trees the ZD will be cutting at 18kmh or about 12MPH...the ZD will cut that lawn in very little time. Exmark won't keep up - I tried the same experiment when I was shopping for machines.

BTW It's way faster to cut the grass regularly with the ZD and keep it short than to let it grow 1-2 feet between mows. Your 25HP tractor will choke trying to cut 2 foot tall grass. I run a 72" bush hog on my 60HP CUT for tall grass like that.

FYI what used to take me 3 hours to clean 5 driveways with a snowblower on my 25HP tractor I now do in 45 minutes on the 60HP CUT.

 

[teg]

My first thought is WHY cut 7 acres? But to each his own... Break out the checkbook if you want to cut it fast...

View attachment 535557

 

[s219]

10 MPH on a compact tractor, with or without a mower, is going to punish your body and trash your equipment. Even 10 MPH on a smooth road can shake things up when you hit a bump or dip.

Generally, if you want to get your mowing job done faster, it's not about speed but about the width of the mower. And the wider you go, the more HP you need.

We have several fields/trails in my property association that get cut 1-2 times a year. People take turns and sometimes we hire it out. I have learned that many people with tractors have very unrealistic expectations of how much mowing they can do. My benchmark is the guy we normally hire, who has a 70HP Ag tractor and a 12' mower, he can knock everything out in a day if there are no complications. Another guy has a Kubota Grand L and 6' mower, and it took him 3.5 days. The fellow with a subcompact and 4' mower gave up when he realized it was going to take "forever" in his words.

One other factor besides HP and mower size is the tractor size. The big tractor can handle the rough bumpy terrain so much better just because the tires are bigger and the distance between the tires is longer. As the tractor gets smaller, things get rougher. The guy on the subcompact was pretty much riding a bronco.

 

[MRCONCDID]

Q. to you, how high do you want the grass to be. 10 inches or less buy a big Zero turn with suspension seat. 10 inches or higher buy a tractor with a large bush hog.
The ZTR will be faster than a tractor if you want the grass kept low like a lawn. If you are looking for a kept field look, go with a tractor and 6ft or larger bushhog. For me a finishing mower is limited by the lack of speed of a tractor and larger turning radius of the tractor.

I have a 61 inch 321D Grasshopper ZTR (Kubota diesel 3 cyl. engine, Awesome!) it takes me about 40 min per acre I cut. open land, not around a lot of trees, swingsets or other yard objects. just open land.

MrC.

 

[boomer1025]

Get a farm tractor and a discbine mower and should only take about 1/2 hr to mow your 7.5 acres

 

[Atchuuu]

Great replies. Glad I checked in here before making a decision.

Obviously I was wrong in thinking the tractor would be faster than my ZT which has a top speed of 7mph. So even with a larger deck than the 42" I have now it will not save me much time by purchasing a tractor if the grass is kept short.

However, I don't live on the property so I don't think I will be able to keep it short enough year round to use a ZT which means at times I will need a Bush Hog. Also, there is a large pond on the property which I believe will require 4wd and heavier equipment than the ZT. So the ZT with large deck option is out.

As you all pointed out more HP = more PTO output and ability for a larger deck. Maybe a 5' bush hog for when I let grass get to high and a 6' finish mower for extra speed when conditions allow is the way to go. I'm thinking the L2501 might be undersized.

Mowing calculator says that a 60" deck at 3 mph should cut 1.64 acres an hour. 10 acres / 1.64 acres per hour would take 6.1 hours. At 2.5 mph it will take 7.3 hours to cut. Reality just hit. Felt like someone hit me with a frying pan

 

[jeff9366]

Kindly post a LINK to your mowing calculator.


Mowing Calcuator | How many acres can I mow in an hour


THANK YOU.