Mowing with L3240

[dgeesaman]

I'm getting closer to buying a farmette. There will 11 acres of grass to mow, half of which will be pasture. The ground is smooth and fairly level but it's silty soil and gets soft when it's been rainy.

Out of the gate I feel this will be tractor with some extra capacity for our needs, but this will elbow out any financial possibility of also buying a commercial ZTR this year. It will be cheaper to buy the Kub with a finish mower of some kind. Then in the future with a ZTR in the arsenal we could have mowing backup and double up on the mowing too.

1) How does a tractor this large work for mowing?
2) How does it do with soft ground and R4's?
3) Which style of finish mower will be fastest/most maneuverable?

Thanks,

Dave

 

[PHILIP8N]

1) If HST+, it works great. Cruise control and hst reversing is nice feature.
2) From what I have heard, pretty bad. I use R3's.
3) RFM. I don't think any brand will be faster or more manuverable. I suggest a reat discharge to spread clippings. I like Woods or Landpide for a well built mower.

Good Luck.
Philip

 

[whistlepig]

If you are only mowing the pasture three or four times like I do mowing it with a finishing mower will be hard on the belts. You may want to consider a rotary cutter for the pasture. R4's work fine for mowing. For open ground RFM's work very well. For mowing around stuff a MMM is a bit better. For a RFM I prefer Woods.

 

[dgeesaman]

The other thing I need to consider is that I'll want to occasionally use the FEL with a bale spear and a bunch of ballast in the back.

Would it be wise then (for mowing sake) to skip the filled tires and put all of the ballast on the 3pt? Or are liquid-filled R3's not a big deal for mowing?

 

[Notforhire]

The other thing I need to consider is that I'll want to occasionally use the FEL with a bale spear and a bunch of ballast in the back.

Would it be wise then (for mowing sake) to skip the FEL and put all of the ballast on the 3pt? Or are liquid-filled R3's not a big deal for mowing?

Not sure what you mean????????
If you are going to move round bales with a FEL, yes you will need a counterweight on the rear, and I would suggest you load the rear tires.
If you are not getting a FEL, and you are going to move bales w/ a 3ph spear, I would put suitcase weights on the front, and not load the tires.
I agree that R3's are best for your use.

Bill

 

[dgeesaman]

Sorry, AM brain fart, fixed that to say "Would it be wise then (for mowing sake) to skip the filled tires and put all of the ballast on the 3pt? "

Anyway, the more I look into this, finish mowing and doing FEL work appear to be on opposite ends of the spectrum - what is good for one is always bad for the other. The more I poke at this problem the more a separate mower looks desirable.

 

[chim]

You'll get lots of opinions. Here are mine after having 4 different tractors for finish mowing over the past 24 years. Acres of mowing varied from year to year - from a bit over 2 acres to around 7. Used different tires (turf, R1 & R4), tractors (one 2WD gear trans, three different 4WD hydro) and both side and rear discharge finish decks. Things have settled down so the only mowing for others I'll be doing is a half acre for a nearby widow lady. We have 2-1/4 acres in grass right now and will be planting another 1-1/3 acres this year. We have trees and a couple sheds, a creek and a few other things to mow around. The lower part of the yard near the creek gets flooded with some regularity. Just last Summer we bought an L3200 and 6' RFM. Couldn't be happier

1. I like the size and comfort of the larger tractor. It isn't too big to control, and handles the 6' mower easily. For loader work, I either leave the RFM on or swap it for another attachment. With the RFM for ballast I can pick up the back of my Jeep Wrangler.

2. The L3200 is easier on the soft ground than my B7500 was. Both have filled rears and I always remove the FEL & frame for mowing.

3. I prefer the RFM. We have a weedeater and a 6' RFM. The only two tools we need for mowing. I do 2 acres an hour.

EDIT TO ADD: You're probably 1/2 hour away. If you haven't decided by the time the grass and other green stuff in the so-called lawn grows, stop by for a test drive.

 

[Notforhire]

3) Which style of finish mower will be fastest/most maneuverable?

Dave

If you have a FEL on a L3240 because of the loader frame, I don't think you can use a MMM. This limits you to a rear finish mower, bush hog, or a flail. Even if you get a Z mower, I think you will be happier mowing a pasture with the tractor.
I have mowed my pasture with a Z (just thought I would try it), and it's a real rough ride.
If you only intend on cutting your pasture a few times a year, I would recomend a 5 ft slasher. If the blades are sharp, you can get a pretty decent cut. If you intend on buying a Z for your lawn,the cost of a slasher is much lower than other tractor mounted mowers.

Bill

 

[dgeesaman]

Thanks for the info and thanks for the offer chim. The place we're after is in E-town.

My wife works with a landscaper that we'll probably contract out to keep the mowing up at the very beginning and also get to know what equipment works best. I'll probably stop in at Messicks and see if they can stop by or let me borrow a couple of units and try myself.

 

[CAFR11901]

Here is my experience with an L3240 and mowing.

In my opinion it was a great tractor to mow with. I had it configured with loaded R4's and a MMM. I mowed 3 acres of grass, with very few obstacles. It striped very well, and I had quite a few comments about it looking like a golf course (when it rained as I didn't have irrigation).

Lessons were with a tractor that heavy the frond end loader had to come off when mowing. Too much weight on the front end - however it WAS compatible and could operate front end loader and MMM. I had to vary my path every time I mowed or I would have ruts in the lawn. I generally waited until it dried out a little bit before going back in the wet spots - but generally it could move in and out without too much damage to the turf.

The downsides are having to take the front end loader off the tractor every time you mow. I generally needed the loader in between - so it was a constant cycle of off and on. If I was going to do loader work, the MMM was always in the way - so it would come off for any projects. I basically got very proficient at taking the loader and mower on and off.

Overall, I would have probably rather had a dedicated mowing machine, and a dedicated working machine. But since I had one to work with, I just changed the configuration a lot. The finished mowing product was something I could feel proud of, and I used it to mow the pasture a couple of times and it worked fine for that too. I just ended up getting my blades sharpened after that. Depending on how you use your tractor a dedicated lawn mowing machine or a 3pt finish mower might be a better way to go than the MMM.