Buying Advice need additional tractor advice.

[tommorley]

Thanks for advice on the IH Trike. I have 3 acres for mowing. How about a Kubota L235 diesel with 1100 hrs. for $3700.00. Sounds like I need finishing mower vs. brush hog. Grass gets to 2 ft. Will mower attachment be sufficient?

 

[dickfoster]

Thanks for advice on the IH Trike. I have 3 acres for mowing. How about a Kubota L235 diesel with 1100 hrs. for $3700.00. Sounds like I need finishing mower vs. brush hog. Grass gets to 2 ft. Will mower attachment be sufficient?

Do you want to mow grass or do you really want a tractor and are using the mowing to justify it? LOL
We all know how that is so it's OK.

Tractors are made for doing many jobs while mowers are purpose designed to do one thing and do it well. What is the terrain like, hilly or flat, for your 3 acres? Is it just grass or is there brush too.
What is your budget? You are going to spend more for a tractor to do the same mowing job that a dedicated mower is going to cost. However a mower is just going to mow well and really do nothing more than that. If you have other jobs then a tractor might make more sense.

That three acres is gonna go pretty fast with a tractor and mower then just set around and collect dust unless you have other work to get done with it.

 

[tommorley]

Thanks. I want to mow once. When grass gets too high I have to make 2 passes. I want to mow it fast. It's divided into 4 pastures. 1 acre has trees & some brush. I want to spend less than 4K. I may use it for other things later on.

 

[dickfoster]

Thanks. I want to mow once. When grass gets too high I have to make 2 passes. I want to mow it fast. It's divided into 4 pastures. 1 acre has trees & some brush. I want to spend less than 4K. I may use it for other things later on.

Well that's gonna be really tough on a budget of $4K. Tractors aren't cheap and you'd be looking at over that even for a used tractor by the time you put a mower behind it.

I think you'd have better luck sticking to the zero turn mowers and save the tractor for another day. In the meantime keep your eye on the grass till then and not let it get too high.

 

[tommorley]

i'm looking at a Kubota L235 diesel with 1100 hrs. for $3700.00

 

[dickfoster]

i'm looking at a Kubota L235 diesel with 1100 hrs. for $3700.00

Yeah but your budget is already just about shot, it's a used tractor with stuff to do most likely and you haven't even got a mower behind it yet. Last time I heard the tooth fairy wasn't giving out mowers so that's another grand or so on a good day even for a low cost four footer.

The PTO on that machine puts out about 19hp so bear that in mind when shopping for a 3pt mower and don't go too big. About 4' is about all it's gonna do.

It's also a gear driven tractor so the HST guys on here are gonna probably say you just gotta have HST for mowing. LOL

 

[Soundguy]

At 3700$ for mowing you are looking at a ford 55-64 00/01 series. Should be able to get a good runner with servicible mower.


2' grass? That will kill a finish mower......

 

[TheMadOne]

I'm a little behind here and trying to catch up. Please bear with me.

In the other thread you wanted to mow three acres, and not have to make multiple passes. You found a tractor that several of us suggested you avoid because it's a large tricycle. You were also going to buy a bush hog. I made the comment that the bush hog would do the job, but wouldn't be pretty. And I asked if you wanted/needed pretty.

Then you found another tractor and started this thread. Smaller and lighter than your previous choice, the Kubota will do a better job, but is still quite large for a dedicated mower.

You express your desire for a finish mower of some type instead of the bush hog(I guess you do want/need "pretty"?). That's fine. Plenty of options to size for the Bota. Then you mention that the grass gets to 2 feet tall. Red flag!

I'm sorry to be the one to say it, but I can't name a single mower that will take 2ft tall grass and turn it into anything that'd pass muster as "pretty". There's just to much material. Maybe get something with a MMM and a bagger, but you'd be filling and emptying the bags a lot. And constantly battling clogs. Or a mulching deck and go really slow?(Never used a mulching deck, don't know if that'd work or not.)

I have to at least partially agree with dick, the solution is not letting the grass get so high. Tractor or zero turn, that's your choice. If you want a tractor with a finish mower, then I wish you luck on your search, but you'll still need to mow just as often as if you had bought the zero turn. And it will take longer. If you want to do one and done, then get a bush hog. It won't be a fairway at St. Andrews, but it will be knocked down.

 

[Soundguy]

I don't think I saw the prev thread, but will add that trikes make some great mowers.

I mow with one weekly during non winter.

On a hog that's mowing 'lawn' and not shrubs, rocks and weeds, you can sharpen the blade more lil a finish mower, and run it close and get a cut just a little worse than a cheap rider

 

[TheMadOne]

I don't think I saw the prev thread, but will add that trikes make some great mowers.

I mow with one weekly during non winter.

On a hog that's mowing 'lawn' and not shrubs, rocks and weeds, you can sharpen the blade more lil a finish mower, and run it close and get a cut just a little worse than a cheap rider

You're in Forida. What winter?

I didn't know about the trick with sharpening the hog's blades. That makes sense, but don't you still end up with a large amount of clippings to deal with? Ones that aren't going to go away for weeks?

 

[hawkeye08]

Flail mower would do it, but 19hp is not much to work with (won't be fast) You might be able to take partial passes to manage the power needed. Zero turn would not like the brush (or the 2' tall grass for that matter). Nothing wrong with a 3 wheel tractor unless you have a bunch of hills, we had several of them on the farm growing up (2 Case 400s, 1 Farmall Super H I think). We mowed with sickle mower for taller grass and weeds (no brush), had the bush hog (6' behind the Case 400, I mowed 300 acres of 6' tall sagebrush with that). Have some patience, this is not the best time of year to get deals on tractors and mowers.

 

[varmint]

So, what's wrong with a running L235?- gear drive is perfect for mowing, and with a 4' or maybe 5' rough mower, with sharp blades, he should be good to go. (tractordata.com states that the tested PTO Hp is/was 19.6...) Leaving the cut brush/grass to rot simply leaves the nutrients where they came from instead of removing them, so that's good, I think. The tractor and mowing deck might cost him $5000, but heck, he'll be doing better than with a zero turn that is overmatched.

 

[Soundguy]

You're in Forida. What winter?

I didn't know about the trick with sharpening the hog's blades. That makes sense, but don't you still end up with a large amount of clippings to deal with? Ones that aren't going to go away for weeks?

Hogs mulch pretty darn good, especially with sharp blades.

Winter.. That's the time in Florida where it isn't real cold.. But the sun angle makes most pasture grass dormant, making you feed out hay.

 

[terryknight]

a finish mower will absolutely cut 2 ft grass and I think it looks pretty but then again it is a pasture.





i use a JD 750 18ih PTO hp with a 5ft finish mower around my house and it does great, not cutting 2 ft grass with it though.



keep the grass shorter and yes the kubota 235 will be fine. around here you can get a 60" finish mower for ~600.

5ft finishing mower

6" woods finish mower

 

[jenkinsph]

With a $4000 dollar budget I would get a small used tractor and bush hog older model as Sound Guy suggests. You will have to keep up the repairs and maintenance but it is what it is. Two feet of grass and weeds will not look like a lawn, to look like a lawn with a nice finished cut requires more frequent cutting and a finish mower. You cant have your cake and eat it too.

If your goal is to improve the property and improve the grass then more frequent cutting every 7 to 14 days is needed. This will help the grass and make it harder for weeds to spread. Cutting every two months will not do much good but will eliminate heavy brush.

 

[MF283]

You cant have your cake and eat it too.

If your goal is to improve the property and improve the grass then more frequent cutting every 7 to 14 days is needed. This will help the grass and make it harder for weeds to spread. Cutting every two months will not do much good but will eliminate heavy brush.

Yep, is there someone nearby that can bush hog it down for you so you can get by with a finish mower? I've actually gotten better results with sharpened blades on a bush hog than the finish mower on property i used to maintain using their equipment.



Ronnie

 

[Soundguy]

can and good for it are 2 things.

you might get away cutting 2' grass with a finish mower.. but it's abusive to it and not what it was designed for.

 

[dickfoster]

So, what's wrong with a running L235?- gear drive is perfect for mowing, and with a 4' or maybe 5' rough mower, with sharp blades, he should be good to go. (tractordata.com states that the tested PTO Hp is/was 19.6...) Leaving the cut brush/grass to rot simply leaves the nutrients where they came from instead of removing them, so that's good, I think. The tractor and mowing deck might cost him $5000, but heck, he'll be doing better than with a zero turn that is overmatched.

I have no problem with gear tractors I own a shuttle myself but I knew the HST types would speak up. They always do LOL. Yeah I know what tractor data said but that was for a brand spankin new tractor, I don't think he can count on that last .6 from an older machine. Let's be real, I don't think may here are wearing rose colored glasses.

In the end I think he just want's a tractor and it doesn't really matter much what the job is but that's OK too.