Reel mower

[Rowski]

A good customer of ours at work gave me a set (3) reel mowers, he claims they are early 70's . They measure about 2ft each and over lap a some. I think its about a 60ish inch cut (couldn't find my tape measure). I have some questions about these mowers. I used them tonight for about 2 hrs. I had to adjust one of them was turning to hard.

1)What are the pros and cons of reel mowers?

2)Is there a way to identify a brand name or model number? I will be needing some parts possibly. I couldn't find much other than "made in USA".

3)Is there supposed to be some wieghts on them? Seems like the center reel cuts better than the outside two. In addition the center one doesn't bounce as much as the others do.

4) Is there anything else I need to know. Is there a good web site with more info about these types of mowers old and new? I can take a digital pic and post it if needed.

There are 2 things that I found I like about these real mowers is the large cut with out needing more HP and the grass clippings are spread nice and even.

 

[Kelvin]

Several years ago I purchased a "Pro Mow" brand 10' wide reel with 7 reel mowers. These are sometimes referred to as "gang reel mowers".

Right now, I feel like the purchase was a waste of money as I never use it. I finish mow 5 acres that are located away from my house. At least until I build on the property, I sometimes do not keep it mowed as regularly as I should. The following are the pros and cons based upon my experience:

Pros:
(1) Because of the large cutting path, even with the slow ground speed it mows a large area very fairly quickly.
(2) The cut quality is pretty good, except in tall grass.
(3) I used my tractor pull the assembly at a low-mid engine speed thus fuel consuption during mowing is significantly less.
(4) Noise levels are also less.
(5) A wide variety of vehicles can be used to pull the mower. A tractor, ATV, large lawn tractor, etc. If you aren't really concerned about driving your car or truck across the lawn, you can pull the mower in air-conditioned comfort!

Cons:
(1) Small obstacles such as sticks or grass piles from previous mowings can easily jam the reel blades. I frequently had to stop mowing to free up one or more reels.
(2) Tall grass will simply be pushed over and held down until the mower passes over. I frequently had a beautifully mowed lot except for the several tall strands of grass (weeds?) left.
(3) Storage is a pain. It would be great if you had a place to store it without having to raise up some of the reels.
(4) Price. According to the Pro Mow's web site a 9' model costs about $1700. You can purchase a very good 5' or 6' 3-point finish mower for that price.

Here is the web site for the Pro Mow mower: <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.4apromow.com/article2.html>http://www.4apromow.com/article2.html</A>. I'm sure that there are other brands out there. I think that I've seen gang reel mowers (not sure which brand) in either the Tractor Supply Catalog or the Northern Supply Catalog (I can't remember which).

Kelvin

 

[BB_TX]

Reel mowers are intended for highly manicured lawns or other turf. Golf courses use them for their greens and fairways. When mowed often, the cut is superior to any rotary mower. It actually cuts the grass between two cutting edges rather than just knock it off. Unless you are really into a show lawn, I don't think it is practical. Best cut would be when used on a very flat clean ground. Best appearance would be when used 2 or more times a week. Don't know about you, but I don't want to mow that often./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Golfgar4]

<font color=blue>"Don't know about you, but I don't want to mow that often."</font color=blue>

Boy, do I hear that! When I was a kid, my Dad insisted that we have nothing but a 21" reel mower. He said that it gave a better cut than the rotary's.

I got so sick and tired of mowing 2 - 3 times more often than all the other guys in the neighborhood. And since we didn't have a "golf course" lawn, you really couldn't tell the difference in the quality of the cut.

The one BIG difference I did find out about was that you could slice a finger off a whole lot quicker with a reel mower! /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

 

[frank_f15]

used to operate a lawnmower repair shop with my dad many ,many years ago/w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif reel mowers on the whole are supposed to give u a nicer cut, as they actually cut the grass between blades and knife bed. they must be adjusted properly and sharpened properly. if too much is taken off one part of the blade , that part will not cut properly. we had a special machine for this purpose.they are mainly used for finely manicured grass, fairly smooth ground and best used for grass that is not too long. hope this helped.

 

[jimgerken]

I agree with everything the guys have provided so far. I'll add my experience. I was given 2 working units a couple years ago and built a frame which held them the correct distance apart (minus a bit of overlap) so they'd trail behind my tiny Simplicity 515 Surf model rider. The Surf had a mighty 28" deck under it and a 7 HP (Tecumseh repowered from the stock 5 HP of original 1967). I had an airstrip I would mow with this arrangement, 80' x 950', no trimming. I could mow it in 45 minutes, with less than a quart of fuel. I mowed it each week this way. The Simplicity broke down every other week on average (not bad for such an old machine, I'd say), but the reel mowers never failed, never needed sharpening after the initial session, never failed, always worked. Agreed, they would not cut the really tall stuff, only push it over. I mowed two years with these and was amazed at the quality and total lack of needed maintenance. I then bought a new set for around my home. Scotts designed a reel mower, now the patents are owned by Agri-Fab Available at TSC. These are not as heavy as the old ones I was given but they do a super mowing job regardless. I have built a frame for these two, and my wife refuses to mow without them. She is amazingly efficient with them on and can mow our place very fast. The grass never bunches up because the towing tractor mower, a Honda 4518, spreads the grass well and the reels do a super job of fine cutting and spreading. I havent touched them in three years, except for setting up the cutter bar at the beginning of each of the two second seasons. they are the least-needy pcs of equip I own. My fold-up frame design allows each unit to float independently, and then they swing up and a seperate set of wheels transports the whole thing like a trailer. It is sort of dedicated to the certain mower tractor you build it to work with, and must be hooked in the correct hole in the drawbar to keep the overlap correct on each side. For a while, I had the frame set up to pull all four of them, spaced behind.beside the Honda, and was mowing over 9 feet at a time but it becomes less productive because you can't go between objects very well, and set up time is more. These ground driven units each have a cast iron weight bolted to the wheels, maybe 15 pounds of iron, for traction. If that was missing it wouldnt work. Bouncing can be a problem, you will want the smoothest lawn for this. If it is too rough, they leave the ground and hence loose they're driving power. They are very efficient and dont add any real load to the tractor, surprizingly. They are not for everybody, but if you can integrate them into your mowing program, you can see mowing productivity improvements. Somewhere out on the internet I learned how to sharpen them, it involves running them backward with valve lapping compound smeared all over the blades and cutter bar. Even if you dont have the special machine to do this, or a lathe like I did, you can: Take off the wheels, take off the drive gears, flip the special little keys over and reassemble. Now when you pull it backwards it will run backwards, and it will free-wheel when being pulled forwards, the opposite of normal. Goop it with grease-based silicone carbide valve grinding compound, set up the cutter bar so it scrapes evenly across the blades, and drive around for a few minutes. Re-goop, readjust, repeat. When they are correct, they will slice typing paper perfectly. Keep them out of the rain unless you enjoy endless hours of the above activity. Good luck, happy reeling....

 

[Rowski]

Kevin, thanks for your insight. Do the reel mowers hold there value for resale in the future? If one would buy a set up for $1k what could be expected for resale value in 10 years provided they are well taken care off and in good shape.

 

[Rowski]

Thanks Frank. There is a golf course near by. I may stop by and ask them if they have some idea on sharpening and adjusting them. They use reel gang mowers.

 

[Rowski]

Many thanks for the detailed experience. What brand did you buy the second time around? Do you know any manufacturer names for reel mowers for back in the 70's? I may need a part or two for this set if I plan to use them a lot. Again thanks for the insight.

 

[jimgerken]

I bought the Scotts' designed unit, built by Agrifab, sold by TSC. Nope, I don't know any old ones' names.