Mowing Size of finish mower for 4200?

[Gary_in_Indiana]

I have a John Deere 4200 HST and am looking at a Woods or Frontier (green Woods) rear discharge finish mower for it. My 4200 is a little over 26 HP with 20 PTO HP. Woods' website lists HP recommendation for their 6' rear discharge mower (Woods RD7200) at "20-40 HP" which I assume is PTO HP. Interestingly enough, they list lower HP requirement for their 6' side discharge mower (16-35 HP). Deere's brochure indicates that a 6' finish mower is acceptable on the 4200 but makes no mention of the side vs. rear discharge HP difference.

With my PTO HP at the bottom end of the range for the rear discharge mower am I biting off more than I should with a 6' finish mower? Should I go with a 5' instead or will I be OK with a 6' model?

 

[Steve_in_Ont]

Gary - Your tractor can certainly handle a 6' mower... and maybe a bit more... but a few comments on width...

Everyone (including myself) seems to concentrate on "how wide can I go?", but remember:

1. On uneven ground, narrower mowers general do a better job of following the terrain. This is especially true in ditches & on ridges.
2. Narrower mowers can often get into a few places that wide ones can't. Given this, though a wider mower might mow the open areas faster, there might be significantly more trimming required. I was looking at a 6', but bought a 5'... only after I mowed the yard the first time did I realize that if I had purchased a 6', I would not have been able to mow behind a long line of trees... Take a look around where you plan to use this mower...

Good luck!

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

Good point on maneuvering in tighter places, Steve, thanks./w3tcompact/icons/clever.gif As to ridges, etc., I"m in NE Indiana... it's flat here./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

I'm probably going to end up with a 5' brush hog, too, so if I need somthing to sneak between a couple trees here and there I can probably use that to get by. I'm new to all this so am probably agonizing unnecessarily over every purchase I anticipate./w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif This board has been an incredible help./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[budman72]

I have the 5' Frontier finish mower on my 4200 gear drive. I've had no problems except for a belt cover bolt that came loose. It's rear discharge so you don't have the problem of "windrowing". Are you sure you need the bush hog too? I've cut through 10" grass with no problem, other than going a little slower.

Good luck, Bud

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

Right now I'd be jealous of someone with only 10" grass. The property I bought hasn't seen any kind of mower in at least two seasons before this. The grass is in the 3'-4' range./w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

From what I've read here on TBN, that's more than a finish mower should be asked to tackle. I'm thinking I'll need to run a brush hog over it a couple times before I go at it with the finish mower. Does that sound about right?

In my case, the finish mower is a very nice used 6' Woods rear discharge I bought from a really nice gentleman about an hour south of here yesterday./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

As to needing a brush hog, even if I don't need one for the first cutting out front here, I want to have one for the back part of my property. It's a lot rougher out there and I really only need to cut it a couple times a season./w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif