bucmeister
Silver Member
I have owned a Woods RM990 rear mount finish mower since 1994 and it has served me well, though for mowing a 6+ acre yard it has demonstrated a few weaknesses, in my personal opinion, so I am considering the Bushhog 84" finishing mower. This is augmented by my good experiences with a Bushhog 287 brush cutter.
Partly due to Woods notoriously crappy paint job (weakness #1) and my not being **** about cleaning the unsealed (weakness #2) belt area out after almost every use and it having to be out in the rain etc over the last 3 years, the deck has about rusted out necessitating recent repairs to stop cracks in rust weakened areas of the deck. They do not offer a bare replacement deck so if the repairs don't hold I will have to buy a new finish mower.
The BH cutter is a "true" finish mower with solid one piece blades and blade tip speed of a bit over 18,000 feet per minute @540PTO, which is the kind of speeds the zero turn mowers that are all the rage for commercial cutting and allow for higher ground speeds, whereas the Woods unit has brush cutter style swing blades and slower tip speed which gives a somewhat less groomed type cut. The swing blades are forgiving of ground strikes, stump hits, etc, which over the life of my unit has come in handy on numerous occaisions. My BH 287 cutter's paint job has held up great, especially when compared to Woods.
I have never been "thrilled" with the cut of the Woods and have had to go slow to get a decent cut. After using a ZTR to tame the yard while still repairing the deck I saw what deck design and tip speed can do for acceptable ground speed, which has me looking at the RDTH84. Another factor is $$$, the Bushhog RDTH84 $1650 same dealer RM990 $2950.
Wondering if anyone on the forums has experience with both units on the same tractor and lawn/yard, that could give input on comparing the two?
Partly due to Woods notoriously crappy paint job (weakness #1) and my not being **** about cleaning the unsealed (weakness #2) belt area out after almost every use and it having to be out in the rain etc over the last 3 years, the deck has about rusted out necessitating recent repairs to stop cracks in rust weakened areas of the deck. They do not offer a bare replacement deck so if the repairs don't hold I will have to buy a new finish mower.
The BH cutter is a "true" finish mower with solid one piece blades and blade tip speed of a bit over 18,000 feet per minute @540PTO, which is the kind of speeds the zero turn mowers that are all the rage for commercial cutting and allow for higher ground speeds, whereas the Woods unit has brush cutter style swing blades and slower tip speed which gives a somewhat less groomed type cut. The swing blades are forgiving of ground strikes, stump hits, etc, which over the life of my unit has come in handy on numerous occaisions. My BH 287 cutter's paint job has held up great, especially when compared to Woods.
I have never been "thrilled" with the cut of the Woods and have had to go slow to get a decent cut. After using a ZTR to tame the yard while still repairing the deck I saw what deck design and tip speed can do for acceptable ground speed, which has me looking at the RDTH84. Another factor is $$$, the Bushhog RDTH84 $1650 same dealer RM990 $2950.
Wondering if anyone on the forums has experience with both units on the same tractor and lawn/yard, that could give input on comparing the two?
