I'm not sure if the BX22 weight figures are just the tractor alone, or not, but the B7500 outweighs a BX2300 by about 77 pounds alone, and I think about 100+ pounds in the mower
deck. The comparison I'd like to do is between the B7500 and the BX2300, or the current versions of, because if I were to make any adjustments, I think it would be to a BX2300 series because I do not have any use for the hoe. And, yes, I do have the same problem with the deck on grades as such. Thanks for the input.
Yes... I was talking about the Deere X Series, not the BX. I airated this spring, and even fertilized, but in one month, I have noticed no real improvements. My neighbor said I'd be cutting twice a week, so I believed him. Now I think I just wasted money on the fertilizer.
Robert,
I know you are probably getting more advice than you want, but I'll just go ahead and share what I have, because our situations are similar. I have 2.5 acres, roughly half in lawn and the rest forest. I also have a B7500. I bought it about 2 years after I had purchased a JD LX277 riding mower. The riding mower has a 42" mulching deck that works extremely well. I don't fertilize my lawn.... (too much lawn to manicure). I did see after a season of mulching that the lawn looked much better. I know of people who have switched to mulching have dramatically cut back on fertilizer and their lawns are a lot healthier.
So, I have the B7500 for the heavy duty work around our place and the rider for mowing. Another advantage to switching to mulching is you don't have to stop to empty the bags of clippings. That used to slow me down a lot. Mowing our lawn now takes about 45 minutes, where it used to take an hour and a half with our old mower. So.... somebody else mentioned the idea of selling your MMM and getting a rider. I have also found it nice to have 2 "tractors" around for a lot of projects. I have attached a picture of just one of the uses. I was doing some light excavation in an area I was landscaping and my JD became my "dump truck".
Just thought I'd share my situation. It works for me. Besides that, you can never have too many tractors! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
"Anyway, as I said, please comment. That's why we are here. Maybe I should have used more "instant faces" to convey my attitude. "
I was not leaving in a huff, sorry I implied that, I had just run out of suggestions. The only thing I have thought beyond what I said was that maybe your grass is clumpy. I have noticed that fescues like to clump. Is this the type of grass you have--fescue? If the lawn is clumpy the ground contact deck is going to be moving up and down a lot more than a suspended deck carried by the larger tires of the tractor it is connected to. This could result in a ragged cut.
My yard is not doing so great this year either /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif. I hate fescue. J
When you say airated, are you talking core (little dog doo doo thingys all over the lawn), or are you talking tine (think just pokes holes in lawn and doesn't remove anything).
I think core airation is substansially better than tine.
Have your soil checked, you may need to lime the heck out of it.
Big tractors don't kill grass. Want me to show you a few golf courses where the grass is mowed with Ford 3000s and bigger with turfs? They use gang reel mowers all over the course, including the fairways.
Yes, although it looks "continuous" or "full" (rather than spotty or clumpy) the grass is kinda clumpy underneath creating "knobs" of grass... so that the deck does bounce alot. Whether it is fescue or not, I do not know. I assume it is, but I tend to think that it is just 'field grass". Is that fescue?
I mowed last night and I have to say, the lawn did not look too bad, but I really took notice that the deck does bounce enough to create the uneven cut, and ocassional pie plate. If I slow down anymore, it will defeat the purpose I went with the unit to begin with... to save time. That is one of the reasons i've been thinking about looking into a BX with the suspended deck. Now that I see the BX is really a larger HP tractor,can still use a 60" MMM, and the loader is really not that mich "lighter" than the B Series, I may consider it a little more an option. Thanks for your input. Regardless of how I came across before, I do appreciate your thoughts.
The airator is the "core" style. I have airated forthe past three years, and have not really noticed much difference. I am thinking the soil may be a problem, too. It has not been fertilized innat least 5 years, and I do nothave a mulcher - supposedly, there are no mulching style blades for the 60" on my B7500. Unfortunately, I think the problem started several years ago when the lawn was leftt grow unmowed for several weeks while the house was vacant, and when it was finally cut, it had to be rakeed and cut it at least three times to clean up the yard. By then, cutting the grass was cutting the grass blades over half their length, and I think it messed up the lawn and it hasn't recovered.
Where can I have it checked to see what I need to do without having Chemlawn or a lawn service bend me over the barrel?
"If I slow down anymore, it will defeat the purpose I went with the unit to begin with... to save time."
I understand that. I am actually doing the opposite.....I bought the 60 inch "Mow at 10mph" ZTR to save time, and it does...but it saves to much time, and it is not a tractor.
Your comments about the B7500 is helping realize that the BX series is really my best choice to. I have thought about getting another B7500, but I really want a good mower first....that can do other things as well.
Your grass may be the problem. I don't know what field grass is but if you don't have quality grass your never going to get a quality cut no matter what you have. Dare I say you need to till that yard up and replant with something like RebelIII or Milineum. Both are quality fine blade fescues. There are some other grasses that would work but whatever you do don't plant K31. The finest mower and all the fertilizer and aeration in the world cannot turn a sows ear weed patch into a lawn. If you don't know what grass you got that probably means you don't got no lawn grass /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif, you got clumping field grass and weeds. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif.
