Buying Advice Tractor for 84" to 96" RFM

[rScotty]

I'd would take a long look at an older American 2wd farm tractor from the "golden era". It would be simple to put fat turf tires on an older 2wd machine from the 1960 to 1980 time frame. Most of the nicer ones would be gasoline, a few might be propane. but either way they aren't prey to the problems of modern gas engines. Those old low compression and low rpm engines carburetted motors are a joy to listen to. Comfortable, bulletproof, and nicely inside in your price range for a 40 to 60 hp machine. Art plus function. I agree it must have power steering.
I'm partial to the JD 630 myself, but Massey and others made some real nice old iron.
rScotty

 

[lman]

I use a 40 horsepower New Holland to pull a 12 foot Woods batwing mower. This batwing is better for unlevel terrain than a 8 foot flat mower would be.

 

[PsRumors]

I'd would take a long look at an older American 2wd farm tractor from the "golden era". It would be simple to put fat turf tires on an older 2wd machine from the 1960 to 1980 time frame. Most of the nicer ones would be gasoline, a few might be propane. but either way they aren't prey to the problems of modern gas engines. Those old low compression and low rpm engines carburetted motors are a joy to listen to. Comfortable, bulletproof, and nicely inside in your price range for a 40 to 60 hp machine. Art plus function. I agree it must have power steering.
I'm partial to the JD 630 myself, but Massey and others made some real nice old iron.
rScotty

I've been looking for some old iron....I love old iron

I use a 40 horsepower New Holland to pull a 12 foot Woods batwing mower. This batwing is better for unlevel terrain than a 8 foot flat mower would be.
View attachment 668108

WOW, that is impressive.

 

[EddieWalker]

I use a 40 horsepower New Holland to pull a 12 foot Woods batwing mower. This batwing is better for unlevel terrain than a 8 foot flat mower would be.
View attachment 668108

That's a nice set up!!

 

[mo1]

I am wanting an 84" to 96" rear mount finish mower but need a tractor to run it. I have my L45 for loader and backhoe work but it is down on PTO hp and the loader isn't removable.

Price point, the less expensive the better. $7k is about max. Diesel is highly preferred. 2 wheel drive is fine but power steering is a must. Live PTO, whether true independent or 2 stage clutch. I'd like the tractor to have enough of a low gear to run a tiller.

What tractor would you all recommend?

I used to mow my lawn with a ~30 engine HP tractor about the size of a 3 series John Deere and a 72" rear finish mower and learned quite a bit in doing so. The best question is what are you intending to mow? In my experience, I'd only use a tractor with a rear finish mower if I was cutting a fairly large/long open area that I wanted mowed shorter and with a better quality cut than if I used a bush hog but not necessarily lawn-quality mowing OR if I wanted to keep a completely open area larger than about 6-7 acres finish mowed. A tractor with a good-sized rear finish mower is not particularly maneuverable and weighs several thousand pounds so it will rut up soft ground easily unless you use the wide extra-flotation turf tires. You will want at least 5 PTO HP per foot of mower unless you intend to keep the grass always mowed short, so figure 40+ PTO HP/50+ engine HP for an 8' mower.

If you are mowing a big lawn, $7k will get you an almost new professional-level zero turn with a five foot deck that will out-cut any tractor-mounted finish mower until you get into cutting well over 5 acres. You can get zero turns with up to 6' decks for about the same price as a 5' model, but would probably have to buy it new (figure $9-10k.) The difference in maneuverability between a zero turn and a tractor with a rear mounted mower is very pronounced. If you have very many obstructions to mow around, you will either have to come back with another mower to mow closer to them, make very good friends with your string trimmer, or spend about half of your time mowing backing up and turning to mow closer to those obstacles. The zero turn can just zip around those obstacles in one circle leaving minimal trimming. If you actually want to finish cut far more than about 5 acres, and there are few to no obstacles, I'd get an 8+ foot mower and a tractor of at least 50 HP with the extra-wide flotation tires.

If you want to run a tiller, a tractor with a minimum speed of about 1-1.5 mph will be fine, but just make sure to not try to pull too large of a tiller where the tractor can't keep up. A 50+ engine HP tractor will pull a 7' tiller just fine at those speeds. Alternatively, you can always use conventional tillage implements such as a plow/disk or field cultivator.

 

[PsRumors]

I used to mow my lawn with a ~30 engine HP tractor about the size of a 3 series John Deere and a 72" rear finish mower and learned quite a bit in doing so. The best question is what are you intending to mow? In my experience, I'd only use a tractor with a rear finish mower if I was cutting a fairly large/long open area that I wanted mowed shorter and with a better quality cut than if I used a bush hog but not necessarily lawn-quality mowing. A tractor with a good-sized rear finish mower is not particularly maneuverable and weighs several thousand pounds so it will rut up soft ground easily unless you use the wide extra-flotation turf tires. You will want at least 5 PTO HP per foot of mower unless you intend to keep the grass always mowed short, so figure 40+ PTO HP/50+ engine HP for an 8' mower.

If you are mowing a big lawn, $7k will get you an almost new professional-level zero turn with a five foot deck that will out-cut any tractor-mounted finish mower until you get into cutting well over 5 acres. If you actually want to finish cut more than that, and there are few to no obstacles, I'd get an 8+ foot mower and a tractor of at least 50 HP with the extra-wide flotation tires. Or reconsider mowing it every week or two with a finish mower and cut it once a month with an 8' bush hog.

If you want to run a tiller, a tractor with a minimum speed of about 1-1.5 mph will be fine, but just make sure to not try to pull too large of a tiller where the tractor can't keep up. A 50+ engine HP tractor will pull a 7' tiller just fine at those speeds. Alternatively, you can always use conventional tillage implements such as a plow/disk or field cultivator.

Our property is 5.5 acres of old cotton field. It is mostly open with few obstacles. I used to cut it with a 5' RFM and 8n tractor but am now cutting it with a Ferris ZTR with 72" deck and Cat diesel. The problem is the property isn't lawn quality and even with the suspension of the Ferris can jar you pretty good if you don't go slow.

I plan to cut up around the house with a commercial walk behind and do everything else with the tractor and RFM. The tractor can be used to pull other equipment as well, tiller, plug style aerator and whatever else I decide.

I am hoping the larger RFM will make up for some of the speed the ZTR has over the tractor

 

[mo1]

Our property is 5.5 acres of old cotton field. It is mostly open with few obstacles. I used to cut it with a 5' RFM and 8n tractor but am now cutting it with a Ferris ZTR with 72" deck and Cat diesel. The problem is the property isn't lawn quality and even with the suspension of the Ferris can jar you pretty good if you don't go slow.

I plan to cut up around the house with a commercial walk behind and do everything else with the tractor and RFM. The tractor can be used to pull other equipment as well, tiller, plug style aerator and whatever else I decide.

I am hoping the larger RFM will make up for some of the speed the ZTR has over the tractor

I doubt you'd gain all that much from using a tractor and 8' rear finish mower over a zero turn with a 6' deck as far as mowing is concerned. I suspect it would actually take longer. The zero turn has a somewhat narrower deck but it will be able to mow at a faster ground speed than a tractor, particularly since your zero turn has a suspension. You will also not have all that much more of a usable deck width per pass as you will have to take quite a bit more overlap with a rear finish mower than a zero turn. You can see the deck edges on a zero turn very easily since they're right there beneath your feet and not 6 feet back behind you, so you can have a much smaller overlap and not worry about missing any grass.

Having a tractor is very handy and if you want to have a tractor for other uses, by all means, get one. If you want to mow with it too, go ahead and do it but do realize it will likely take longer and be more of a hassle than using the zero turn to do the mowing.

 

[m7040]

I used a 15 ft Wood Batwing pulled by my M7040. It is good for large acreage. After planting 6000 trees the mowed area was reduced to 6 to 8 acreage. Sold the Batwing and is now using a 72 inch Kubota Zero turn. It is fast and very easy to drive though more bumpy at higher speeds. Mowing with the tractor was comfortable with AC cab and air suspension seat but changing to hook up the mower gets old

 

[hiddentacocatneddih]

I couldn't afford both a tractor and Ztr do I bought a tractor. I pull a 7ft sovema finish mower behind my mahindra 485DI. It had a loader and nose weights. I can mow about 5-6mph comfortably on it on my pasture. I mow about 4.5 acres in 1 hour or so. I have ag tires and its 2wd and it doesnt rut much unless it's just soupy wet.

My wife mowes on a husquvarna 48inch rider and we go about the same speed

Rear discharge makes a huge difference

I like it but a $7k ztr would mow 2 or 3 times faster minimum

 

[PsRumors]

I couldn't afford both a tractor and Ztr do I bought a tractor. I pull a 7ft sovema finish mower behind my mahindra 485DI. It had a loader and nose weights. I can mow about 5-6mph comfortably on it on my pasture. I mow about 4.5 acres in 1 hour or so. I have ag tires and its 2wd and it doesnt rut much unless it's just soupy wet.

My wife mowes on a husquvarna 48inch rider and we go about the same speed

Rear discharge makes a huge difference

I like it but a $7k ztr would mow 2 or 3 times faster minimum

If you are doing 4.5 acres in an hour a ztr isn't going to do it in 15 to 20 min (3 to 4 times faster)

With my property the ZTR can't run fast due to rough terrain, I know the tractor will be more comfortable