Mowing Two mowers?

[coldsteelva]

I have a portion of my land (~2 acres) that I only mow about every 4-6 weeks. Due to life being busy, being away for an entire weekend (Dover), and the late arriving Spring kicking everything into overdrive while I was away, I had to make 3 passes in certain areas to cut down the grass (grasses, dandelions, ragweed, goldenrod). The grass was taller than the front wheels on my GC1720. My mid-mount mower (2326 drive-over) was leaving a high spot uncut (expected), plus where I was driving the tires, it wasn't springing back up to be cut. So I was cutting at half mower elevation (wheels suspended) and then two passes with the caster wheels rolling to clean it up; plus I could only overlap passes about 1/3 to 1/2 width.

On to my questions. I have the 60-inch MMM and an older 60-inch Woods RFM. If I run into this situation again, does anyone have any concerns/considerations about me running both mowers at the same time? The GC1720 has independent PTO operation (540 Rear and 2000 Mid). My plan would be to run the MMM at the half height and run the RFM on its casters and get a full (>48 inch) cut with each pass for hopefully less time involvement. Does this sound feasible? Is there any reason NOT to run both PTOs? Is there any cooling or hydrostatic issues that might appear? This would only be an irregular duty cycle; this would not be my normal process for mowing this area.

I realize starting each one up is going to require a bit of finesse, but I don't spool up and engage at full PTO speed anyway. Once one of them is spinning, there would be less impact starting the second one and then I would raise RPMs accordingly.

For my purposes: turning, backing, slopes, and swing clearance are not an issue.

 

[oosik]

Sure sounds like an efficient way to operate. Also - if it were going to cause problems - you would think your owners manual would have cautionary statements.

 

[aczlan]

It should work as long as you have enough horsepower.

Aaron Z

 

[irvingj]

Sounds like it could work.. I know I have the same issue with certain areas that I mow only seldom. I do the same-- first time with MMM raised, then another pass with it lower. Fortunately, I only have small areas like that, however. (I've even used the MMM as a brush hog, keeping it raised up. Very effective, actually.)

 

[blackd]

I agree with aczlan: "It should work as long as you have enough horsepower." I tried it with my GC2400 & a 60" MMM and an 84" rear mower, and the poor tractor could barely move. Heavy loads could/would stall it. Tried only once.

 

[4570Man]

My b7200 lacks the hp to do it. If you’ve got enough power I’d go for it.

 

[coldsteelva]

Ok. I will try it out and see if this is workable. I will report back. I think using 2 60-inch mowers may be better than a 60- and an 84-inch. Then we'll all know for sure.

 

[coldsteelva]

Well, the rain finally stopped after 3 weeks and my lower 40 as we call it dried out enough for me to mow it.

I attached my 60-inch RFM to my GC1720 and was able to spool up both the RFM and the MMM by throttling up to 2500RPM and engaging the PTO.

As the RPMs began to fall down toward 1500, I throttled up more to prevent a stall.

Both mowers spooled up to their respective RPM range and I was able to make a double cut in a single pass.

I still had to make half width passes and feather the throttle to prevent a stall or overspeed while moving downhill, but overall this worked really well. The grass had grown to 18 to 24 inches in spots.

Not bad for a 25hp tractor.

 

[JCByrd24]

I'm curious in your description of throttling, etc. Maybe just my misunderstanding of your description, but for any mowing you should engage the PTO at idle and then run full throttle. Certainly with what you are attempting, you should be running full throttle all the time, not trying to adjust/feather it to conditions/stall. Perhaps you are saying throttle but meaning ground speed/hydrostatic drive speed...

 

[irvingj]

Not sure about his engine speed at start-up, but I do the same as far as uphill/downhill. I have lots of slopes; to go up I find I need to increase throttle to maintain rpm, but then going down it speeds up due to the major drop in load, so I reduce throttle to keep rpm in a good range. I believe that's what he's referring to.