Tractor Lawn Mowers

Boiled-egg

Thinking of investing in a tractor mower but i know nothing about them.
Is it better to have the cutting deck under the body of the mower or out in front? ect...ect...ect...
Regards

dardevle

cutting deck out front has greater
manouverability,they tend to cost more than belly mowers.
if you do invest then spend as much as u can-don't skimp on
horsepower and get hydrostatic controls(drive).
i don't have a lot of grass area anymore but have many years commercial
experience and if i was to buy a mower tomorrow it would
be a walkbehind with 12.5+hp hydrostatic controls and a 32" cutting deck
....tackle most any conditions and a little exercise!

Redjeep!

The biggest problem with any of them seems to be their ability to pick up damp grass. Most can't - which is why you see everybody rush out to do the lawn the first spell of sunshine. There's a few more expensive ones that use a variety of brush systems to pick it up. My next one will have this feature so that I can cut it when it's still dampish and save the good weather to do something I really want to be doing !

It all really depends upon how big an area you've got and how good you want it to look. I've got an 18hp 52 inch deck to do around 1/2 an acre. It takes around 45 mins to an hour (depending upon how good I want it to look).

A lot of the cheaper ones aren't meant to be too well made, so you may want to look at a second hand one if you're concerned about the budget (I did and it's still going strong).

Otherwise as the other poster has said, out front gives you more flexibility (but if it's under the mower make sure it goes out sideways past the wheels), hydostatic is much better than fixed gears.

Most of them are made by one or two Italian companies anyway and badged differently.

Boiled-egg

Thanks Lads
That has given me food for thought!
Didnt even know about hydrostatic.
Eventually when all the lawn is down there will be about 3/4 Acre so ill probally go for a large cutting area.
Also is it a good idea to hold on to the normal push mower. I was thinking of useing this to do one lap around the edge and around the trees to give me a bit of working space with the ride on?
Regards
Boiled-egg

Redjeep!

Good idea.

The biggest balance will between a larger deck which will make cutting the open areas faster and a smaller deck which will get inbetween the flower beds, trees etc. It's handy to have a second smaller mower, or a decent strimmer, to do these bits that the main one can't.

mowers-ire

Its better to have mid mounted for collection, most domestic mower that have a mid mounted cutting deck are collection, you will find most out front decks have no collection just side discharge or mulch.. so it down to what you would like !!


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