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Post by shootsa410 on Jul 31, 2006 8:27:40 GMT -5
I'm considering buying a 5 head reel gang mower. I know golf courses have used these type mowers but I don't see many anymore. Has anyone had any experiences with these mowers? Can you tell me advantages/disadvantages of using them. I've been looking at the five head with a total cutting width of 6' 10 ". ProMow says it only requires 10 hp to pull the unit, both my tractors are 25 HP. It takes me anywhere from 2 1/2 - 3 hours to mow my lawn and 99% of the lawn is flat. Only obstacles I have are the pool, small barn and five trees that I need to mow around.
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Post by hornharvester on Jul 31, 2006 8:51:18 GMT -5
I used to work at a golf course and these reel mowers are great but when they need to be sharpened and it takes a special machine to do that. We had a machine at the course to do it our selfs. Id check around and see if you can find anyone to do this before buying one. They do work great for big areas. I mow with a 40 hp IH with a 6 foot Woods finish mower on the back. It hooks up on the 3-pt hitch. I mow about 3 1/2 acres in 1 1/2 hrs. When i bought this mower it was around $1200.00 . h.h.
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Post by tusti on Jul 31, 2006 10:20:02 GMT -5
"Only obstacles I have are the pool, "
You have a pool???
I'll be right over. :>)
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Post by mudstrider on Jul 31, 2006 10:40:20 GMT -5
I've heard that you can't let the grass/weeds get tall as it will lay down in front of the reel instead of getting cut.
Have you considered a ZTR. For time savings, it's hard to beat a ZTR. When I got my 6 footer, it cut my mowing time in half!
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Post by shootsa410 on Jul 31, 2006 11:30:26 GMT -5
I did look at the ZTR mowers until I looked at the price compared to the reel mowers. This is for my lawn and I try not to let it grow too high. If that does happen because of only being too wet to mow I can use one of the riders to get it back under control. So far all the research I've done (price, maintenance, cutting ability and speed). I'll continue with the research and find out about sharpening the blades but if I do get one I may even go for the 7 head (9' 8").
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Post by chicobrownbear on Jul 31, 2006 12:05:04 GMT -5
If you have the time to keep up with the mowing, they are awesome. IMO, reel mowers give the finest cut achievable. If you don't keep up with the grass, the reel mower will be useless just like mudstrider said. The sharpening issue will be just that, but kits are available for about 50 or 60 bucks.
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Post by jcceadotcom on Jul 31, 2006 12:19:32 GMT -5
If your looking at slicing your cut time and want a reel type cutter look into one of these... Storage might be an issue though. homepages.wmich.edu/~k0meert/interest.htmlDont forget to look at the bottom of the page... waterfowling interest only! |
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Post by danf on Jul 31, 2006 19:15:42 GMT -5
My grandfather works part time at a course in Tippecanoe County. He brought home a mower a few years ago that the course was getting rid of. It's a pull-behind that runs off of the PTO. It has 7 (I think?) 21" mowers that are all hooked together and run off of a belt driven by the PTO gearbox. He put turf tires on his old Allis Chalmers D17 and pulls it with that. I would help them mow during the summers as a kid. It took three of us 5 hours to mow everything; now they've got it down to less than 2 hours with two of them.  Grandma runs a 6 foot deck Toro Groundsmaster and trims with that, Grandpa runs the 'ole Allis! If you've got a live PTO, you might want to check into something like what Grandpa brought home. It won't bog down like a reel mower and maintenance would certainly be easier... If you don't have a live PTO, you can pick up an older tractor like a Ford 8N for under $2-3k and put turf tires on it for around $600-700... An old Allis WD like mine would run around $1000-1200, turf tires about the same. Just a thought. |
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Grandma runs a 6 foot deck Toro Groundsmaster and trims with that, Grandpa runs the 'ole Allis!