Big Finishing Mower

[WNYBill]

I am thinking of getting a big finishing mower, seven or eight foot. Anybody got some experience to share with me? The 8 footers use 5 blades, seems like a lot of moving parts. The seven footers use 3, thirty inch blades so they are deep.

Bill

 

[Adirondack case guy]

I think you are going to do a lot of scalping. I do enough with my 60" on my Kubota B2150.
Loren

 

[John in Mich]

You have not said what you plan to use for power, what size area that you plan to mow and how level it is.
I used a Woods RM 600 (72") mower for years and I was very satisfied with it. My Ford 8N and then my Jubilee handled it very well. I bought a 84" mower and it was too large. My 3 acre yard was layed out to handle 6'very well.

 

[WNYBill]

Got lots of tractor, a 50 hp and a 70 hp. I am using a 8ft twin blade brush hog type mower and it does not do a good job, doesn't pick up the gras that has been run over. My old JD 7 foot tow type finishing mower finally died. Lawn is smooth and suitable for a bigger than 6 ft mower.

 

[johnofnewhaven]

As others said you might do a lot of scalping with a 7-8 foot. The bigger you go the flatter your ground needs to be. I have a 7' 5 blade that I run behind my Ford 3000. Takes 3 hp minimum per foot for a finish mower. I use mine to mow my 5 acre yard so I mow it often. Keep it greased, belts at proper tension, blades sharp, gear box at proper oil level and they will run trouble free for a long time. Couple things to consider are pneumatic tires or hard tires, anti scalp rollers, floating hitch (not even sure they make them without a floating hitch anymore), and sway bars on your three point hitch. Without sway bars they tend to "walk" side to side. Also side or rear discharge. Mine is a rear discharge and does a great job.

 

[WESnIL]

Years ago I had a Woods RM-990 as I recall. It was an excellent mower and did a great job of mowing with rear discharge. Mine had front and rear discharge chains and would not operate one without them. It also had gauge wheels on all 4 corners, a must in my opinion. Wish I still had a use for it but sold it as shed space is at a premium. I kept the blades sharp and it had a nice zing sound when mowing. I don't know the quality of the newer Woods mowers but would buy another one if similar to the one I owned.