I will never go back

37chief

Well-known Member
Location
California
I started my mowing business over 30 years ago, with a MF TO 20, with a 5 ft mowing deck. Then I got a 6 ft Woods rotary mower. Boy I was cutting weeds like crazy. If the weeds weren't too thick, then I could only take a 1/2 a cut. Later I got a MF 231 that pulled the 6 ft woods just fine. About 15 years later I bought a JD 401B Industrial, and later found an 8 ft flail mower. Every time I use it, I'm amazed what a good job it does. After 15 years of the other butt Bustin tractors I will never go back to full time rotary mowers, and stick with my comfortable JD. What have some of you used and will never go back too? Stan
 
Great question so I will toss my answers out there

If I have lots of trees, lawnscapes, objects, odd shaped yards to mow, lots of turns, NO hills, NO big wide open easy fields to mow

I after using about every make model and style out there, went with a Zero Turn mower and never going back as it greatly reduces mowing time versus a tractor steering mower

Note however. If I have big wide open huge lots with not too many trees and stuff to mow around not a bunch of turns, then I prefer a tractor with a belly mower or 3 pt

Instead of limiting myself to only one style of favorite mower one size fits all, I prefer what’s best for the particular land, sounds reasonable to me as I like options. Of course to each their own choice of mowers be it the best or fastest or not!!! Let the people mow how they choose in peace lol a one size fits all doesn’t work well if there are several different conditions yet people should enjoy whatever style of mower or tractors they choose I do Except by the end of august it’s gettin less fun grrrr

John T
 
Last edited:
I started my mowing business over 30 years ago, with a MF TO 20, with a 5 ft mowing deck. Then I got a 6 ft Woods rotary mower. Boy I was cutting weeds like crazy. If the weeds weren't too thick, then I could only take a 1/2 a cut. Later I got a MF 231 that pulled the 6 ft woods just fine. About 15 years later I bought a JD 401B Industrial, and later found an 8 ft flail mower. Every time I use it, I'm amazed what a good job it does. After 15 years of the other butt Bustin tractors I will never go back to full time rotary mowers, and stick with my comfortable JD. What have some of you used and will never go back too? Stan
I will never go back to a sickle mower or a side delivery rake. Give me the disc mower and rotary rake.
 
I switched to a MOCO swather 3 or 4 years age. I never plan on go back to a sickle. Best move I made.
 
I'll never go back to a sickle bar mower. I have had the New Holland 489 MOCO for several years. two years ago sold IH 1100 and 1300 sickle bars, both needed a bit of tlc. It was a happy day when someone else took possession. Mowing hay was a frustrating time with the sickle bar mowers. gobble
 
+1 for a rotary rake for me. It'll always be a rotary for me from now on; I wouldn't ever want to go back to a rolabar rake. If my current rotary ever broke down, it's probably the only piece of equipment where I'd likely go out and buy brand new, even though we have Deere, NH, and Massey rolabar rakes sitting in the shed.

It's unsusual, as it's something I would never have even considered a problem
before trying a rotary. Same with the Deere 1209 haybine. Nothing strictly wrong with it; it didn't really have any notable problems. Yet I'd never go back to using a 1209 after having used NH's and an IH from the same era.
 
I've had two Bushhog 3008 twin spindle rotary mowers, down to one as I am downsizing my operation. 5mph with an 8' cut, up to 3 acres per hour, they have been a real money maker for me.
 
The first mower I bought for my Ford 4000 row crop was a 4 foot brush hog. It was appropriate, given the state of the property we just bought, but it didn't do a good job on grass and of course it was a couple of feet too narrow for the tractor. So I bought an old Mott F6 six foot flail mower and used it for about 20 years. Flail mowers do a great job, although my tractor tends to tear up the turf and isn't good mowing around trees. I used the flail mower out in the open areas where there aren't many trees and a Craftsman lawn tractor around the house.

About ten years ago I bought a ZTR and I'm not going back to the flail mower or lawn tractor. The ZTR does a better, faster job than the lawn tractor, and it's just as fast as the flail and cuts about as nice. The ZTR is so fast I save at least a couple of hours a week mowing. And I don't have to mess around with switching implements on my tractor. I haven't used the Mott since I bought my ZTR, and our property is cleared out enough I seldom use the brush hog.
 
Great question so I will toss my answers out there

If I have lots of trees, lawnscapes, objects, odd shaped yards to mow, lots of turns, NO hills, NO big wide open easy fields to mow

I after using about every make model and style out there, went with a Zero Turn mower and never going back as it greatly reduces mowing time versus a tractor steering mower

Note however. If I have big wide open huge lots with not too many trees and stuff to mow around not a bunch of turns, then I prefer a tractor with a belly mower or 3 pt

Instead of limiting myself to only one style of favorite mower one size fits all, I prefer what’s best for the particular land, sounds reasonable to me as I like options. Of course to each their own choice of mowers be it the best or fastest or not!!! Let the people mow how they choose in peace lol a one size fits all doesn’t work well if there are several different conditions yet people should enjoy whatever style of mower or tractors they choose I do Except by the end of august it’s gettin less fun grrrr

John T
I like my Bad Boy zero turn, wife likes her JD GT235 riding mower.
So she gets the bigger open areas, while I do the orchard, grape vines, berries, etc.
We mow to our strengths
 
Won’t ever be going back to the wal mart push mower when we lived in town. I have never seen something that small put out that much smoke. Thought I’d save money and not get the power assist.
 
I guess what I don't understand is why people keep buying those zero turns with the two bars for steering? I have a Country Clipper with the joy stick, and I love it! Spent a lot of time on a twin stick Exmark cutting my sister in laws lawn, like the joy stick lots better!
 
I started my mowing business over 30 years ago, with a MF TO 20, with a 5 ft mowing deck. Then I got a 6 ft Woods rotary mower. Boy I was cutting weeds like crazy. If the weeds weren't too thick, then I could only take a 1/2 a cut. Later I got a MF 231 that pulled the 6 ft woods just fine. About 15 years later I bought a JD 401B Industrial, and later found an 8 ft flail mower. Every time I use it, I'm amazed what a good job it does. After 15 years of the other butt Bustin tractors I will never go back to full time rotary mowers, and stick with my comfortable JD. What have some of you used and will never go back too? Stan
Had a Mott Flail on my first 8n. Changed to this and would never go back. Then changed to this and retired the 8n.
0702181332_Burst01.jpg
0404201002.jpg
 
Last edited:
A tractor without power steering. I added power steering to my IH 300u-what a difference. I was about to almost quit using it, and I have been running it since I was 8yrs old. Mark.
 
I started my mowing business over 30 years ago, with a MF TO 20, with a 5 ft mowing deck. Then I got a 6 ft Woods rotary mower. Boy I was cutting weeds like crazy. If the weeds weren't too thick, then I could only take a 1/2 a cut. Later I got a MF 231 that pulled the 6 ft woods just fine. About 15 years later I bought a JD 401B Industrial, and later found an 8 ft flail mower. Every time I use it, I'm amazed what a good job it does. After 15 years of the other butt Bustin tractors I will never go back to full time rotary mowers, and stick with my comfortable JD. What have some of you used and will never go back too? Stan
I made the switch from vintage Ford tractors of various models to Kubotas (5) about 10 years ago and never looked back until I sold the farm this spring.
 
I made the switch from vintage Ford tractors of various models to Kubotas (5) about 10 years ago and never looked back until I sold the farm this spring.
I sometimes feel nostalgic for our old 8n (long ago gone), and also my IH 300u, which I still have and use, but really prefer, as I age, modern equipment with fast hydraulics. Mark.
 
I like my Bad Boy zero turn, wife likes her JD GT235 riding mower.
So she gets the bigger open areas, while I do the orchard, grape vines, berries, etc.
We mow to our strengths
Same for me. I prefer which ever mower is best for the job be it ztr or tractor mower.

John T
 
Totally agree about the improvement of having power steering. Switched to stub guards on an IH 1300 mower. Would never go back to the double or the single rock guards. Cuts much faster without clogging.
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top