turf tire question

[kyplowboy]

Ok I have a qestion here, please don't tell me I am the only one who has wondered this. My question is, how well do turf tires hold up on a tractor when used raking hay and such?

Here is the why, my soon to be wife says the yard needs to be kept up better than I have time to do. She says she is not ride'n my roll'n death trap of a snapper that you have to pull the spark plug wire off of to stop. She says she will mow the yard if I get her a new mower, yeah I know, I know. Thats what got me thank'n. She is a little bit scared of my 960 ford when I have had her drive it around but has said she would not mind something that was a little lower. My yard realy only needs to be mowed alot in the spring while it is muddy, normal ag tires tear it up. (yes I have mowed my yard with a bush hog before) I priced some of them nice 0 turn jobs and about messed my pants. The only thing I could think of is "we could get a realy nice 3600 and a 7' finishing mower for that". I don't realy want a tractor for just mow'n the yard but,,,, if I can use it for other things I would feel alot better bout it.

Thanks in advance.

Dave

 

[Anonymous-0]

If you have decent fences around yard and a gate- get 2 sheep/weaned lambs and let them take care of lawn. Have roast lamb for new years supper. sheepskin vests for cold weather. Other wise get set of wheels with low pressure fat turf treads and see how they work..

 

[Anonymous-0]

I have a NH TC29 with turf tires and a belly mower .I really can't tell any difference in the traction when I use it for lite field work.I do have FWD but I only use it with the blade while moving snow.
I have to take the mower off to rake hay but that no big problem.A 3pt,finish mower would be easier.

 

[kyplowboy]

I have told her I would get some goats to put in the front yard and she hit the fan, said we could put them in the back but not the front. I know turf tires will work good in the yard, I know alot of people who use little tractors to mow with that have'm. I just don't know any one who uses turf tires in a hay field. Just wondering if they would hold up geting used in hay stuble.

 

[Puller504]

Cub Cadet makes a Zero Turn Rider mower with a 60" mower deck for your needs. Less costly than a Professional grade machine like my Bobcat Z219 or a Scag Tiger Cub, but with proper maintenance and care will take care of your lawn for 20 years or so. A ZTR weighs 1/5 of a utility tractor. You stated you needed to mow whn it"s wet in the spring. Added bonus is your wife will love the efficient, professional looking job she"ll be doing and won"t let ou on the machine! Don

 

[Tx Jim]

I had a 3000 Ford that I customed raked hay with for several years. It had turf tires when I bought it and the tires did just fine. I think they wear better on highway than ag tires. Don't try to cross a mud hole btdt!!!!!!!! Jim

 

[Anonymous-0]

I would think they would be no problem with hay stubble, my friend has a 640 that has loaded turf tires, with chains on, gets good traction. Without chains might not be so good, but for raking hay, no problem.

An ideal mowing tractor (I always thought at least), great on the hills, one of those 2110 or 4110 fords or close variants thereof, low profile low center of gravity, with those wide turf tires, lot of schools and public works had them here, should be able to rake with one, nice 3 cyl diesel would be good on fuel. I've seen hundred series with belly mowers as well as earlier models, not sure if someone made them for thousand series, now thats a lawn mower, but if you're raking hay, you'll be better off with a 3 pt. finish mower, much easier to take off. Lower profile might not be good on a raised (once raked) windrow, depending on clearance.

My lawn is connected to a small field that I use the brush hog to cut, used to finish mow it, so I've considered the same thing for the lawn, but with the trees and obstacles, lawn tractor wins that argument here.


I can attest to getting stuck with turf tires, we had an international 460 utility, with a cab and hravy duty snow plow, 2 cylinders with down pressure, like a dozer blade, no 3 pt or pto, sure would push snow with chains on, did sink it once, and it was the usual jack up, put chains on, timbers down, that down pressure was handy to lift the front end, but boy once those tires sink it's over quick, was a high schooler then, think it was the first tractor I ever got stuck.

 

[kyplowboy]

Thanks, that's what I was wanting to hear, now I just have to tell her how much money we are going to save and how it will make the yard look better!!!!
Thanks again.

Dave

 

[Anonymous-0]

They will work just dont try mud. I dont blame the wife at all as nothing is pretter than a nice yard. Course im in favor of a nice B FARMALL with a 6ft WOODS and the tractor can do a lot of other small jobs on the farm. Raking hay would be great and she mite even help with that.

 

[TomH in PA]

I had a neighbor who used to mow his yard with a Farmall H. Six foot belly mower in fourth gear covers a lot of ground pretty fast. But if she's afraid of the 960 she probably wouldn't want anything to do with an H.

Those little Fords make nice looking mowers though. I'll bet if you shined one up and made it "her" tractor she would even help with the raking.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Better think about hydrostatic too. The wife may not let you back on it with that. Turf tires will do OK but may need to add some weight if it goes to slipping on hills in the hayfields.

 

[TyTX]

Last summer I made the plunge and bought a 48" Scagg ZTR and don't think I'll ever regret it. I can mow at nearly 10 mph and cut around a tree or post in one circle-pass. It cost me $5600 but saves me nearly 6 hrs. per week in mowing time. Over a typical 35 week season (south Texas) that saves me 25 work days of labor each year.

According to that my return on investment is two years. I'll have this machine a lot longer than that. It's built tough.