Operating RPM for Belly Mower

[laketractor]

This is my first post so sorry if I screw it up. I am the proud owner of a BX2370. One of the attachments I use is a 60" Belly Mower. I can not find, in either the tractor or mower manuals, the suggested operating rmps for the tractor when using this mower. Any help?

 

[85Hokie]

This is my first post so sorry if I screw it up. I am the proud owner of a BX2370. One of the attachments I use is a 60" Belly Mower. I can not find, in either the tractor or mower manuals, the suggested operating rmps for the tractor when using this mower. Any help?

This has been covered several times here .....but the real answer lies within the tip speed of the blades, those three blades are moving in a circle at a certain feet per second, slower than that - the grass is not cut but rather, bruised and torn. To get the tip speed where it should be - the engineers design the PTO of the tractor to get to the correct tip speed of the blade.....all that being said, you will most likely get the best cut and proper toss of the dead grass at 85%-100% WOT ........

on your machine - something like 2800-3000 rpms ....you will feel it in your seat and see the results when the speed is just right, this also includes travel speed over the grass.

As has been talked about too - dont baby that tractor once it is broken in, run it as it should be......not putting around!

 

[skeets]

Hokie is telling you true ,,, WOT,, Wide Open Throttle ,, Lugging the motor will do a lot more harm than good. Your ground speed will change as well but you can control that with your foot control. Another thing if you baby it you will get a ton of grass and crud built up under the MMM and come fall its a PIA to clean it all out for storage, when it run WOT the grass and debris are thrown out the chute. Engage the PTO with the motor at idle and once the MMM is up and running raise the engine speed, Then have fun,,, errr I mean work ,,yeah that's it work

 

[laketractor]

Thank you gentlemen, only have about 100 hrs. on tractor and I have a lot to learn. My lot slopes toward a large lake and the front end loader and I had our moments, sometimes wish I had bought a little bigger tractor. Recently purchased a 3 pt. hitch draw bar that made pulling anything a breeze. Only wish I had bought this BX2370 20 yrs. ago. Of course I couldn't afford it then.

Life is good if you don't weaken.

 

[TripleR]

It should be somewhere in your manual, the ones on my BX2200 and BX2660 do. There are just a few RPMs difference between the MMM and rear PTO, but I just split the difference and run at 3000 on the 2660 and peg it on the 2200 as it doesn't have a tach.

There are those who claim a good cut and better fuel consumption at a slower RPM and I won't disagree with them, this is just what works for me.

 

[skeets]

A lot of guys remove the FEL when mowing, its really not hard to take off and put on,, and you should think about loading the rear tires, and always run up and down your grades as much as you can. If you are running with the FEL on keep it as low to the ground as you can, running with it up in the air makes the little tractor a bit on the unstable side if on a slope

 

[armylifer]

My lawn thin and very dry during the mid to late summer. I find that because I am not cutting anything deep or thick that I do not need to run high RPMs to get the grass cut. I keep the RPMs at 2400 when mowing most of the time except in the early part of the mowing season when the grass is green.

The RPM that you run really just depends on what kind of grass that you are cutting. Just be sure that you are not lugging the engine and you should be okay at any RPM 2400 and up.

 

[Gordie]

I called around to get a quote on filling the rear tires and accidentally got the dealer owner on the phone. He told me I was supposed to get wheel weights when I got the FEL. So I went and picked them up - WORLD of difference that little bit of weight makes on this narrow tractor little tractor! I also sourced some 2" extenders but not sure if it's appropriate to give the link here. Be careful if you have the 60" belly mower because the anti-scalping wheels can get in the way/damaged if you take the back wheels out too far.
-- sorry, I meant for this to go under laketractor's post --

 

[tthorkil]

-- sorry, I meant for this to go under laketractor's post --

To respond to a specific post click on the 'Quote' icon at the bottom right of that post - you can then shorten the quote to be more specific.

 

[Orangeglow]

I,ve got the BX2370 and I run mine at 3K RPM, on the tach. A good friend of mine just bought a BX2380, and is tach shows the range for his tractor is between 3200 and 3400. To bad ours weren,t marked the same way as the BX2380 from the factory. It would save a lot of guessing.

 

[Gordie]

To respond to a specific post click on the 'Quote' icon at the bottom right of that post - you can then shorten the quote to be more specific.

Thank you!

 

[BManFX4]

I run mine at 3200 RPM and it delivers a nice clean cut.

 

[PNWBXer]

I,ve got the BX2370 and I run mine at 3K RPM, on the tach. A good friend of mine just bought a BX2380, and is tach shows the range for his tractor is between 3200 and 3400. To bad ours weren,t marked the same way as the BX2380 from the factory. It would save a lot of guessing.

I've got a BX2380....and the PTO range on the tachometer (3200-3400) is for the 540 RPM on the rear PTO. The Mid PTO is rated at 2500RPM. I'm not sure if the labeled "540" range on the tact correlates to 2500 RPM for the MID PTO or not...but I assume it's close. I'm guessing they labeled the Tact so you can run rear PTO implements to spec. Seems the Mid PTO is more guess work with a wider RPM range.
In another Front Snowblower discussion.....some guys were running lower RPM (2000-2500) in light dry snow with no problems......then guys crawling very slowly at Full throttle couldn't throw wet heavy snow very well......so I guess it depends on what others have pointed out..ie conditions...implement...etc.

The MMM (Mid Mount Mower for the OP (original poster lol)) manual says to run full throttle for best results. I do that but the other day I was thinking I could lower the RPMs a little bit because the conditions were optimal (dty) and wasn't cutting really thick grass and I wasn't going very fast (due to the slope)....so it would make sense to throttle back to save some fuel..(tho this thing sips Diesel as it is).