60" Finish Mower on BX1870?

[JackJ]

I bought the smallest BX available (BX1870 at the time) because it was the only one that would take the 48" belly mower--I needed it to be narrow enough to get down trails that separate different parts of my property. It's been great.

But now I find myself regularly mowing a 2.5 acre lawn for a neighbor, and I'm wondering how big of a rear finish mower I can safely put on my little BX in order to get it done faster. I see Woods has a 54" model, but I'd want to go to at least 60" to justify the expense. (I'd be looking at used models.) The five footers seem to weigh about 600 pounds, so that's one issue--close to the lift capacity given their length. The other is that they're often rated for 15HP minimum, and the 1870 has just 13.7HP at the PTO.

I don't want to beat my little tractor into an early grave. On the other hand, I'd be cutting only lawn grass, and her land (unlike mine down the street) is completely flat. Though the grass will sometimes be fairly tall before I can get to it. And while I'd stick to low range, I'm sure I'd be cutting at top speed in that range.

Any insights? Practical experience with 5 foot finish mowers on low power tractors?

Thanks,
Jack

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Lawn grass on a finish mower requires a lot of HP because your contacting a lot of surface at one time.

A 60" mower has a min of 20HP required and your way under that.

So no you're not going to get it to work safely of efficiently.

 

[Daren Todd]

I mowed my yard for three years with a 60in finish mower on my 15hp L1501.

Worked fine. Only issue was you had to bump the rpms up a little over PTO speed to handle a thick over grown patch and slow down some. Only reason why I still don't use it, is because my wife wanted a dedicated mower so she could mow while I was out of town for work. Dedicated mower is a zero turn and does the yard in half the time

 

[JackJ]

Hmmm.... conflicting opinions from two voices I respect. I guess another data point on the "not a good idea" front is that this smallest BX isn't offered with a 60" MMM option; the flip side to that is that one of my local dealers was still selling them with 60" belly mowers since it was a popular combo, and they didn't see a problem with it.

But I suppose the greater weight, and the fact that it's pulled rather than suspended, makes a 3ph mower a bit more demanding HP wise than a mid mount.

I'll probably end up playing it safe and saving a few pennies by sticking with my current mower.

 

[gcmiller]

I have a B2910 HST with a 91" Caroni RFM. The tractor has a 22 HP PTO and the RFM is rated for 40+ HP. I'm not an expert enough to tell you this is perfectly OK, but this setup has been mowing a 5 acre pasture for 14 years now with zero issues. If I let the grass/weeds get too tall I need to slow down or use half the mower for that section, but that's about it.

Now the weight might be an issue when you are raising it up, but when you are mowing the 3PH should be all the way down, floating.

 

[RCW]

Jack - -

I can't really speak to the 60" RFM performance with your BX1870.

However, the 600 pounds will be a challenge without weight on the front end, such as a FEL or weights.

I recently had my Carry-All loaded to about that, and my BX2360 was doing wheelies without the FEL!

 

[JackJ]

Jack - -

I can't really speak to the 60" RFM performance with your BX1870.

However, the 600 pounds will be a challenge without weight on the front end, such as a FEL or weights.

I recently had my Carry-All loaded to about that, and my BX2360 was doing wheelies without the FEL!

Yeah, I always take my FEL off to mow, but I agree I should have something to balance all that weight during transport. She lives about a half mile up the road from me, and the road is in a sorry state such that I wouldn't want to be dragging the finish mower on its guide wheels the whole way.