Finish Mower

[JNT]

I’m new to the group and new to Kubota. I recently purchased a 2015 L3301 HST with FEL with only 120 hours. The property I mow is rather hilly with some pretty steep grades (20%-30% grades). The tractor easily handles my 5’ Douglas brand finish mower. I wanted to try to reduce my seat time, so I purchased a Woods 72” PRD model finish mower. I was disappointed when I tried to mow with the 72” finish mower that the tractor bogged down significantly when trying to mow going up the grade. It handled just fine on flat surface or going across the grade.
Should this have been the expected outcome? I couldn’t even tell the tractor was working when mowing with my 60” finish mower. I really didn’t think moving up to a 72” would make that much of a difference.
Also, I try to keep my lawn mowed, so I’m not trying to cut extremely tall grass.
Guessing I should just stick with my 60” mower, or does it sound like there could be something wrong with the tractor itself? Thanks for any input.

 

[mcmxi]

Congratulations on your L3301. According to Kubota, your tractor under optimal conditions puts out 26hp at the PTO. The Woods 72" PRD lists PTO input as 20-40hp so you're close to the bottom end of the range. Add in that the Woods weighs over 700lb and your terrain and your experience is not uncommon.

Before moving up to 60hp+ tractors, I had a BX25, and when moving dirt it could barely get around on my hilly property. HP buys you headroom and options when the tractor is loaded down with liquid ballast, wheel weights, implements, FEL etc.

 

[JNT]

Congratulations on your L3301. According to Kubota, your tractor under optimal conditions puts out 26hp at the PTO. The Woods 72" PRD lists PTO input as 20-40hp so you're close to the bottom end of the range. Add in that the Woods weighs over 700lb and your terrain and your experience is not uncommon.

Before moving up to 60hp+ tractors, I had a BX25, and when moving dirt it could barely get around on my hilly property. HP buys you headroom and options when the tractor is loaded down with liquid ballast, wheel weights, implements, FEL etc.

Thank you for the feedback. I’ll just plan to stick with my 60” mower. The tractor has been great and definitely an upgrade from the old ford 16hp 3 cylinder . I was just surprised and a little disappointed when the tractor was laboring significantly pulling the 72” mower up grade.

 

[mcmxi]

Thank you for the feedback. I’ll just plan to stick with my 60” mower. The tractor has been great and definitely an upgrade from the old ford 16hp 3 cylinder . I was just surprised and a little disappointed when the tractor was laboring significantly pulling the 72” mower up grade.

It can be a hard and expensive lesson to learn. An implement manufacturer wants you to buy their stuff, so they're not going to provide data for every scenario which might actually steer you away from being a customer. The 20hp end of the scale is most likely under ideal conditions, i.e. flat ground on a cool day and a following wind!

I've never owned an L3301 but what range are you in when mowing? Also, think of the HST pedal as a gear shift. The more you press the pedal, it's kind of equivalent to being in a higher gear. So maybe play with range selection and pedal input before you give up on the Woods. It might be that you want to change ranges mowing up hill vs. mowing downhill. If you're passes are long enough that might be acceptable to you.

Out of interest, do you know the weight of the Douglas?

 

[PoTreeBoy]

Sounds like the added weight is a significant factor. There's a slight rise in our road, when I'm going up in high gear, both tractors noticeably labor. Thinking about it, they both outweigh my truck but with 35-50 hp instead of 100+.

Does the added area you cut on the level outweigh the loss of slowing to go up the hill (at least you don't have to downshift)? Is the cut as good with the wider deck?

 

[mcmxi]

This doesn't help you, but most of us don't get the chance to try out an implement before we buy it. I have a hilly property and a few months ago bought a new and expensive Land Pride RC3712 which is a 12ft folding cutter (batwing/flexwing). According to the spec sheet, it weighs 3,730lb and is rated for 50 - 160hp tractors. I wasn't sure if the M6060 with 63.5hp (engine) and 56hp (PTO) would handle it on the hills at my place, and no one could tell me if it'd work out, but the M6060 pulls it with ease in mid range and 3rd gear.

There's no doubt in my mind that the MX6000 would struggle pulling that cutter around my place. I could use the MX at my friend's place, but the M is so much more capable and more comfortable so I'm not even going to try. I use the Del Morino flail and Land Pride RCR1884 behind the MX which it handles with ease.

My point is that sometimes it's a crap shoot and we're at the mercy of implement manufacturers, tractor manufactures and folks on forums.

 

[D2Cat]

You've already purchased the mower so how does your tractor do if you didn't take a full 6' swath? Perhaps you could take less then a full cut when on hills and use the full width otherwise?

 

[Elliott in GA]

You could also try some Low Lift blades, presuming it came with Medium lift as standard equipment. The Low Lift blades would require a bit less power, but the cut quality might suffer a small amount.

However, I agree with the above idea of varying your cut path to account for terrain.

 

[JNT]

It can be a hard and expensive lesson to learn. An implement manufacturer wants you to buy their stuff, so they're not going to provide data for every scenario which might actually steer you away from being a customer. The 20hp end of the scale is most likely under ideal conditions, i.e. flat ground on a cool day and a following wind!

I've never owned an L3301 but what range are you in when mowing? Also, think of the HST pedal as a gear shift. The more you press the pedal, it's kind of equivalent to being in a higher gear. So maybe play with range selection and pedal input before you give up on the Woods. It might be that you want to change ranges mowing up hill vs. mowing downhill. If you're passes are long enough that might be acceptable to you.

Out of interest, do you know the weight of the Douglas?

Thank you. I was mowing in low range basically moving as slow as possible with the finish mower set to mow at its highest level, but was still too much for my tractor.
Im not completely sure how much the 60” Douglas mower weighs, but it is significantly lighter than the 72” Woods mower.

 

[JNT]

Sounds like the added weight is a significant factor. There's a slight rise in our road, when I'm going up in high gear, both tractors noticeably labor. Thinking about it, they both outweigh my truck but with 35-50 hp instead of 100+.

Does the added area you cut on the level outweigh the loss of slowing to go up the hill (at least you don't have to downshift)? Is the cut as good with the wider deck?

Most of the mowing I do has to be up and down the grade.

 

[mcmxi]

Thank you. I was mowing in low range basically moving as slow as possible with the finish mower set to mow at its highest level, but was still too much for my tractor.
Im not completely sure how much the 60” Douglas mower weighs, but it is significantly lighter than the 72” Woods mower.

Out of interest, how does your tractor pull the Woods mower up hill without the PTO running, and then with the PTO running but not actually cutting grass? This will tell you if the issue is the weight, and if so, under what conditions.

The recommendations to cut a narrower swath won't help if the issue is the weight of the cutter and the angle of the incline. 20% to 30% is kind of steep.

 

[JNT]

You've already purchased the mower so how does your tractor do if you didn't take a full 6' swath? Perhaps you could take less then a full cut when on hills and use the full width otherwise?

The added weight and size of the mower and the grade of the hill unfortunately causes the tractor to bog down when going up the hill with the PTO engaged even if I’m mowing over a section that has already been mowed.

 

[JNT]

Out of interest, how does your tractor pull the Woods mower up hill without the PTO running, and then with the PTO running but not actually cutting grass? This will tell you if the issue is the weight, and if so, under what conditions.

The recommendations to cut a narrower swath won't help if the issue is the weight of the cutter and the angle of the incline. 20% to 30% is kind of steep.

The tractor easily pulls the mower up the hill without the PTO engaged. However, with PTO engaged, it considerably bogs/labors….even if mowing over a path that has already been mowed.

 

[mcmxi]

The tractor easily pulls the mower up the hill without the PTO engaged. However, with PTO engaged, it considerably bogs/labors….even if mowing over a path that has already been mowed.

That's kind of what I was concerned about. The weight of the mower, plus the required hp input from the PTO, combined with your grades seems to be a bit much. I created a simple graphic showing 20° and 30° grades. That's quite a hill to climb even at 20°.

 

[TheOldHokie]

I’m new to the group and new to Kubota. I recently purchased a 2015 L3301 HST with FEL with only 120 hours. The property I mow is rather hilly with some pretty steep grades (20%-30% grades). The tractor easily handles my 5’ Douglas brand finish mower. I wanted to try to reduce my seat time, so I purchased a Woods 72” PRD model finish mower. I was disappointed when I tried to mow with the 72” finish mower that the tractor bogged down significantly when trying to mow going up the grade. It handled just fine on flat surface or going across the grade.
Should this have been the expected outcome? I couldn’t even tell the tractor was working when mowing with my 60” finish mower. I really didn’t think moving up to a 72” would make that much of a difference.
Also, I try to keep my lawn mowed, so I’m not trying to cut extremely tall grass.
Guessing I should just stick with my 60” mower, or does it sound like there could be something wrong with the tractor itself? Thanks for any input.

I have an L3901 and Woods RD7200 which is the same mower just a bit older. That mower should not be too much for your tractor to handle.

I mow plenty of steep slopes like that and I would expect your tractor to pull it just fine in low range. In mid range my L3901 will struggle on the really steep sections. You will have to keep engine speed at max when mowing steeper areas, be gentle on the HST pedal, and resort to low range if the engine starts bogging down in mid range.

Dan

 

[JNT]

That's kind of what I was concerned about. The weight of the mower, plus the required hp input from the PTO, combined with your grades seems to be a bit much. I created a simple graphic showing 20° and 30° grades. That's quite a hill to climb even at 20°.

View attachment 133044

Thank you and everyone else for your feedback. Yes, I would say the the grade would be 25-30 degree. I’m certainly still happy with the tractor. I was just looking to move to a bigger mower to help save a few minutes of mowing time.

 

[TheOldHokie]

Thank you and everyone else for your feedback. Yes, I would say the the grade would be 25-30 degree. I’m certainly still happy with the tractor. I was just looking to move to a bigger mower to help save a few minutes of mowing time.

Read my comments above. I mow 30* and worse with the loader on the tractor. The tractor wull lose traction before it stalls.

Dan

 

[mcmxi]

Read my comments above. I mow 30* and worse with the loader on the tractor. The tractor wull lose traction before it stalls.

Dan

I was mowing in low range basically moving as slow as possible with the finish mower set to mow at its highest level, but was still too much for my tractor.

Perhaps there is an issue with the tractor given the comment above.

 

[Elliott in GA]

FWIW, I mow with a LP FDR 1660 finish mower (about 100 lbs. less) set to maximum height (5.25 inches) with an LX2610 SU (about 8 HP less) with the loader on. I mow some relatively steep portions of a hill (up and down). The steep parts are not very large. My LX displays the PTO RPM numerically. During the turn and ascent on the steeper portions, my RPM will drop from the high 530s to the low 520s. It actually recovers to the high 530s once I am straight on the ascent. I sometimes cut spindly higher grass with my finish mower, but I am always cutting about 1 month from the last cut until winter (we visit our property in north Georgia every month). The field is a mix of grass and clover.

EDIT: I cut in M range, and I have ballast in my rear tires.

 

[mcmxi]

Thank you and everyone else for your feedback. Yes, I would say the the grade would be 25-30 degree. I’m certainly still happy with the tractor. I was just looking to move to a bigger mower to help save a few minutes of mowing time.

What's your elevation in Ohio? Any mountains there? How's your tractor set up? Do you have liquid ballast in your rear tires, wheel weights, front weights, etc. Just trying to help you figure out why @TheOldHokie has no issues with a similar mower, similar tractor and similar conditions.

I already made the point about the HST pedal, but your comment about being in low range and going as slowly as possible indicates that you don't have the pedal all the way to the floor.