Finish Mower

[TheOldHokie]

What's your elevation in Ohio? Any mountains there?

For reference I am mowing at 1500 - 1800 feet.

Dan

 

[JNT]

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

Dan

So my follow-up question would be….what RPM should I be mowing at? When I was trying out the mower, I was mowing with the needle gauge pointing at the 540 mark as that’s what I’ve always mowed at when mowing with my 60” mower. Should I be mowing with the tractor at full throttle?

 

[JNT]

For reference I am mowing at 1500 - 1800 feet.

Dan

Elevation is only about 800 feet.

 

[TheOldHokie]

So my follow-up question would be….what RPM should I be mowing at? When I was trying out the mower, I was mowing with the needle gauge pointing at the 540 mark as that’s what I’ve always mowed at when mowing with my 60” mower. Should I be mowing with the tractor at full throttle?

Firewall it on steep slopes and watch the tach when applying the HST.

Dan

 

[JNT]

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.

Thanks for your help. Correct, I don’t have the HST pedal to the floor. Yes, rear tires are filled for ballast and I was mowing with the FEL on the tractor. No front weights. While mowing, I had the RPM needle pointing to the 540 mark. The hill I was mowing on last night was every bit of 30 degree slope. It’s not a long hill (maybe 25-30 yards), but long enough to make the tractor labor and RPMs to drop….certainly not to the point of stalling the tractor, but enough to make me feel like it was working the tractor too hard.
Also @TheOldHokie has an L3901 and I have the 3301. I believe the 3901 is rated with 4-5 more HP at the PTO…not sure if that’s a significant enough difference to really matter or not? Thanks again!

 

[BBFarmer]

Interesting to hear this. My finish mower is 72" (fdr1672) and runs perfectly on our 2019 L3301 hst. Only bogs in the really thick stuff. If im cutting with the loader on, I can raise or lower it as needed with little to no change in tone from the engine. Never tried cutting up steep grades though. My pond dam is dangerously steep so I've always climbed it in reverse in 4wd and then cut down hill.

Now, when I cut in my newer L3560, It too only bogs when it's really doing some chewin. however, If I even brush the loader joystick it'll bog heavily. Something I was well aware it would do prior to purchasing being fully loaded with such little horsepower.

With that said, I only cut 13 acres of blueberries (majority of the time loader off) anyways and don't require many HPs, only good a/c and a frosty beverage. Also, you're probably way more experienced than me in the tractor seat (only been farmin since 19') so forgive my ignorance if you already know this, but make sure you're not cutting in medium or high and also not floorboardin the HST pushing her into relief. Made that mistake often in the beginning with my 3301.

Happy farmin brother

 

[SDT]

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.

Works well in conditions with 60" mower but not so well in same conditions with heavier and wider 72" mower?

You've answered your own question.

You have been expecting too much.

Nothing wrong with your tractor.

 

[SDT]

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
[/QUOTE

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?

Bingo.

Weight makes a big difference on hills.

OP will be able to improve performance by removing FEL and liquid ballast.

 

[TheOldHokie]

@TheOldHokie has an L3901 and I have the 3301. I believe the 3901 is rated with 4-5 more HP at the PTO…not sure if that’s a significant enough difference to really matter or not? Thanks again!

I have a few more ponies but my aging B7200DT is half yours and even with loaded rears and a loader it would pull that same mower on the same hills in 2nd gear.

I just mowed three full passes up this bank with the L3901 dtessed just like ypu see it and at rated PTO speef it never faltered.

Now go put your tractor in low range, put the engine speed control at max RPM, and go mow that hill.

Dan

 

[SDT]

Not sure what happened above.

Response was intended as reply to PoTreeBoy.

 

[chim]

I had an L3200 that should be similar to your tractor. It ran a 72" LandPride re3ar discharge well. No extra power, but it handled that RFM OK.

Tractor had liquid ballast in the rear and the FEL and its frame were always removed for mowing.

There's a big difference with regard to weight within a given width of mower.

Example - my Ford 1210 easily handles a 5' Caroni RFM. For a while I had that and a Kubota B7500 with a LandPride 5 footer. Out of curiosity I swapped the decks to see how they'd work on the other tractors. The Ford had a very tough time with the heavier LandPride deck and the Kubota handled as though there was nothing on the 3PH.

 

[hedgerow]

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 a friend that has run a 72 inch finish mower on a tractor with a lot less HP than yours for years with no issues. All he has is hills on his acreage. With that low of hours on that tractor it has set a lot. Maybe you have a fuel filter or a fuel strainer problem or a air filter issue.

 

[John D 2]

I remember reading on this forum about some tractors bogging down when mowing up steep hills. They removed the front end loaders and the tractor did a lot better.

Maybe try removing the loader and trying that. Between the tire ballast, the front-end loader, running the rear finish mower, and the steep hill you maybe at the top end of what your tractor can pull.

 

[JNT]

Thank you everyone for helping me figure this out. I went out this morning and removed the FEL and mowed up and down some of the steeper parts of my property. The tractor pulled the finish mower without any issues at all. The needle never moved from the 540 mark on the RPM gauge…even when mowing up the steepest part of the hills. Appears simply removing the FEL solved the problem. I would have never thought the FEL would cause the tractor to use that much HP, but it apparently does. Thanks again everyone!