Looking at BX1880, 60"mmm?

[beex]

Looking at BX1880, 60"mmm?

Here's a good quick look at the 54" vs 60" decks. Kinda made me think otherwise about sticking with the 54" and just going for the 60" if possible.



54" vs 60" MMM Decks

Niels videos are great, but sometimes he misses some details, like in this video.

Here he convinces you that the float feature of the 60” makes it follow the terrain better. This is misleading, or I should say, not true. The BX mower is a suspended deck. With a suspended deck, the tractor foot print relative to the deck size is a bigger factor on contour following than the tilt deck feature or lack there of.

The anti-scalp wheels are not supposed to be on the ground on non-contoured terrain, on neither the 60” for the 54”. The anti-scalp wheels will contact the ground when the deck is spanning concave terrain. The 60” being 6” wider this is going to happen much earlier than the 54”. So the 60” needs more deck tilting than the 54.

By the time the wheels make contact, your already going to have an uneven cut before you get to the point where the deck tilts. The BX is a relatively narrow, 48” foot print machine, better suited for a 54 on convex terrain than a 60”.

If your tilting the deck on your 60” your going to get uneven cuts, better off with a wider machine , 55” foot print, or a ground contact deck, or a narrower deck.




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[PaulL]

I think he's saying the 54inch is rigidly fixed to the chassis, the 60 inch with a spring, so the 60 inch can pivot more. Which is true enough.

 

[beex]

Looking at BX1880, 60"mmm?

I think he's saying the 54inch is rigidly fixed to the chassis, the 60 inch with a spring, so the 60 inch can pivot more. Which is true enough.

right, got that, point was, the 60 needs to pivot more than the 54 for contour following because of the 48” bx footprint., 54” on a 48” tractor doesn’t need to pivot, the 60” does.

He’s trying to say, if your choosing between the 2, you and your worried about contour following, go with the 60. That’s incorrect, you’ll get better performance on contour following with the 54” regardless of tilt feature.


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[PaulL]

I thought he was saying "you'd assume the 60 inch is worse, but here's this extra feature that you may not know about, and that changes things a bit."

 

[RyanG]

Pretty much from what I've found is if theres any change in elivation between one edge of the deck to the other it's going to cut uneven. Which makes sense since it can't follow every nook and cranny. However with the smaller deck you can minimize the space between so it'll look more even. I guess the big thing to take away from it is the deck is just allowed to move more, so if the terrain is uneven, you won't end up bending the deck or getting it wedged in esier.

In all honesty I'm not sure how much it'll make a difference for overall cut time with the 54-60" Using a quick calculator there isn't much time difference even at 4acres. It ends up being ~12min difference. Factor in mowing around things with the smaller deck being a little quicker, it'll most likley end up being an under 10min difference.
Sounds like I'm talking myself out of the 60" deck haha.

54" deck
60" deck

 

[beex]

I’ve done a lot a grass cutting with different machines, the best quality with 60” decks are ground contact decks, casters at the edge of the cut, a lot of suction an good discharge opening. Then the tractor foot print doesn’t matter.

The disadvantage of ground contact is the decks get beat up more. The BX suspend is a nice deck, doesn’t get beat up, but not as good cut quality as ground contact.


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[PaulL]

It's not clear that cutting around things is slower with the larger deck. It sticks out further, which has the effect of you being able to effectively turn sharper (the deck reaches closer to the centre of the turning circle), and it reaches further under things.

I agree 6 inches more is only 10% more. But we all know bigger is better.

The biggest difference to my mowing efficiency was when I saw online the turning circle is adjustable, and many BX come mis-adjusted. I adjusted the turning stops, and turns out my BX was previously turning much sharper one way than the other, and I'd never noticed before looking. Really easy to adjust.

 

[Missouribound]

Let me ask you this. Will mowing be the primary use of this tractor?
If time is a consideration, perhaps a zero turn would be a better choice than a mower for your tractor. I have a 60" for my B2320 and always used a small lawn tractor to trim before pulling the big tractor out. But I recently bought a zero-turn and I can cut the grass faster than with the large tractor.
My mower dealer told me that it would but I didn't believe it since I can get going fairly fast with the B. But after having it for about two weeks I am sure that the zero-turn is much faster.
I know how nice it is to have one machine that can do it all but I thought I would just throw it out there.

 

[beex]

there is no debate in the pro grass cutting industry, zero turns are way faster than tractors, the 60” walk behinds with the sulky wheel is probably faster than a tractor too.


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[RyanG]

I do agree a zero turn would be faster overall. Just not really in the budget for 2 units, and I do use the tractor part a lot. But that would probably be idea to have a zero turn as well as a tractor for the actual tractor stuff. Might be something for down the road, then just sell the mower deck.

 

[RyanG]

Hey guys I wanted to give an update on this. Stopped by Messik's this weekend and spoke to Neil a bit. They can do the 60"mmm on the BX1880 like I had hoped. They also didn't see a reason it wouldn't have enough power to run one etc. The upcharge was $200 to go from the 54" to the 60" which isn't bad at all.

So the outcome is yes the 60"mmm will fit the stock BX1880 and should be no issue for someone who wants to run one for about $200 more.

 

[Captaincj]

Good to know Ryan. I was debating myself of a 54" vs 60" on my new BX2380.

Cut the lawn now about 6-7 times with the Kubota 60"mmm on the BX2380 and am VERY happy with it. Very nice cut.

Christopher Johnson

 

[RyanG]

Welp, I bit the bullet this weekend and ordered a tractor up. I ended up picking it up at Erb & Henry's. I'll make a post after it's been delivered then to give the low down on what I found comparing prices etc.

Ended up getting the BX2380 instead of the 1880 as planned. Ended up being able to afford the bigger tractor so I figured it was worth the little extra to just get the better outfitted version.

 

[B737]

great news Ryan. the guys over at Erb & Henry are an great bunch, and (in my experience) have always been treated very fairly by them. keep us posted

 

[beex]

congrads, you’ll be happy with it, hope you got the loader too, Should be against the law to sell a bx without the loader.


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[RyanG]

congrads, you’ll be happy with it, hope you got the loader too, Should be against the law to sell a bx without the loader.


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Yup pretty much the only reason I'm buying one! Wanted it for around the house stuff and plowing snow this winter. Little larger mower helps as well since I have a 54" at the moment and mow around 4.5 acres.
-BX2380
-FEL with skid steer attach
-60"MMM
-Mulching Kit
-Wheel weights
-Aftermarket plow for skid steer attach

 

[dlundblad]

I was going to post something you probably would not have wanted to hear.. the 60 inch mmm being too big for an 18 horse, but I saw you stepped it up to a 23. Good move IMO.

I am sure it can be done, but I would personally want the smallest deck possible with the 18, which IIRC is a 48. On a 54 vs a 60, youre only gaining 1 pass for every 12. I mow around 3.5-4 acres and that gain wouldnt be enough for me to justify a potentially oversized deck/ under powered tractor. You could very well end up having to go slower and thus save you no time at all.

 

[92merc]

I am sure it can be done, but I would personally want the smallest deck possible with the 18, which IIRC is a 48. On a 54 vs a 60, youre only gaining 1 pass for every 12. I mow around 3.5-4 acres and that gain wouldnt be enough for me to justify a potentially oversized deck/ under powered tractor. You could very well end up having to go slower and thus save you no time at all.

The one thing that is different on the 60" is it has a spring loaded mechanism to allow the deck to tilt left to right. The 54 and 48 don't have that. So when you hit some uneven dirt, the 60 inch will handle it better.

BTW, the green machine doesn't have that spring loaded a part either. This is one reason I have a 2680 with 60" on order.

 

[RyanG]

Yup i've heard from a few people that the 60" seems to cut nicer overall then the 54" I'm not sure about the 48". Definitly excited to get back on something orange to cut grass!

 

[BX23S-1]

Ryan,
I have the BX23s with the 60" mmm, and love it. Best mowing deck i`ve ever used.

Congrats on the new BX2380, you made the right choices with everything you bought.

Can`t wait to see all the pictures of it!!!