New Kubota L2501 ordered

I would stick with a 5 foot rotary cutter. I can speak from experience that a L 2501 will handle it well. You may have to slow down in really thick grass or tall brush, but it will chop it all up well. I have the LP 1860 (mid grade ) rotary cutter.

I mowed my neighbors field with the LP 1860 with Johnson grass almost hood height. My L2501 performed well. I was paid back with a strawberry ice cream pie. Took a week to eat it. Pretty good deal for me!

Ted,
Thanks for posting the chart. I notice they don't recommend the RCR1860 for my L2501 but that's what I purchased with it. It is only 121 pounds heavier than the RCR1260 but I have no problem running it. Looking in the RCR1860/1872 Owner Manual My L2501 is certainly within spec to run that cutter. I wonder if the chart is a guide for the dealer to use to bump customers up the the L3301 or L3901. My dealer likes the L2501 pointing out that it is the most sold compact tractor in Texas of any brand.


I would like to see a Youtuber do some comparison testing with the standard L series tractors to see what the real world difference is.

No reason not to run a 6 foot cutter if you're mowing high and what you're cutting is thin. It'll bog if you try to run it at ground level on thick grass, but sounds like that's not your intention.

You could run a larger flail mower, which would cut down your mowing time. Because the flail sticks out a lot less behind the tractor you can lift more weight, and because a flail is lighter you can run a bigger one. I think a 72 inch flail would be OK - i.e. 6 foot. And a flail can also be used to mow your lawn.

For what you describe you have no real need of a rotary cutter.

the L2501 does not have enough PTO horsepower to run a 6 foot mower. Need at least 30 HP (5 per mower foot). Underpowered mower is a pain in the ass- we learned this trying to run a 5 foot mower behind a L2501. And definitely go with the 18 series mower from Land Pride, the 12 is light duty

I am a new L2501 owner and also purchased the 1860 rotary mower although I really haven't used it much. When I was shopping, I asked the (large) dealer why he packaged in the 1860 instead of the 1260 (and maybe save me a bit of $). He said the 1860 was pretty much all they used across all of the L-series tractors and the dang things are about bullet-proof. He had nothing bad to say about the 1260 but he knew from experience the 1860 was super reliable. I was happy with his answer and on top of that his package price was lower than others that had included the 1260. Win-win.

ken erickson said:

Paul,
My one concern with a flail mower would be cutting at the 8 to 10 inch height. Are flail mowers designed to be suspended off the ground while mowing or are they normally run with the skids having ground contact?

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I think you can run with them raised, position control will help with that.

A lot of people saying that you should run a 4 foot or 5 foot mower. They're strictly correct, if you're mowing at ground height and thick material. If you're mowing above the growing native plants, then you'll be mowing very high, and it'll naturally be quite thin. I think really in that scenario you can run as big a mower as the tractor can lift.

You might also think about use for the mower after the natives have grown. If you buy a large mower now to save a bit of time 2-3 times a year for 2 years, then it'll be too big for other use ongoing. So you'll need to sell it and replace with a properly sized mower. Or, you could get a smaller mower now, and be a bit slower on those first few mows while the property is establishing.

I'd also say that mowers hold their value pretty well. If what you buy is wrong, then trade it on a different one. Also, you can probably borrow one from someone near you to see if it works well (or maybe even from the dealer if they have a second hand one in stock that they don't mind you mowing once with to see if it works right).

ken erickson said:

Paul,
My one concern with a flail mower would be cutting at the 8 to 10 inch height. Are flail mowers designed to be suspended off the ground while mowing or are they normally run with the skids having ground contact?

Click to expand...

Do you know how heavy the mower is? Lifting the mower is one thing, but balancing it is the other. My finish mower can easily lift the front wheels off the ground if I lift it too aggressively.