Finish Mower, Quality of Mfr’r AND Methods of Useage..

[GeoHorn]

I have about 27 acres of pasture/turf-runway to keep mowed. The turf is “KR-BlueStem”…a particularly hardy and difficult to cut cleanly type of tall grass with tough stems.

I used a Rhino 72” shredder set very low for years…but was never pleased with the finish…so about two years ago bought a BETSTCO Finish Mower: https://betstco.com/product/fh-fm180/

Not having any experience in using a “Finish Mower” … I used it allowing the casters (wheels) to support the mower for cutting-height purposes. This has not proved to be very nice to the wheels…which are hard-rubber tires on stamped-steel wheels. The hard-rubber tires are disentegrating.

I tried replacing them with HF 10” wheels ….. which lasted all of about an hour….when the ball bearings completely disappeared and now those wheels are hollow-junk.

Here’s my question: Are the wheels of a Finish Mower intended to support the mower during cutting operations..?? …. or are they merely “scalp” wheels…(is the mower intended to be supported aloft by the 3-point-hitch… and the wheels merely to prevent inadvertent contact with the ground)…??

Thanks for advice for this city-mouse who moved to the country.

 

[minthral]

Yes a finish mower rolls on the wheels. That is a cheaper china brand mower so perhaps wheels are not the best quality. Price shows as 1500... that's DIRT cheap as a good one cost 7k+ for that size...

Side point is a dedicated riding mower or zero turn does a superior job mowing grass. For 7k, you can get a pretty nice riding mower or zero turn....

 

[Russell King]

Eradicate the KR Bluestem (non-native invasive clump grass and replace with a native mix of sod forming grasses (buffalo, curly mesquite and black gamma) called Thunder Turf. Then mowing will be less problematic on wheels.

Probably a loosing battle but I am trying to eradicate all non native plants on my 5 acres and KR Bluestem is on the list and chopping it out is starting soon.

I read that native Little Bluestem will out compete the KR Bluestem but it is still a clump grass so probably not good for the runway.

I think a flail mower has a better chance of surviving than a finish mower but both are still cutting too short to help the native grasses. There are shredder mowers that have more than two blades per spindle but I have never seen their cut quality.

I have never located the elusive tough mower that mows well and at tall heights.

There is a blade system called Megmo that may help your cut for the deck

Rotary Mulching Blades Built to Last

Meg-Mo blades work on all mower types. Get the results you deserve with Meg-Mo Rotary Mulching Blades.

meg-mo.com

And eventually get it more sod like

 

[D2Cat]

If you're mowing Bluestem cut it with a sickle mower and get someone to bale it!

If you're going to keep cutting it look for a 6' or 7' flail at an auction. I use a 7' flail I bought from Corp. of Engineers auction. They just quit using them and let them set. Has trail wheels, works fine. I replace the tires on the trail wheels last year. I often mow grass/weeds over 3' tall. Use a 60 HP Deutz 6260 and it never knows it's there. Paid $700.

 

[Russell King]

@D2Cat
You say it is a sickle mower but that looks like a flail mower.

Would you be able to provide pictures of the actual cutting apparatus to clarify how it works (or some description of the apparatus)?

Maybe where you live they call it by different name than here (Texas)?

 

[D2Cat]

No Russell, notice there is a new paragraph. New thought.

The flail mower has the Y blades on it.

 

[GeoHorn]

Thanks to both D2Cat and Russell for that feedback/advice. Re-planting might be an option next year but I’ll have to get better educated about how to go about it. I’d like to grade/crown the runway anyway so that might be the time to do that.

D2Cat, that is impressive performance, thanks for the pics. I have some areas that grow that rough, in fact I just finished cutting it yesterday. and it looked about that way. (I allow the sides of the runway to grow in order to help define the landing area better. My east/west runway is 3400’ X 130’ and I keep the center, landing area finish-cut and the sides about 20’ each in width I allow to remain high.) This allows the operating-area to be well-defined.
The North/South rwy is quite a bit larger, 4200’ X 180’ and the operating-area has a 25’ -wide hard-packed-gravel surface but bordered both sides with tall bluestem and it looked like your pics until yesterday. (we got some rain 3 weeks ago and it suddenly grew.)
I shredded it first, then passed over it with the finish mower. I used a different technique with the finish mower….. I used the wheels as if they were scalp-wheels…. allowing the 3-pt to support the finish mower with the wheels about an inch off the ground. It did “OK”…but the cheap HF wheels were destroyed anyway.

I see there are some laminated wheels on Amazon I may try to fit to the finish mower.

Thanks again for the feedback!

 

[Russell King]

No Russell, notice there is a new paragraph. New thought.

The flail mower has the Y blades on it.

Doh!
Missed that in the second paragraph

 

[Elliott in GA]

FWIW, I have a Land Pride 60 inch finish mower (see signature) that I use to mow about a 2 acre field. The mower is fully supported by the wheels (height is set by moving the wheels up/down), and it is floating behind the QH. The mower's arms that float up and down are locked on to the QH, and the top link is attached by the two pivot plates link that come with the QH. The QH carries none of the mower's weight.

I mow the field at 5 inches every 30 days, and it looks great. After 1.5+ years, the mower looks brand new including the wheels. The grass is a mixture of fescue, other grasses and some clover.

The mower's wheels have two grease zerks each - one for the vertical shaft and another for the hub/bearings.

 

[D2Cat]

Doh!
Missed that in the second paragraph

It was late in the evening!!