dhardin Posted February 28, 2005 Posted February 28, 2005 I was offered a contract to mow the vacent lots in and around the city witch i live. The past practice is the lots are mowed as need or when the weeds get very high. I'm thinking a front weed cuter, or a sickle mower or a belly deck like the Woods that can handle tall weeds. And i may be wrong when it try to use my 416 witch is what I'd like to do. Or should I go to a compact tractor or larger. The guy that mowed then last year used a very nice JD with a rear mounted Woods chopper type deck. And it look a mess every time he mowed, huge clumps and rows of dead grass and weeds the was scalped every time.
D-17_Dave Posted February 28, 2005 Posted February 28, 2005 It sounds like the job would work a 416 pretty hard unless you kept it mowed more with a regular deck. It looks like you could handle it with a sickle mower but your gonna spend a lot of time like that. Even if you mowed more than the previous guy you would be better off with some extra power and a shaft driven deck,IMO if your gonna keep a lot of lots up.
PhanDad Posted February 28, 2005 Posted February 28, 2005 I've had some success mowing heavy, tall grass with my Homelite tractor. I keep the deck in the fully raised postion and it mows about 5" or so high. Depending on speed, there can be some clumpping of the grass output, but if you go slow enough, this doesn't occur. I haven't done this very often, so I'm not sure this would be something you'd want to do on a regular basis. The front mounted brush cutter I saw at Dutch's looks like it would be the best tool for the job.
MN_FISH Posted February 28, 2005 Posted February 28, 2005 It will also depend on how many lots or acres it amounts to. If they let it grow up so it's pretty tall a sickle mower would be best if you want it to look decent.
dhardin Posted February 28, 2005 Author Posted February 28, 2005 On adverage its mowed every 2 or 3 weeks, and adverage 1 to 3 acers each. and I'm guessing some 10 to 15 lots. Some privet lots, some emply commersial lots and some city property as well. We have a city ordanence if a lot is over grown and anyone complains of the mess the city will cut the weeds. The pay is REAL GOOD i think ($ per hour work), and hope to get or adapte something to get mowing as soon as the grass is ready, and not spend to much money. But after i get some money ahead i still don't know what i would do different if i can get it cut clean and not spend a lot of time on each lot using what i all ready have.
SimpleMan Posted February 28, 2005 Posted February 28, 2005 If your'e getting paid by the hour...then you have the time to cut it with what you have. If however payment is made by the yard being mowed...you may want to consider something a little quicker. Zero turn perhaps? My 2cents worth... Gord
SimpleMan Posted February 28, 2005 Posted February 28, 2005 Just had second thought...how about one of those trailing bush mowers, with it's own motor? http://www.agri-fab.com/trailmowers.html
lndscpr Posted February 28, 2005 Posted February 28, 2005 You will have to consider what you will encounter on those vacant lots. Are they smooth or will you possibly encounter rocks, old bike parts bottles etc???? A brush mower of some type would be best. May want to consider something like a billygoat brush mower. Not sure what type of a finish they give but i would look at them. Maybe the trailing brush mower would be a good idea too. I messed up a nice deck on a rough lot last year.
Chris727 Posted February 28, 2005 Posted February 28, 2005 Yeah you never know whats under that tall grass, maybe even chunks of concrete. That would be pretty rough on a sickle.
ka9bxg Posted March 1, 2005 Posted March 1, 2005 I have used a MOTT mower for the tall grass around here. It uses flail type blades.It is a trailer mower with it's own 7 hp engine.It works much better than a sickle mower as the weeds are ground up and it does handle rocks and such quite well. I am sure that they have a sight on the web. Bob
RayS Posted March 1, 2005 Posted March 1, 2005 I use to mow this field behind the gas station down the street from every week until the owner sold out to another guy. The new owner wanted me to mow it every 3 weeks to 30 days after the second mowing I told him to fine someone else to mow it. This is extremely hard on equipment that is meant for finish mowing and I wasn`t getting enough to cover the cost of repairs. If I were to do it all over again I would use a brush hog or a sickle mower for sure. Also a zero turn would work but they are a finsh mower as well. I demo a Simplicity zero turn a couple years ago when I was doing mowing on the side and there isn`t much stopping them.
msiebern Posted March 1, 2005 Posted March 1, 2005 quote:Originally posted by ka9bxg I have used a MOTT mower for the tall grass around here. It uses flail type blades.It is a trailer mower with it's own 7 hp engine.It works much better than a sickle mower as the weeds are ground up and it does handle rocks and such quite well. I am sure that they have a sight on the web. Bob MOTT is part of the Alamo group... http://www.alamo-industrial.com
lndscpr Posted March 1, 2005 Posted March 1, 2005 A 48 inch walk behind commercial mower would do it too. And it will do a nice job. If the stuff is a little thick you may have to replace a belt once in awhile. I have a beater for sale cehap if you are anywhere in the Mass. area. These machines are also built to take abuse. A beer bottle won't hurt it much. A cynder block would. It will handle very heavy growth.
dhardin Posted March 2, 2005 Author Posted March 2, 2005 whats a MOTT? For the most part the lots are free of any large blocks, bikes ext. I am sure I will find a few beer bottles and cans. I have a very nice trail mower and seveal opinons for tractors and decks but nothing in the way of a tall weed and brush mower. With my trail/pullbehind iI can cut 80" in one pass and moves very fast. But its best suted as a finish mower. Meeting with the Mayor today to go over the details.
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