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Farmall M question

In light grass conditions it would be alright. Most of the time with heavy tall growth I would want 55-60 hp to do it and even then you are not playing with the mower. Also need to take in to account the rating of the PTO shaft and gear box in terms of applied power.
 

If an M had a couple of gears that were slower than 1st, I think it would handle an 8' mower just fine. As it is, a bigger tractor would be desirable.
 
rusty, I agree that an 8 foot mower would be too big for an M in all the mowing conditions you may encounter. That being said you can do it if needed. Heavy mowing , raise the mower the first time thru and then go back over it later the second time to get it cut at level you desire. If the material is heavy you can just take a partial swath to get thru the heavy stuff. Just cause the mower is eight foot wide doesn't mean you can't take a 4 or 5 foot swath. First path thru of course you must take full cut so that when you cut as high as you can to reduce the load to get opened up.

Of course the other problem with an M is lack of live P.T.O. That would help a lot when running a machine that is too big for your tractor. Of course you can always kick tractor out of gear. Time consuming, however, as when machine clears out you have to push in clutch and wait for mower to quit turning before putting tractor back in gear and going another few feet.. Been there, done that !! Maybe you will luck out and find an M with an M&W clutch like I had on an M in my farming days. Not live P.T.O. but the next best thing.

Good luck, Bill
 
I have a land Pride 35-90 that I use behind my M. I know it isn't a bush hog, but it is a very efficient setup. I mow heavy grass with it
and the old M never misses a beat. This might give you some idea of the power needed. I have found that mowing heavy grass is harder that
light bush hogging. Ellis
 
i just bought an m with a 80 inch bush hog. put it in weeds, briars, etc., it never misses a beat. running in first gear, of course.
 
My M is a little more HP than bone stock like a lot of them and for most of my mowing I would love to try a 8 foot. tried 6 and 7 foot. 6 is to small, can't tell the 7 foot turned any harder than the 6 foot. Mow a lot that's not flat and need to overlap 6 inches to a foot sometimes to make sure the mower doesn't kick over and leave a patch not mowed. So most times not mowing a full cut, most times just mowing 3 foot tall and less weeds and grass though. Use a overrunning clutch and don't back up a lot. Have a 7.5 foot finish mower that turns harder in thick 6 or 8 inch grass than the 7 foot hog did in 2.5 grass and weeds. Found out the hard way that something else would give on it before power ran out.
Never checked this out for certain, but think some gear boxes may have a different ratio to keep blade tip speeds the same for longer and shorter blade lengths on one shaft. If so the longer blade one would have a mechanical gear advantage to offset some of the extra power it would take to turn. Could be completely wrong about that since I didn't check. Someone will straighten me out if so.
 
I pull an 8' Rhino with my SMTA. It handles it ok until heavy sunflowers, which require first or second gear.
 
You guys are helpful. I farm a little (modern equipment). Got the itch for some old iron. We ran IHC when I was a kid, so it's what I like the best. Bought an 8n about a year ago. Great little tractor, and fun to run. It'll do more, than I thought it would, but I'd have to buy so many implements it's not practical. I've got a dusting of things, I think an M would pull.
 
I pull a 10' hog clipping pasture in 4th gear with my M
and it has no problem but my grass is normally only knee
high and I cut it to about 4-5" tall hope this helps.
 
I pull a 120 inch woods, a single wing, ditch mower in 1st gear low torque, as long as it goes under the front end,with out bending the heads back to much,{Brome grass] with a SMTA, that's about like 1st in a regular M. A good Farmall never says no.
 
Yaw are more informative than the guys that frequent the red belly forum. Lots of good info here. I guess I need to get an H or an M, and come yaws sand box.
 
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