finish mower and yard size

Tiger Joe

Member
how small of a yard is too small for a 5' woods finish mower behind an 8n? or even behind my 860?

I bought an old junk house last fall very cheap, for the land. its less than an acre total, with a 2200 sq ft house on it. I mowed with a 22" push mower last fall, and I hate it. absolutely loathe cutting grass so I want to be done as quickly as possible. I'm not trying to keep this yard pristine at all, just want it not looking like woods.

I've been looking for a old cheap riding mower, and stumbled upon a 5' woods finish mower, asking price is $500. I can't find a cheap beat up rider for under $300. most that I would even consider going to look at are in the 400+ price range

ultimately the plan would be to have this house torn down and have a nice level clear lot, and then the finish mower would probably be awesome, but until the house is down I will have tons of obstacles to go around.

cons to finish mower:
tractor and mower is too big to easily maneuver
8n is not ideal with no live pto (esp since right now I would do a lot of backing up)
have to drive 8n to property to cut, could leave rider there

pros:
just plain more fun to use my tractor than push
if/when the lot is clean, the large mower would be nice and easy to use
cost wise I'm getting a lot more mower for my money with the 3pt finish.
with no shed, I fell more comfortable storing the finish mower outside than the riding mower (less chance of someone stealing the finish mower)
 

I think you sold yerself.
A cheap beat up mower is a problem someone else is getting rid of.

If it were me I would clean up anything that's in my way that would cause me to have to back up or maneuver around and go with the finish mower. Eventually with a small acre you'll figure out a pattern to get her cut real fast.

Once you level the house it will get even easier and you will wish you had the finish mower if you had gone with a small riding mower.
 
(quoted from post at 10:12:20 04/16/15)
I think you sold yerself.
A cheap beat up mower is a problem someone else is getting rid of.

If it were me I would clean up anything that's in my way that would cause me to have to back up or maneuver around and go with the finish mower. Eventually with a small acre you'll figure out a pattern to get her cut real fast.

Once you level the house it will get even easier and you will wish you had the finish mower if you had gone with a small riding mower.

yeah that's my thinking. It might be difficult now to maneuver the tractor and mower, but once I have the lot clear I will regret not having a larger mower.

Also, even if it takes me some extra time using the finish mower now, it wont be any more time than pushing
 
i run a woods 5' behind my naa; works great. doing about an acre with a lot of obstacles; about a 30 - 45 minute venture. time spent will depend on how close you want to cut next to the obstacles; i try to get as much as i can.
 
The finish mower may not work well , at least in the beginning but will hold it's resale value . Looks like a cheap back blade may be in order also .

You can probably pick up a few mowing / blading gigs to pay back the cost of the implements .
 
I use a 52 8n and a 6' woods mower to mow my neighbor's 1 acre yard with no issue. I use my riding mower to to the triming.
 

I use a 5' Woods RM-59-2 Behind our 51' 8N. We mow about 2 1/2 acres. I used a riding mower on it for 19 years, last year I found the finish mower. Wish I had got it 19 years ago.
 
I use a Woods RM600 6' finish mower behind my Jubilee and mow 3 acres that contains my 1450 sqft. house with 2 and 1/2 car garage, my 48x48 pole barn and privacy fence, ditch banks, and many trees. It is about 1.5 hours. Trimming is with a Craftsman 25" self propelled and an Ariens wheeled string trimmer with 2 granddaughters. lol
As "grass" (weeds) close in around trees and obstacles, I breakout the sprayer with some roundup and reduce the trimming time.
After the yard is done I mow a trail around my back 3 acres and between 3 rows of trees that I had planted years ago as nursery stock for my yard.
Several years ago I purchased a 7' Woods mower. The tractor handled it fine but my yard and obstacles were laid out for the 6 footer. I sold the 7 footer.
 
Anywhere that you have to turn around obstacles is a pain with
a 3pt mounted finish mower. Try to turn away from the house/
fence/tree/etc and the finish mower swings into said obstacle.

Try to turn towards it and the mower swings away leaving a
swath of grass that you didn't even touch.

It can be done, I used to use a 6 ft one on my 9N.
Before that a 5 ft belly mower on my Farmall Cub.

I bought a used Toro commercial zero turn rider, 52 inch deck.
No worries about obstacles, no backing up, no swinging into
anything and damaging the mower or the house siding, etc.

The lack of turning around and backing up cut my mowing time
to less than half. If you have to drive it home it will run just as
fast as an N series without an auxiliary transmission. Mine does
12.5 MPH and will mow at that speed if you choose to do so.
I choose not too, the ride is a bit bumpy mowing at that speed! LOL

I have a total of about $1000 in over the last 5 years or so
including one new pulley and new belts.

Just an option. You do give up the seat time on an N though! :)

Edit: forgot to mention it burns far less gas than my tractors.
 
I mow 1 acre with an 8N and a 60" finish mower... I too used a 22 inch push mower, till I bought the deck.... Cheaper than a rider unit and
justifies the N (as if it needs to be justified... Jeeeesh)

It is a little of a pain, but slowly I am adjusting the landscape to reduce corners.. Gets better every day and I get seat time on the N.

Very worth it for the acre

Frank
 
I'm on a 105' X 125' city lot. When I bought the place 8 years ago the south end was badly overgrown with shrubs, vines and trees. So I hooked up the bush hog and hacked it all down then raked it all up with the york rake and reseeded it.
I mowed it for a couple of years with a 7' finish mower but it was a hassle with something that large and you can't do close work very well. Now I have a 36" Ford rider that is just about right.
The place I owned before I moved here I mowed with an 8N and 6' FM. 2 of my neighbors and I had joining back yards so I mowed all three of them - about 1/2 acre. They shared mowing up close and around the sides of all three places. It worked well for all of us.
I would say you would do well with a 5' FM on close to an acre. Get your pattern established and then just clean up with the 22".

P5310007.jpg
 
yeah I understand it will be very cumbersome in the beginning, and more than likely I will be frustrated at times, but I'm trying to plan ahead.

Right now I have a severely overgrown lot that will be difficult to cut, I would like to get to the point of having a nice clean lot, and then the 5' finish mower would be really nice.

I'm sort of mapping it out in my brain, and I should be able to cut the two large yard areas right now without much difficulty.

my weekend is booked already, so I'm not even going to contact the person about the mower till next week. If they still have it, I may try to get it for $400
 
I mow my mother's dog lot with my 8N and a RFM.
The dog lot is 36ft x 36ft with a set of steps sticking out in it.
It's a tight squeeze but it can be done.
My dog lot is 6500 square feet and kinda L shaped.
I can mow it with no problems. Lots of turning tho.
The part of our yard that gets mowed is about 1.5 acres.
Takes about 3 hours to mow it all really good.

Pooh Bear
 

Go for it! I picked up a 5' bush hog brand finishing mower last year from a fellow and I love it. I did have to rebuild the 8N engine to have enough power to run it adequately. Works like a charm now and makes mowing so much faster and does a better job than a riding mower/bush hog does. :D
 

I can squirrel this 6' KingKutter into some pretty tight places and it doesn't have trouble with the large ones either.

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Thanks for all the tips guys.

I was actually kind of excited for the belly mower, but never heard back from the seller. I thought his price was a bit high.

I haven't called on the finish mower since I don't have time to go look at it anyway.
 

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