disc mower size

What size disc mower will my ford 861 handle? Any suggestions on brand? looking at vicon w hydraulic lift, and would prefer to buy used. Really appreciate any and all advice

I pull a 5 1/2 ft. Vicon with my Case farmall 65 hp. compact. Don't even know its back there.

Neighbor has a 4 disc on his Ford like yours and sometimes struggles in real heavy hay and has to slow down.

I wonder if you'd be better off looking for a drum mower?

Smallest disc or drum mower I could find weighs around 850 lbs, that's a good amount of weight hanging on the back of a 801 series Ford, a majority of those mowers weight is on the right side lift arm as well.
Not sure how much you have to move but for that size tractor I'd find a good NH 451 cycle bar mower and deal with the occasional plugging of the bar.
I've cut many acres with a 451 and still have one for small areas and trimming. Pull a 9 ft trailed disc mower behind my 5000 to do my main cutting nowadays.

My 1975 Ford 5200 runs a 9+ foot NH disc mower (6 turtles) at 60hp real nice. At times in wet heavy grass you know it?s there but I run in 6th gear mostly. I have 3 weights on the front and fluid is in the rear tires and all that weight is really needed, the front gets light and the left side can get light. I wouldn?t want less, and just a few more hp wouldn?t be bad. So, 10hp per turtle would be minimum, and really the size of the tractor comes into play, these mowers need a lot of weight and beef to keep them manageable.

My 960 would never handle it. I?d think about the smallest, the 4 turtle sized ones, would be all I?d want to put on my 45 hp 960. About the same tractor you have. At that I would want weights on the rear and probably the front to keep it stable. Perhaps a 5 turtle would work on nice level straight fields; but just don?t think that would be a good match, tail wagging the dog. You want to drive fast with a disc mower, so you want it to be real stable. A smaller mower that the tractor can handle easily will be fast mowing. An oversized mower the tractor can?t handle you lose any advantage as you have to slow down and steering is tough, blah.

When I was shopping I noticed the newer models anyhow, the 5 and 6 turtle models all seemed to be cat 2 hitch size, so again that would say you are left with the 4 turtle models being right for your tractor.

Paul

I would look for a pull type. We have a 8 ft reese drum mower. With wheels in, it is a load for any tractor. You have to be careful turning left. My friend has a 12ft pulltype. A 80 hp Massey does fine.

That's the point exactly. I have a 6' drum weighs in at around 950 and just bought a Ford 3910 45ish PTO hp to run it so my 65 hp roller tractor can
stay attached to the roller. It's heavy enough to pretty much keep the left front wheel on the ground when in the transport mode with the mower out to
the side. I did add about 150# or so to the grille guard front mounted hootus and that helped keep the wheel on the ground.

The problem is not the HP to roll the drums for me, don't know on a disc, nor to drag it across the ground as you mow.....it's the weight.