Hey all, I just bought a '00 Honda Rancher ES 4x4 and now am thinking about buying a Swisher 44" finish-cut mower for my lawn. I own 2 acres that is mostly wide open with not many obstacles. I either have to buy a riding mower or go with the pull-behind Swisher. My question is, do these work good? I can pick one up brand new for $750 for the 44" cut. How reliable are they? Am I better off buying a regular riding mower?

The other thing I'm concerned about is the ATV itself. Is riding in 1st gear going 3-5 mph for two hours straight going to be hard on the motor? If anyone has used these mowers could offer me any advice I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

 

I did a large plot overgrown with brushy weeds with my 44" Swisher and my Wolverine, it got seriously hot going that slow for that long, unless you have a big oil cooler with a fan, or a liquid cooled quad, doing that on a regular basis will probably not be good for the motor. I use it for cutting paths along a field for deer hunting, a couple a times in the fall with no problems, the cooler weather helps.But using an air cooled quad to mow a large area on a regular basis may not be the best thing, but that is just in my situation, I'm no expert in the capabilities of other quads, and how they are designed to work under load at slow speed, so maybe check with a dealer, or maybe the manual will have info on slow speed work limits. You could buy a cheap riding mower, hook the Swisher to follow on the side, and have a 6 ft or better cut, and get done even faster, then use the quad to pull along ditches or other spots the riding mower has problems with.

 

Hey Buckslayer!

I bought the same 44" Swisher and had a 5 acre yard (field with native texas grass) I pulled it with a Prairie 300 3x2 with no overheating to the ATV at all.

I tried to make sure I didn't let the field grass to high, and it worked like gangbusters.

Swisher stood up well, as did the ATV cutting in temps as hi as 95 degrees.

My Prairie was an auto tranny.

The only problem I had with the swisher was when the grass got dry, or out cutting on the road right of way, the air intake for the cooling fan sets right on top of the engine and is kinda sorta close to the ground, and grass clippings would build up. I had to stop frequently and brush off the screen.

I would get a battery start model on the swisher, as that was one tuff dude to pull start.

I also had to blow out the cylinder heads with compressed air after each use, and also under the engine where the belt drive compartment for the mower is located to keep a fire from starting from the dry grass build up.

Other than that it was a great buy. Used it for three years and soild it for 300.00 buck less than I paid for it.

I don't think yopu will be dissapointed in at at all. I wasn't.

Sounds like a good buy your getting, Mine cost more when I bought it new at Tractor Supply.


bob

 

hey buckslayer, heck with a riding mower just get pull behind mower deck. I cut my grandpa's yard and he has a pull behind mower deck that I use with my honda 300 all the time with it never overheating. i don't know the exact size but it has three cutting blades and a 10hp briggs enginge and it takes me just under an hour to cut his yard. He has approx 1 acre field in back then a fairly small front yard with a few spaced-out trees. If I have the deck all the way out to the side i can get right up to the tree and don't have to come back with the push mower. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

oneshot7525, did you have any problems with your ATV tearing up the lawn when you mowed? Is it just a matter of not making any tight turns when you're on the grass?

 

I didn't, although its probably because the tires on my 94 honda are still original and have about 1/2" tread left on them, they can't do too much damage. What kind of atv do u have? If you can keep it in 2wd i don't think it will tear it up.

 

I use our Prairie 360 to pull our electric start Swisher "Rough Cut" mower over all kinds of heavy grass and lite brush. Have even chopped up sagebrush with this setup. The Swisher products, we also have the belly mount with plow and bucket attachments, have proven to be strong and reliable. A couple of calls to the factory for information were informative and I found the people there to be very helpful.

If you are concerned about tearing up a finished lawn you should get a tow machine with a differential in the rear to help minimize tire scuff. You can also buy after market turf tires that are easy on grass.

Swisher makes a mower that belly mounts on a quad that you might want to take a look at.

As far as the quad heating up, so far no problems but I do keep the oil cooler clean and blow the dirt off everything with air at the end of each day. We have 20 acres that we keep the weeds and brush under control on so the equipment gets used quite a lot.

 

Buckslayer,

We have 70 acres 40 of which we mow. I am not familiar with the swisher brand, but we have a honda pull behind mower that works very well. We pull it with my mom's sportsman 335, which easily pulls it and doesn't overheat or rip up grass. I can't remember specifics on the honda because it hasn't been used since last summer. I will check the details and the price and post it on here.

Ryan

 

I have a 04 Yamaha Wolverine with stock tires, and unless I buy the Warn 424 kit, it's full time 4wd. I use it to tow my Swisher 44" rough cut, and it's fine for that since I'm not dealing with a finished lawn. After months of indecision though, I finally ended up buying a ZTR mower this weekend. The huge turning radius with the quad is fine for the rough mowing I do, but it'd be too much of a pain for my lawn. Thanks for your reply.

To respond to buckslayer's original question, last summer I mowed 5 acres of rough, overgrown field with my Wolverine without much trouble. The Wolvy is air-cooled, and it overheated on me once, but it was particularly hot that day with not much of a breeze. Overall it's worked out ok, but if I had to do it over again I'd definitely buy a liquid-cooled atv for mowing purposes.

Either that or just find a decent used Ford tractor or something. You can usually pick one of those up for between 3-6K depending on the shape it's in. Then just get a PTO-driven deck for it, and you're all set. When my neighbor moved last year he offered me his tractor plus his rough and finish cut decks for $7K, but I had already bought the atv and the swisher.