oops

 

Greetings,

RedorDead: What are you planting and are you going to use your ATV to do it. I want to put in some cover crops for game and appearance (buckwheat, clover, and/or sunflowers) and I'm always interested in methods that don't require a plow or a tractor.

Also, what's with the name?

BLH: Northern offers a gang mower but it looks like its made for lawns not fields. Also, its expensive, about as much as a powered brush hog.

ATV_Man: Because there is no PTO you have to get a unit that has a motor mounted on it. This limits the selection to a very few manufacturers (Rhino, Swisher, and Cycle Country) and seems to more than double the price. I've seen PTO brush hogs for about $600 while the cheapest self-powered deck mower is about $1200. I searched for months and still found only one company making a flail mower with its own engine and they stopped making them in November of '99. I found two in a warehouse and they both had optional Honda engines on them that added even more to the price -- but the thing is really built to last.

 

I used to mow my grass with a '85 250SX and a set of gang mowers and semed to work out well exept your yard has to be golf course smooth for them to work properly, but the faster you pulled them the faster they cut.

 

Basically, we purchased a 5 acre lot to build our house on; it's old farm field. There's actually still alfalfa hay that grows on it. For a field, it's fairly smooth ground, but probably not smooth enough for gang mowers. I've found that if you simply keep the stuff cut short (using my push mower, just around the house), the grass eventually comes in pretty nicely. I would like to start mowing the whole 5 acres, and start spreading grass seed so we have a lawn eventually. The lot has no trees and is a rectangle, which is why I thought the quad would be perfect for mowing (no tight maneuvers, and I really don't need a perfect finish cut). The name... just a play on "Ride Red"... I'm a big Honda fan.

 

In my opinion, it seems like a pain in the butt to bother towing a mower around behind the quad. The quad was not designed with slow speed idling in mind - it has no fixed throttle or speed. I have also heard that you get what you pay for in the mower decks. In my opinion, you should go and spend your money on a old beater JD lawnmower or somthing you can get parts for and mow with that. Then you would not have the damage turning tends to inflict on the grass. It also sounds like a hassle to put the mower on the atv. Maybe the ultimate setup would be a pull behind self powered mower and an extremely cheap riding lawnmower to tow it with - the deck doesnt have to work, but I'd bet a rider would be more comfortable than the honda.

 

You could try to make something yourself...get a mower deck off an old lawnmower, get an engine and run belts from that engine.

Or get one of those mowers that golf courses use....the non-motor ones that have the rotating blades.

 

there is a quad with a pto it came out in like 1986 and it was called the terra pro from yamaha it came with a 46inch rough cut mower and a 46inch fine cut mower and a 20 gallon sprayer it was really cool and it dident take long to hook up eather.
it would be nice to find one of them.

 

Just thought I would add my .02 cents here! I was injured in a car accident a couple years ago and since then have had a difficult time cutting my lawn (4+acres). The bouncing around on my 42 inch lawn tractor was killing me. I decided to look into a Quad/Mower combination, it was the best thing I have ever done concerning cutting the grass. I purchased a Kodiak 4x4 and after quite a bit of product review a 60 inch 12.5 HP Swisher Trail Mower. I looked at the Flail Mowers but decided that they would be to labour intensive when it came to sharpening,( and they give an uneven looking cut (imho)) The Cycle Country Mower seemed to flimsy (plastic wheels etc.), and I use my quad for other things beside cutting the grass so a front attached mower was out of the question. The Swisher is a well built piece of equipment, even drawing praise from the local Lawn and Garden place where I purchased it ( they had never seen one before and wanted to sell me a Kubota ) as for hooking it up its a breeze, I have only one useful leg and I still have zero problem attaching and useing it. Someone mentioned the possibillity of ruining ones lawn with the ATV while turning. This is possible but smart rotation of your cutting and turning direction will negate that problem. Sorry to go on for so long but I had .02 cents burning a hole in my pocket! Good luck in your choice!

 

Kodiak2001: Any probs maintaning a steady speed when mowing? I worry about "thumb fatigue" while trying to go 3-5mph for several hours.
thanks for the advice on the Swisher; I too have read many good things about them.

 

RedoDead: I have no real problem at all maintaining the speed, I have thought of putting a twist throttle on it ( I am an old enduro rider) but have not done so yet! My thumb did get sore at first but after a while you get used to it! My Kodiak does have an adjustable throttle stop on it that one could use to set max speed I guess but there are times when cutting that you go above the recommended speed to get to one part or another of your lawn! Remember you will now have a 60 inch cut so cutting the lawn is much quicker than before (if there was a before) by the way the electric clutch blade engagement feature was not available in Canada, I would have preferred that option over the current rope engagement feature! Good luck with your choice, if oyu have any nore questions please feel free to ask!

Ed....