I've been thinking about getting a finish mower for the Ferguson for several years and have been looking for used, but seems like all that comes up around here is someone else's problems and landfill worthy units. I like keeping the 5 or 6 acres I mow looking nice but its been eating up too much time and bouncing around on small tires is taking a toll on my back. Looked a some zero turn mowers, but by the time I get something that I like I'm looking at WELL over $10K. Not gonna happen... Fergy runs good and is easy to maintain (so far). I did some looking and ended up with a Rural King 6' finish mower that is made by King Cutter. The blades are inexpensive to replace but I haven't priced the single super long belt that it uses... probably not free... I'll have to rig up the chain hoist to get it out of the truck and some assembly is required. This will probably cut my mowing time to less than half of what it takes now. This leaves more time for WOOD... Should be a lot smoother ride going from 24" tall tires to almost 5'...
Hope it works well for you. I really look at mowing grass as a waste of my valuable time. Necessary evil I guess.
Our state forester is always trying to get me to plant trees and rides me hard about all the "recreational mowing" that I do...
Its just hard to get it back once the woods take over. I mow 3 plus myself and often consider more trees
Got it all assembled, oiled up, and greased up. Had to go try it out and it easily mowed in one hour what usually takes me 2-1/2 to 3 hours normally. I was even running in 1H instead of 2H and the cut was better than the lawn tractor cuz I always push the GT with much higher ground speed than where it gives a really nice cut. My B-I-L always tells me to slow down and enjoy the ride while mowing... I always tell him that with this much to mow, I use WOT, Hi gear, and full open travel valve on the GT cuz instead of enjoying the ride, I enjoy the DONE...
Our property was sorted wooded when I bought it 20+ years ago...I've since planted over 30 more trees on this ~1.8 acres...some spots are pretty shaded now, and have thinning grass for sure... Not free, but I bet if you get the belt number and buy one of those "blue" RKO belts, probably not terribly priced...we have one very similar to that at work...that belt seems to last a long time. I always struggle with I should buy a spare and have it dry rotting on the wall, or just have to chase one down when it breaks unexpectedly...
These are the cases that I like to have the information to buy the right belt at a much lower price by having the generic part number handy, instead of just the factory part number. A couple summers ago, I was borrowing my neighbors simplicity when my engine went on my ariens. My long lawn smoked the deck belt on his simplicity and I felt like crap about it. I went into the local o Reilly's and got one for $20. The factory part from simplicity was over $50. I told my neighbor that if I wasn't pressed for time, I could've gotten the same belt for even less at the local Fleet Farm. That belt is still going strong, although I told him if it ever goes, I'd help him swap in a new belt again. He's not at all mechanically inclined.
I do the same. I try to buy cross referenced Kevlar belts and they usually last longer and cost way less when ordered from places like Belts-R-us... I haven't put belts on the Ingersoll for a couple years and I cut a lot, often way behind so cutting 12" plus grass...
