Go Bottomfinish mowing ground speed
 | Rob Weis
Join Date: Posts: 1 
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2003-02-14 49247
I was wondering if anyone knew the appropriate ground speed for finish mowing. I know this will vary greatly on the condition of the ground and the height/thickness of the grass.
I have two gears in which I can mow with my tractor. One is 2.75 mph and the next higher gear is 5.56 mph. Seems like too much of a gap to me (see my post under Massey Ferguson). Think I need to be in the 4 mph area.
Any comments would be appreciated.
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 | Billy
Join Date: Oct 1999 Posts: 975 Southeast Oklahoma 
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2003-02-14 49249
Rob,
It doesn't matter how fast or slow you go. As long as it's safe, you get a good cut and the RPMs of your tractor stays up to PTO speed.
Billy ....
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| robmel
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 6 Missouri
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2003-02-14 49250
Billy,
I guess what I am trying to say is that one gear is too slow, you just creep along, and the next gear is too fast, making the mower bounce too bad. I am wondering if I need to trade tractors so I can get a 16 speed transmission instead of an 8 speed before I get too many hours on this one and it loses it's value. Thanks for your reply.
Rob ....
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| Billy
Join Date: Oct 1999 Posts: 975 Southeast Oklahoma
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2003-02-14 49260
Rob,
I take it you have 2 ranges with 4 gears in each range? If that's the case, you should have 8 speed choices. You could get a tractor with 3 ranges but I doubt the speeds would be 'that' different.
If you want to have absolute control over your speed, you could trade for a hydro model.
Billy ....
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| TomG
Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 5406 Upper Ottawa Valley 
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2003-02-15 49281
Rob: I guess you've been around the tractor long enough to know if the ranges overlap--whether high gear in the low range is higher than low in the high range. If they overlap, then there may be the split-shifting problem on found on some old transports. It can be hard to know where the very next gear is on a truck that may have a 5 x 3 x 2 drive train.
It'd be good if there was a split shifting solution. If not, you might try backing on the rpm and see if it still mows OK. There would be some loss of engine power and efficiency but it might get the job done short of buying a new tractor. Come to think about it, a new gear box for the mower that gives it higher rpm probably is less radical than a new tractor, unless of course that's what is really wanted. The new gear box idea would require an operator to never operate at pto rpm to avoid over-speeding the mower.
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| robmel
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 6 Missouri
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2003-02-15 49302
Tom,
No the ranges don't overlap. I wish they did, there is a gap of 2.8 mph between low range 4 and high range 1. I guess I should have checked the speeds before I bought the tractor but you would think the engineers would have designed it so the speeds would be more close together in the low to mid gears.
As far as trading the tractor, it only has 30 hours on it and the dealer said I would lose about $500 off of what I paid for it. Add $2500 for the "deluxe" series with the 16 speed transmission I am looking at $3000 to trade it. Don't know what to do at this point.
Rob ....
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| robmel
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 6 Missouri
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2003-02-15 49303
Billy,
According to the dealer, they didn't make the hydro yet when I bought this tractor, but he can get them now for about $1500 more. Don't know if this is on the "value" or "deluxe" series.
Rob ....
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| TomG
Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 5406 Upper Ottawa Valley
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2003-02-16 49332
Rob: I do know the problem. My 12 x 4 Ford TX gives me 4 reverse gears. Even if I seldom use the top two, the 4 gears give me narrower spacing. That is important to me 'cause I use a 3ph snow blower. Even so, the tractor may have the power to blow light snow in 3rd reverse, but I'm unwilling to drive backwards that fast and the snow doesn't blow so well if I back off the rpm.
A possible alternative for me is a creeper kit that supposedly is still available for my mid-80's Ford. It is an under-drive that works on all gears and would provide 8 reverse gears and 24 forward ones. There's at least a chance that 4th reverse in creeper would put me somewhere between the lower two reverses but I'd have to check the ratios. In your case of using the forward gears, a creeper would have a better chance of producing a ratio between the two gears you're using.
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