Export thread

What gear do you mow or snow blow in?

#1

I

indypower

When I mow my lawn with my Poulan tractor, I usually mow in 1st gear. I feel mowing slower does a better job of cutting the grass. And when I snow blow with my walk behind, most of the time I also use 1st gear. In light snow of 6" or so, I will use 2nd. I find it easier to control using the slow speeds.


#2

J

jenkinsph

I can mulch in most conditions at about 4 mph and cut with open deck about 6 mph on my own lawn. Some of my customers lawns are much slower.

How fast or what gear you can use depends on how smooth the lawn is from my experience.


#3

K

KennyV

jenkinsph said:
How fast or what gear you can use depends on how smooth the lawn is from my experience.
Click to expand...

That is what I have found also. Most of my area I can do at 6 MPH, some is nice enough to run at 8 MPH... I'm going to try to get more of it smooth enough to do all of it at 8 MPH...

Snow blowing is a bit easier as it is generally flat and smooth... I was blowing a full 54 inch wide by over 3 foot deep drifts yesterday at better than 6 MPH, Makes the diesel engine work a little but it sure puts a lot of snow into the air... I found some stretches that were deep enough to roll over the top of the blower... snow is fun, from INSIDE a heated cab... :smile::smile::smile: KennyV


#4

J

jenkinsph

KennyV said:
Most of my area I can do at 6 MPH, some is nice enough to run at 8 MPH... I'm going to try to get more of it smooth enough to do all of it at 8 MPH...

My older L130 couldn't run faster than about 6 mph and it couldn't mulch much faster than 4 mph. I am hoping to find out how fast I can mow with the new X749, it has a top speed of 8.5 mph but until I try it I won't know what the cut will look like.

I should add that I used a landplane grader to smooth out the lawn areas at home so speed and smoothness isn't a problem.

Here is a pic of the lawn area with the landplane and harrow I built for smoothing lawns.
Click to expand...


#5

JDgreen

JDgreen

indypower said:
When I mow my lawn with my Poulan tractor, I usually mow in 1st gear. I feel mowing slower does a better job of cutting the grass. And when I snow blow with my walk behind, most of the time I also use 1st gear. In light snow of 6" or so, I will use 2nd. I find it easier to control using the slow speeds.
Click to expand...

How does one determine "gear" with a hydrostatic transmission? And there are several replies given that note "mph"...gee, I have never seen a speedometer on a lawn or garden tractor....:laughing::laughing:


#6

K

KennyV

JDgreen said:
How does one determine "gear" with a hydrostatic transmission? And there are several replies given that note "mph"...gee, I have never seen a speedometer on a lawn or garden tractor....:laughing::laughing:
Click to expand...

Most likely the best speed for mowing would be measured in feet per second, but a lot of people could not relate to that.
Using MPH is a number system most everyone is familiar with...
Using GPS on your phone, setting your app for walking/hiking, you can get a very accurate speed read out.
:smile:KennyV


#7

Grass ala Mowed

Grass ala Mowed

As fast as I can. It depends on how wet or dry the grass is, I mean the grass is not as juicy in August as it is in May or how much snow there is. Seriously, I slowly increase speed until until the cutting deteriorates and then slow down and go back over that portion. Likewise with the snowblower, I've found it throws better when it's got a fair amoung of snow to chew on, so the less snow depth, the faster.


#8

JDgreen

JDgreen

KennyV said:
Most likely the best speed for mowing would be measured in feet per second, but a lot of people could not relate to that.
Using MPH is a number system most everyone is familiar with...
Using GPS on your phone, setting your app for walking/hiking, you can get a very accurate speed read out.
:smile:KennyV
Click to expand...

A GPS with a phone app, you gotta be kidding...a brisk walk is about 4 mph isn't it? A jog, about 6mph...telling people "I mow at 8 mph" without a speedometer is a very rough calculation...


#9

K

KennyV

JDgreen said:
A GPS with a phone app, you gotta be kidding...a brisk walk is about 4 mph isn't it? A jog, about 6mph...telling people "I mow at 8 mph" without a speedometer is a very rough calculation...
Click to expand...

I have 3 phone apps that read out my MPH...
They are not rough calculations! ... One of them will read out in tenths and will log in hundredths. Nothing 'rough in the calculation'...
I do not include the decimal, and rounded down...
Do you not have GPS on your phone? If you do, load any of the many apps that give you speed.
I have one that, reads and logs speed, elevation, change of elevation highest and lowest speeds and more PLUS will plot it all on a map that is accurate to within a few inches to feet... :smile:KennyV


#10

J

jenkinsph

JDgreen,
You have to know what your speed is to fertilize too. A modern day gps is a handy tool and allows you to plot your course. We used to have someone at each end of the field with orange cones and they would move them over between passes to keep us lined up. Today gps takes care of all of that.


#11

M

Muhammad

Depends on a few factors. First, how well I want the lawn cut. :laughing: Second, how tall the grass is, and third, outside factors like wetness, type of grass, etc. For regular lawn 4-5" in length, I would mow around 3-3.5mph... but that's because I don't mind if the cut isn't PERFECT since I know it's going to need to be cut soon again anyway. Also that would be for a decent cut, not the best "golf course" look. :wink:


Footer Links 1

Top