Ride On Grass Cutter

[MudDoc]

Not sure if this is in the correct forum group. I am looking for a ride-on lawn mower to cut grass on 26 Rai around rubber trees. We are presently using a Honda whipper-snipper, but this keeps breaking down and requiring new blades. Also is very time consuming - takes around a week for the grass to get cut down. Mind you that may also be due to the person operating the equipment, not necessarily the equipment or the grass being cut. I was offered a ride-on mower the other day for Baht 80,000, but haven't been able to find a dealer or anything on the nett for ride-on mowers in Thailand, so not sure if this is a good price or I'm being ripped off. Rest of the world, no problem. Was hoping I wouldn't have to import one, hence the question to the forum members - Does anyone know of any dealers in the Pattaya / Chonburi / Rayong area who sell and service these machines??

[rice555]

Hello ModDoc, if you have a small 4WD-tractor, a deck or flale<sp>mower work should work good. Used both in the States on a 28hp ford-4WD on pastures and blackberries.

Deck mowers were used a lot in orchards. The guy I worked for had us try out a ford ride on mower(mid 6' deck), was slow even on flat ground with 1' high grass.

What ever you get, try it first where you plan to use it.

rice555

[jimthefish]

Not sure if this is in the correct forum group. I am looking for a ride-on lawn mower to cut grass on 26 Rai around rubber trees. We are presently using a Honda whipper-snipper, but this keeps breaking down and requiring new blades. Also is very time consuming - takes around a week for the grass to get cut down. Mind you that may also be due to the person operating the equipment, not necessarily the equipment or the grass being cut. I was offered a ride-on mower the other day for Baht 80,000, but haven't been able to find a dealer or anything on the nett for ride-on mowers in Thailand, so not sure if this is a good price or I'm being ripped off. Rest of the world, no problem. Was hoping I wouldn't have to import one, hence the question to the forum members - Does anyone know of any dealers in the Pattaya / Chonburi / Rayong area who sell and service these machines??

Hi doc, there is an amercan ride on dealership in chonburi on the main sukumvit road (john deary) hope i;ve spelt it right or yard machinery in BKK where I bought mine from 38in cut fantastic mower 130,000 brand new, if you need any more info call me on 0879407232 jim

[jubby]

I'd be worried about damaging a ride on mower on anything other than a large Lawn.

26 Rai is a lot of area, If the lands not totally flat , are you going to get the blades embedded in the soil on a bumpy bit ? Whats the probability of you hitting a large stone, brick or something that someone has discarded and damage the blades on a regular basis. Its your land , only you can answer this.

The drag along deck mower thats popular here seems virtually indestructable. It will level the bumps , break up the stones and take most things in its stride. Its got a built in clutch which consists of friction plates that you can easily adjust. The blades are around 1.5 to 2 inch thick and don't need sharpening. The one I use has a 1.2 metre cut. I can do in 1 hour what you can do with a honda brush cutter in a week.

Ofcourse you need a small tractor to pull it and you'll need to tidy close to the trees with the brush cutter also.

The mowers that you can push along . A small 6 hp engine mounted on a frame with what looks like bicycle wheels are also a lot faster than the brushcutters. if the lands flat then its probably 10 times quicker and would be a very cheap option. The blades are only a few millimetres thich though so if your worker is day dreaming whilst he works then he's going to easily damage them but they are cheap to replace.

[slapout]

The frail mower Rice mentioned behind a 30 +_ hp tractor, run off of pto will keep the grass, weeds even small trees cut down. Uneven ground rocks, etc are not a big concern and do not harm the machine (dull cutter blades ok) but that is minor. Depending on the tractor size and what the mower size which is compatible there are several options. A 30 hp tractor will handle a 6 foot frail mower, which can be offset so you can mow near fence, tree, etc. The frail mower does not give the manicured lawn look but where working around trees, fences etc the offset does eliminate a lot of trimming with a weed eater. The cutter shape/size is unique so a supply of spares is highly recommended. The attachment bolts and chain can be purchased locally. The cutting height can be set via 3 pt to cut lower than a brush hog. The drive via belts is workable but a chaindrive system is hard to beat as chain and sprocket and bearing, with grease seem to just keep going.

[Badbanker]

When buying a mower make sure it is Diesel and not Petrol as the engine in a Diesel mower is going to last about 10 times longer.

Family had a farm in my youth of a similar size to the OP. Dad bought a number of petrol mowers that after 3-5 years needed total overhaul or replacement. Then we got a Kubota b7000 mini tractor with a small flail mower. It is still going by my count 18 years and has 8,000 hours on it.

This little kubota b7000 pulls a small plough, runs a rototiller and works the mower very nicely! I saw one the other day here used for 40,000 baht. I think this sort of vehicle would solve a number of your requirements for a number of years!

BB

[MudDoc]

Thanks a lot guys for your replies. I was pretty sure that a small tractor and flail mower would be the better option and wasn't sure about the price being quoted. This week-end we will be staying on our property and the guy is going to let us "borrow" the ride-on for a trial to see if we want to buy one. As I was coming back to Pattaya yesterday, saw a dealership in Klaeng that has small tractors for sale (brand new), but didn't have the time or opportunity to check these out. Will try and do it this week-end.

[Gary A]

You are going to mow a fairly large area. I think a normal ride on mower will drive you crazy with repairs. Mowing this type of land is far different than mowing a lawn. Buy a small tractor with a power take off and a three point hitch. A flail type mower is great but much more expensive than the normal easy to buy deck type with the single blade. As always, avoid the Chinese tractors and equipment.

The better deck type brush cutters have a swinging cutter on each end of the single blade. The gear box should also have a clutch between the tractor and the gear box.

[MudDoc]

Just to keep you all updated. Just got back from Klaeng after the week-end down there. The "ride-on"lawn mower I was offered was actually a Kabuto L2210 (20 HP) tractor with mower attachement. Tried this out over the week-end and could actually cut all the grass between the tree row in the 2 days - mind you the first few hours didn't really do much as finding out what the unit could / couldn't do and how good I was at driving a tractor (terrible as it turns out, but better than anyone else there except the owner of the machine). The guy wanted 75,000 Baht for the tractor and grass cutter, but over my property it just wasn't strong enough over certain areas - the grass cutter when raised would also take the front wheels off the ground which made it difficult to control on the turns.

If anyone is considering purchasing one of these, I would highly recommend buying (as mentioned above) a 30 or 40 HP unit as the extra weight with the motor may keep the front wheel on the ground and give better traction when turning.

Will now be looking at the local tractor dealers for a 30 or 40 HP machine as time saved is considerable and I can see the benfits of having a tractor on the property, even though I only have a small acreage compared to some of you.

[Gary A]

Just to keep you all updated. Just got back from Klaeng after the week-end down there. The "ride-on"lawn mower I was offered was actually a Kabuto L2210 (20 HP) tractor with mower attachement. Tried this out over the week-end and could actually cut all the grass between the tree row in the 2 days - mind you the first few hours didn't really do much as finding out what the unit could / couldn't do and how good I was at driving a tractor (terrible as it turns out, but better than anyone else there except the owner of the machine). The guy wanted 75,000 Baht for the tractor and grass cutter, but over my property it just wasn't strong enough over certain areas - the grass cutter when raised would also take the front wheels off the ground which made it difficult to control on the turns.

If anyone is considering purchasing one of these, I would highly recommend buying (as mentioned above) a 30 or 40 HP unit as the extra weight with the motor may keep the front wheel on the ground and give better traction when turning.

Will now be looking at the local tractor dealers for a 30 or 40 HP machine as time saved is considerable and I can see the benfits of having a tractor on the property, even though I only have a small acreage compared to some of you.

If the tractor is a diesel and in good condition, that sounds like a good price. As far as lifting the front end, a few weights on the front will solve that problem. How wide is the mower? Maybe it's just too big for the tractor. The mower should cover the rear tire tracks and not much more.

[MudDoc]

Gary A,

The tractor is an old diesel, with a lot of the gauges etc, non functioning, though does appear to be mechanically sound as I didn't have aproblem when using it. The mower is as wide as the rear tyres and gives about a meter cut, but I think is too heavy for the size of tractor, though with some extra weight on the frontwould help a lot with the machine especially when trying to turn through rubber trees and miss driving into klongs or rivers which surround my place. I will check up next time in Klaeng about costs of new /second hand tractors and see how those prices compar to what is being offered here. Just feel that he was overcharging somewhat (typically Thai to farang style).

[jubby]

I'm sure there are a lot of people using the L2210 with the mower successfully if the lands fairly flat. 20hp is enough. my neighbour has a very old chinese tractor with similar size engine. I needed a 4x4 34hp mainly because my land is very steep in places and requires me to reverse up in 4 wheel drive otherwise I'd be spinning the wheels . It does sound fairly old and will probably require too much maintenance though.

[slapout]

Is the mower a a brush hog type, mounted on 3 point and pto drive?. A 1 meter cut is small for a 20 hp tractor, A deck mower on this size tractor would be about 5 foot cut which is tire width. If the mower is made and sized for the tractor the front end should not come of the ground under normal conditions. Going up a steep hill maybe, but it sounds like a little bit of ni..er rigging to me. I had a 18 hp with a deck mower as mentioned before and it took 1/2 day to mow 8 rai+- with no trees/obstacles. If none of the gauges are working I would suspect it has had some work done and the shade tree mechanic did not know or understand the sending units purpose/importance nor did the owner/driver. I think I would look around .

[Gary A]

The tractor should have plenty of power. Were you using the brakes to help turn? The front wheels will slide without using the brakes.

These small tractors really benefit from four wheel drive. I have a thirty HP Yanmar four wheel drive. I chose the Yanmar because of the synchro shift feature. That means that I don't have to change gears to go forward or backwards, just move a lever up or down that is mounted on the steering column. I looked for a long time for a second hand tractor and they were either worn out of had other problems. I finally broke down and bought a new one that was exactly what I wanted.

[MudDoc]

Guys,

Another queerie on this subject. What price should I expect to pay for one of these tractors?? As mentioned above, the guy who owns the tractor wants 75,000 baht for it. For the apparent age and codition I feel this is high. But I don't have anything to go by.

[Gary A]

Guys,

Another queerie on this subject. What price should I expect to pay for one of these tractors?? As mentioned above, the guy who owns the tractor wants 75,000 baht for it. For the apparent age and codition I feel this is high. But I don't have anything to go by.

I looked far and wide and used tractors are high priced. I doubt that you will find anything decent for less than about 200,000 baht. My 30 HP four wheel drive Yanmar cost about 480,000 baht new. A decent quality bush hog will set you back about 36,000 baht or more.

[Badbanker]

A couple of quick comments about your needs.

Driving a tractor for the first time, it is guaranteed that you will not know what gears or how to operate it correctly or have the ability to operate it correctly and the most efficiently. I am sure Maizefarmer will agree on this! It takes time to understand a machine as it is not a car but a working vehicle!

Remember you do have lowrange gears that will allow you to mow the side of a mountain with care. In first gear low range I think you will be amazed that you can drive up very steep hills while cutting grass. This is especially true if the tractor is a 4x4! Weights for the front end are readily available and inexpensive and do change the working behaviour of the tractor substantially.

The L2201 has the DH1100 engine in it that has proved to be a workhorse for many years. I also think the L2200 series tractor have the rear end of the L2600 series tractor so it should nevr wear out. I know part are readily available and will be for a number of years to come from Kubota and independant importers. Cosmetics are not so important as you are buying a work tool. Just ensure that it starts quickly and does not blow the wrong colour smoke and there are no obvious major oil leaks.

Oh and the price is about right but you should still try to get it for 65,000 or less if you can.

BB

[MrWiggle]

offer 50k....can always go up if he says no and it probably aint going anywhere, so if he says no, leave it with him to think about and you might get a call in coupla days...usually the way.

And if you cannot cut 26 rai in one day with it, then something is wrong....not the 2 days you mention.

[MudDoc]

Only reason it took 2 days, was it was the first time I have driven a tractor with grass cutter and was probably being more careful around the trees than I needed to be. Also doing some major modifications to the house there and had to go answer several questions from my better half on various issues arising from this. Apart from the age and the fact that I was a little worried about the mechanical side, thought the tractor was great, if rough on the back and arms over the rough ground. I could see that with a few cuts made the ground would smooth out a little and make driving it a little easier.

[RCP]

Only reason it took 2 days, was it was the first time I have driven a tractor with grass cutter and was probably being more careful around the trees than I needed to be. Also doing some major modifications to the house there and had to go answer several questions from my better half on various issues arising from this. Apart from the age and the fact that I was a little worried about the mechanical side, thought the tractor was great, if rough on the back and arms over the rough ground. I could see that with a few cuts made the ground would smooth out a little and make driving it a little easier.

Morning All,

HUSKY Dealers in Bangkok and Chang Mai, they have several different Model and Types of Riding Mowers. They also have large rear wheel push type.