Following on from a contract that I gained earlier in the year, a company that I work for has now expanded and is leasing half of a large industrial site. Having visited the site to meet the MD and contracts manager to discuss their needs, the owners of the site arrived and now wish me to take submit a price for cutting their half of the site as well...to be cut fortnightly through the season and once a month 'out of season'
Here's a couple of pictures just to give you an idea of scale:
That's just the front of the site! There is about 2 or maybe 3 times as much grass behind...
To cut just the front bit across the front of the warehouses took an hour and a half with my Snapper 28" ride on mulching in top gear (approx 5-6 mph), then and additional half and hour doing the roadside with Hayter Double 3.
Obviously its looking like I need a second hand bigger decked machine to cover this site - however I am torn between getting a bigger ride on or a Scag walk behind type machine. Both clients for this site request mulching, with a total ban on side discharge - I assume Scags can mulch satisfactorily?
Interested to hear from current users of machines that cut this type of area as to the pros/cons of each - oh and whatever i get will have to be less than 44 inches wide else it won't fit in the trailer - another trailer means dedicated storage requires getting at £1 per day.....
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for this type of work depending on what you have in store for future work we use 36" ride ons ie countax as they are fairley versitile the only issue we have had with them is the centre of gravity on steep banks but they have lasted us about 5 years and still going plus you have the option to collect the grass or pick up leaves if need be
I would use a scag for this job due to the banks and the nature of the site. I think they only go 36 inch then 48 inch though and obviously the 48 would be better. You can get ride-on versions too and they produce an acceptable finish for this type of site when on fortnightly cuts.
One question - cut once a month out of season? December, January and February grass cuts?
Bit of an update on this - I was at the site cutting hedges today (for the third day...), so I took a few pictures of the other areas around the back and side of the site...
If I can get a confirmation on the rest of the site soon, I am seriously considering getting a larger (eg 48") Scag or Bobcat and getting another trailer to suit - just think it might be better in the long run than getting a 36" machine (only 8" inch than what I already can cut)... I did think about a small triple mower, like a Allen National but its difficult as the client specifies mulch or collect only..
The main issue is your budget. What do you want to spend ? Scags are brilliant machines and a 48" will go in the back of a sprinter so no need for a trailer. Mines a rear discharge only so no idea how good the mulch kit versions are. If it were me and i had the budget for it then i would be thinking more along the lines of a ride on for this job as the grassed areas are in large simple blocks and it would make a pleasant change if you spend the rest of your time walking behind pedestrian mowers.
How about a Wright stander or Great Dane super surfer ?
We have a Scag 36 for this type of work which will leave an acceptable finish on a fortnightly cut. A properly set up cylinder used on grass cut on a regular basis will leave a much better finish than a rotary. Down side to cylinder is that they are more expensive to run with regards to servicing and sharpening. We run a Hayter LT324 which we use on more or less all regularly cut sites and gives an excellent finish. Most of the time it looks like grass has been collected.
Hi Adam,
Have you looked into the Avant range of equipment?
We do a 5' wide mulching deck that will fit on 4 models in our range.
http://www.reachitmoveitcrushit.com/90320/info.php?p=7&pno=0&am...
The plus side with our equipment is that when the snow comes you can offer them a snow clearing service with the same equipment and just change the front end to either a snow blade, broom or blower to suit there requirements, so your investment wont be sitting in the shed not earning you any money, but out creating another revenue stream when everyone else is complaing about not being able to work.
http://www.reachitmoveitcrushit.com/90320/info.php?p=10
Adam Pilgrim said:
Here's an update - having cut the rear section of the site the other week with the 28" Snapper again (which took nearly 5 hours), I went on the look out for another machine...
Trawling internet adverts bought up an intresting advert for a machine, and I quote the advert title
"TORO disel ride on mower no deck supozed to run spaers or reaper Diesel"
Interesting I thought, especially as it was only 10 miles away, incidentally in a direction that I was going that day.
The man selling it had bought it as part of a job lot of agricultural equipment and had no use for, or interest in it and had dumped it, as so many farmers do, in the hedge bottom 'out of the way'.
On viewing, no parts appear to be missing from the machine, with the obvious exception of the cutter deck, however the hydraulic lift rams/mechanism and deck lift arms are still present. The engine turned over and had good compression. (2400 odd hours showing on hour meter)
To cut a long story short, we agreed a price for the machine based on its assumed scrap value and included delivery to my address with his Hiab lorry too.
After a couple of hours tinkering, it now starts and runs fine (blocked fuel filter and bad glow plug wire) and the hydro static transmission works correctly in forward and reverse. It has now been driven into my workshop for an over winter overhaul to include the manufacture of a new 60 inch out front rear discharge/mulch deck by a local fabricator.
So if anyone has any useful spare parts lying around for a Toro Ground master 217 diesel with a Mitsubishi 2 cylinder diesel engine, I may be interested in hearing from you.....
Another thread on LJN by Andy Doughty recently reminded me of this discussion that I posted way back in October last year.... If you don't like 'hybrid' or modified machines, I'm afraid you REALLY won't like this.....
When I last posted, I had just been delivered this:
Yes, I know most people would have scrapped it there and then, but I do like a challenge!
Lots and lots of fiddling and tinkering through the winter months followed until the machine looked like this:
Many issues arose along the way (mainly to do with the electrics) along with many different ideas on cutting decks - mulch decks weren't even thought of when this machine was produced and converting a 'standard deck' to mulch would be difficult as the blade speed is too low (approx 1500-2000 rpm as opposed to the approx 3000 rpm needed for good mulching), that's without the internal deck design not being correct in the first place...add to this the fact that the engine is only 17hp and would struggle to work a standard deck, let alone a mulch one.
So the project got overtaken by other jobs...until one day whilst servicing my Hayter Double 3 mulcher, a joke was made about 'needing 3 of these strapped together for that Toro'...
So we made something just like that, using bits that came to hand and three Honda GVC160 engines from Ebay - first version in plywood, then in metal - till we ended up with this:
Cutting width is 64", using 3 x 22" mulching blades.
In a week or so when the fabricator has delivered me the final parts (some specially rolled metal rings for underneath the deck), I'll let you all know if it works......
LOL !!!! Your hardcore Adam, very impressed with your ingenuity and outside the box thinking.
Are you going to pipe fuel lines to each engine or just run them independently ?
Brian, as each engine runs perfectly happily as a 'separate unit', its intended to keep them that way - at least for the present time. If an engine gives trouble, I have a spare unit and its only about 2 minutes work (5 bolts) to change the complete engine! I know that each Honda engine carries enough fuel supply for around 45 minutes to an hours mowing, so a fair area should be able to be covered without stopping to refuel them.
Each power unit has its own choke control for starting, pull it out to start, one pull on the recoil to start, then push choke control back in - they then run on fast revs - approx 2800 rpm - (like a fixed engine speed mower). All engines are interlinked with an electric stop OPC system back to a kill switch on the control panel that cuts the spark to all 3 engines so they can be stopped from the drivers seat without getting off the machine.
There are still a few bits that will need finishing - the brakes don't currently work as the cables are seized, I need to get some better rear tyres fitted (off an old Westwood I scrapped) and there's a minor oil leak from the hydro transmission somewhere but nothing that's too serious.
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