Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Product sources Kubota, LS, Branson & Mahindra Tractors

The ones RAH mentioned are good. I broke down and bought an expensive JD mower for my new 4044. It does have a deeper deck and larger blade carrier (thus shorter blades) which will do a better job in tall grass/weeds. I figured I would own it till I died so over the years the extra cost amortized out would not be much extra.

Having said that, on my JD2620 which is about the physical size of your tractor I bought a cheap 4' rotary mower at a farm store that was selling out and quitting so I got it really cheap. That mower did everything I ask it to and never complained. When you are talking about a 4' mower they usually use the same gearbox as the 5' and sometimes the cheaper 6' mowers. With your horsepower you would never need to worry about the durability of the gearbox or blades. On a 5 or 6' with a higher horsepower tractor that can become an issue. Another thing is the bigger mowers can be had with either a shear pin or slip clutch. As long as your talking about tractors about 35 horsepower or lower I don't see the need for a slip clutch. You just pull the engine down if you run it in the dirt or hit a stump. Not the case if you are running a 50 hp tractor or up. If you have a 80 hp tractor with a shear pin protection cutting in some rough stuff, the shear pin can become an issue of losing your religion. With your horsepower there is no issue. You don't have a big enough tractor to shear it. I have never sheared a pin on either my 2620 (4' cheapie) or 3038E (had a Frontier 5' mower on it). My new 4044 (44hp) and JD6' mower (model HX6) has a slip clutch on the mower because that is the way it was equipped on the dealer lot. But a shear pin would have been fine also. Had I bought the 4066 (66 hp) a shear pin protection mower could have become a problem in some conditions. The shear pin or slip clutch is mainly to protect the mower drive line although does also provide some protection to the gearbox if the tractor is a higher horsepower than the mower gearbox is rated for. In the larger mowers that can become an issue in rough cutting (tractor tearing up the gearbox), but again with your tractor any 4' mower you would buy would have a gearbox that far exceeds your tractor capacity to tear it up. So no worries.

Probably more than you wanted to know. I owned a shear pin 6' mower many years ago and used it on a 60 hp tractor. It was a pain. Always carried a half dozen shear bolts with me at all times.

For those that have higher horsepower tractors and want a slip clutch protection, the problem with them (especially if they are stored outside) is the clutch disks can freeze up with rust then you have zero protection because they will not slip at designed torque. The main indication is a twisted drive line. Most manuals say to loosen the torque setting bolts, slip the clutch, then re-tighten the adjusting bolt/bolts. Trouble is it is a pain and most people never do it. Should do it at the beginning of each season. On a 25' or above flex wing mower there are usually 3 of them. We have replaced wing drive lines before when the clutch was frozen up.