Anybody else use a meadow/high grass/brush mower?

peasant

My "garden" has one major thing wrong with it ...it isn't one .
It's a field, all lumpy and bumpy, never prepared, never any lawn put down ...plus it's on a slope as well.

All manner of things grow in it, mostly grasses but also lots of weeds, brambles and thorn bushes. Plus it rains a lot here in the Northwest and cutting chances are limited (I'm not retired yet) so all these things tend to grow fairly high between cuts.
To add a bit of interest to this field, I've allowed some of the bushes/trees to grow so cutting the mess inbetween needs something more maneuvreable than the big feck-off lawn tractor that could handle the high, wet grass.


For all of the above reasons, for the last 10 years I've been cutting my "lawn" with this machine:
http://www.psdgroundscare.co.uk/product_details.asp?prod_id=59
That worked reasonably well. It cuts everything up to small saplings and after a few days drying and a second run over the cut matter even the mulching was satisfactory.
The monster mower (as I call it) has never given any trouble and never needed anything major done to it either and the small things (new belt, new filters and a replacement blade clutch spring) I could fix myself.

And now I've traded it it in and even got a decent discount for it on the newer, bigger model:
http://www.psdgroundscare.co.uk/product_details.asp?prod_id=61
This one has gears, crossblades and a difflock so cutting my high "grass" should become even easier.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A83p1KU3LYc

Both machines were bought here:
http://www.southernmachinery.ie/as-motor.htm


So ...anyone else got one of these monsters? Or something similar from a different maker?

peasant

Well, The AS-Motor 65 2T arrived on Saturday and was given the run around in my wilderness.

I'm absolutely delighted with it. It eats its way through 2 foot high clumps of sturdy, juicy, dripping wet grass without so much as a change of engine note and leaves behind a nice swade of mulch with bits no longer than about 5-6 cm.

With the gearing of the drive and the 2:1 ratio of engine to blade it has so much power, you wouldn't think that the engine has "only" 6hp. I's a two stroke engine though, so it has much more torque than your regular four stroke petrol engine of similar hp. It now also has a catalyser, so no more oily fumes.

With the geared drive, the difflock and the ag tyres you can hammer it in under bushes up to the grips, reverse out again and rinse&repeat all day long.

You can switch off the blade and drive over gravel or other non-mowable surfaces and start mowing somewhere else without having to switch off the engine.

It has a brake too, as soon as you let go of the drive lever, it stops dead and won't roll away.

Due to its very sturdy build it's quite heavy at 120 kg, but so perfectly balanced that maneuvering or tilting is no problem at all.


The only negative about it is its fairly high price (you'd get a good lawn tractor for that money), but judging by the longevity of its predecessor and what it can do, I reckon it's worth every cent.

I would recommend this machine to anyone who doesn't have a lawn but a meadow to mow. The cutting and mulching results are good enough to make even my field look lawn-like and you can relax about the crap weather ...this mower will cope even if you haven't been able to cut the grass for weeks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DT1vzHA1XBg

CJhaughey

Those AS machines are great, no comparison to a 4t machine in terms of sheer grunt.
I love 2 strokes.:D

El Kabong!

How is this going?

I need something to cut long, wet meadow, but I also need something manoeverable/narrow so was thinking of getting the AS Allrad 53 B5.