"I really wish I knew how long it would take to cut my 20000 sq. ft. lawn with a 27" TruCut."


Michael,

I have a 27" TruCut and mow approximately 17500 sq. ft. in about an hour. My yard is pretty flat and not many obstacles. If I remember right, doesn't your yard have some pretty good slope to it. That could make a difference.

I too was looking to but a gang reel before I bought the TruCut. Glad I opted for the TruCut instead.

Oh, and I just bought an older Jacobsen Triplex Mower from a bank foreclosure sale. A little TLC and it should work fine. I got it for next to nothing so I'm not out much.

One small slope. I'm sure it would be navigable, though. Perpendicular or parallel with the hill isn't just too terribly bad.

Now don't get me wrong, I feel my lawn's smoothness leaves a lot to be desired. Maybe a little smoother lawn would be better.

I think one day I will upgrade to a powered reel.

It is probably going to take at least 2 or 3 years and several gifts before I can convince the wife I'd like to try another mower, though.

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Micheal,

Any update now that you have used your ProMow for a couple of months. I am looking at it, as well as one from Mascot (I belive that is relatively new from them).

Give me one more year.

I've been meaning to post an update.

First off, please keep in mind that this is my first full season maintaining a nice lawn. Also, I've only been a real reel mower for about 4 months. I am by no means stating anything as "absolute". Only my limited experience. I'll be happy to further address any additional specific questions anyone has.

TNJDM, I don't know how much of this will apply to you on fescue, but hopefully will give you an idea.

The best thing I like about this mower is it gives me the ability to cut down to an inch to an inch and a half, on a lawn that isn't perfectly leveled. This is something I couldn't do with a rotary. To get the full benefit of going low with a reel the flatter the better, but I've found that it at least lets me go lower than I otherwise could. My lawn has been thicker than any bermuda lawn I've known personally.

On bermuda, you'll more than likely have to mow every other day to keep up. Not sure about other grasses, but can say with certainty that you NEED to respect the 1/3 rule. If you can't for some reason, you'll have to mow twice or more.

Which brings me to my main drawback. I *think* my grass just out grew the mower. Every other day wasn't enough. Every 36 hours was better, but every day would have been perfect. I don't know about y'all, but I can't mow every other day. I enjoy the company of my wife, and I'm afraid if I cut the grass any more, she would cut me off.

The problems this brought about were the washboarding effect, I complained about earlier in the thread, and the grass being so thick it would actually stop up the reel.

Both problems are fixed by raising the height, which makes the early spring scalp all the more important, IMO. For me, I'll scalp to 5/8"(lowest height for this mower), and maintain at about an inch until late June or early July, at which point I'll raise it to 1.5". Then I'll go to 2 inches at the end of the growing season to prepare for dormancy since we do get a couple good freezes here.

The other drawback I saw was the tire tracks from the mower not getting cut as well since the cutting takes place behind the mower. I lost the advantage of the full 58" cut, but alleviated the problem by overlapping the previous pass.

Maintainence is easy. Backlapping isn't that hard to do, and adjusting the reel to bedknife seems easy enough to me. I *think* I kept it sharp and well adjusted. Sharpened and adjusted per the manufacturers instructions. It cut paper cleanly and left a nice cut on my grass blades.

If there were something about the mower that I think could be better, I would want more blades on the reel(only 6) and for the reel to turn faster in relation to ground speed. I think that would help with the washboarding that I was getting.

If I had it to do again, though, I would REALLY consider a powered reel more. I mow 22,500 sq. ft. and was afraid that it would take too long to cut. Especially every other day. I'm really wondering if that would be the case now, since I'm only using 29" of the mowers cutting width as it is. I've also heard that you *can* cut at a pretty fast pace with a powered reel if your lawn's smoothness permits. This is all assumption, though, as I've never used a powered reel. Maybe this is just a "grass is greener" moment with me and mowers.

If anybody has any more questions, I'd be glad to try and help!

Thanks Michael. I probably need to change my grass type as as I just laid 3K sq ft of Bermuda Sod as a test. I Have been mowing this with a self-propelled walk mower, but plan on adding another 4 to 5K next year, so the old body wouldn't be able to do that by "hand".

Thanks again.

TNJDM wrote:Thanks Michael. I probably need to change my grass type as as I just laid 3K sq ft of Bermuda Sod as a test. I Have been mowing this with a self-propelled walk mower, but plan on adding another 4 to 5K next year, so the old body wouldn't be able to do that by "hand".

Thanks again.

Gotcha!

Don't get me wrong. Its a very good mower, and a great option if you have a larger lawn. I think if you set yourself up in spring to be able to go up in height if needed later in the year, it'll perform its best.

I don't see my problems as flaws with the mower so much as I do a slight lack of capability. Does that make sense? Does in my head.

Sure does. I actually laid T10 or Tifton 10 bermuda which is a much wider blade and thrives more at an 1 1/2" or more.

I have been mowing it with the rotary at 2 to 2 1/2" and looks really nice to me (but after struggle with Fescue in the summer, anything looks good to me)