Jonathan W Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 Posted by stu knowles on 14/02/2019 21:14:40: The current mower is beyond economic repair, due to a hydraulic pump which needs replacing, we were informed. A new pump is around £500 and is fitted in an hour by anyone with a set of spanners. Most commercial mowers can be repaired ad infinitum The committee say that a new pump is £2k + labour + VAT. That's all I know. I've found new ride on mowers (twin rotary cutters) by google search for about £2k with 5 years guarantee. It would be interesting to know what is the typical club spend for a ride on mower, anybody?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cymaz Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 Is there a garden machinery specialist / agricultural dealership near by that might do a second hand one ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kc Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 A few minutes with Google will get the details of hydraulic pump repairers and could be worth following up to see if there is a cheaper way out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Tarling Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 Many garden/agricultural machinery specialists will have a range of used machines for sale and will guarantee them. The same specialists are also usually capable of doing repairs, so worth asking at least a couple for a quote to repair your existing machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan W Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 Neither I nor Tim are on the committee. I'm sure they have looked into various repair options and have considered the hydraulic pump problem in all aspects. The outcome was that the repair was not economic. The question reallly is about the replacement mower and what type/budget is typical of other clubs. Another club I was in had a ride on rotary mower that cost about £3k. We can all google search, so I suppose on this forum we were looking for specific recommendations based on other clubs' actual experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denis Watkins Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 Our 4 stroke, self propelled Mountfield rotary mower is now 10 years old and going strong Takes about 1 hour to do the strip, taking turns to go up and down A replacement would be £299 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Kearsley Posted February 15, 2019 Author Share Posted February 15, 2019 Posted by Jonathan W on 15/02/2019 12:02:42: Neither I nor Tim are on the committee. I'm sure they have looked into various repair options and have considered the hydraulic pump problem in all aspects. The outcome was that the repair was not economic. Sorry, I didn't make it clear in the initial post - I am a committee member, since the AGM in December 2017. We have indeed considered repair options on the current mower and none really makes economic sense. The purpose of the question on this forum was to see what other clubs are doing and gain opinions on the relative merits of cylinder versus rotary, height of cut, owning a mower versus using a contractor etc. Your responses have been most useful, thank you. Tim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan W Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 Posted by Tim Kearsley on 15/02/2019 12:48:12 Sorry, I didn't make it clear in the initial post - I am a committee member, since the AGM in December 2017. Tim. Ooops, my apologies for that Tim!! Looks like we have many options that would do the job and it's just a matter of opinion as to what the club prefers. Jonathan Edited By Jonathan W on 15/02/2019 13:11:17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Miller Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 Our Mountfield ride on with 4 stroke motor cost about £1400 8 years ago. It takes one hour and 15 minutes to cut the grass. A full two acres Only expense apart from petrol has been a couple of belts. Edited By Peter Miller on 15/02/2019 13:56:19 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichB Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 Just to add my thoughts, our club had a number of ride-on mowers stolen over many years, despite having numerous padlocks on the storage container. The last straw was when one of our two mowers became uneconomic to repair and we bought another good used example. This lasted a few weeks until it and the second mower was stolen ( one door of the container was dragged open by what must have been a lorry and chains!). We then decided to use a local contractor to mow the grass and have been very pleased with the arrangement for around four years. It is fairly expensive (around £2000 a season) as we have quite a large area of grass to cut, but the advantages are :- 1. Every club member contributes to the grass cutting instead of just two or three stalwarts. 2. We don't have to worry about the mowers being stolen. 3. Nobody has to be tasked with mower maintenance and obtaining petrol and spares. Club members also comment on how well the grass is kept Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TigerOC Posted April 19, 2019 Share Posted April 19, 2019 We bought one of these for our club 2 years ago and it is very good; Lawn-King-DL96T-38in-Cut-Lawn-Tractor Our main short area is 1200 sq m with outer area of slightly longer grass. Shortest cut is 38mm. Most of the small models cope fine with grass at this length. Takes about an hour to mow the area. We have fitted a GPS tracker. Edited By TigerOC on 19/04/2019 22:18:52 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted April 20, 2019 Share Posted April 20, 2019 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted April 20, 2019 Share Posted April 20, 2019 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TigerOC Posted April 20, 2019 Share Posted April 20, 2019 We did a modification to the deck because we are in sheep pasture. The deck is a twin blade so we added 2 deck wash attachments. Deck wash kit We tapped into the water supply for the water troughs and the deck is always sparkling clean. As with all things mechanical; regular care and servicing keeps them running smoothly. The engine hasn't used a drop of oil in the 2 years so the cylinder and rings must be pretty good. Service from Cheap Mowers has been very good. The tracker we used is for motor bikes and powered with a lithium battery which has a 4 day life and communicates via mobile phone card and programmed via text message. We had to install a solar panel because the battery in the mower was unable to support the draw during the winter months. The field is way out in the sticks and we don't suffer the same petty crime found in larger urban areas. Rob Edited By TigerOC on 20/04/2019 09:52:01 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted April 20, 2019 Share Posted April 20, 2019 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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