[AJD] John Deere 650

[Eric LaCruze]

Dean VP wrote:

> Mike:
> 
> A JD 650 is rated at 14.5 HP at 2600RPM as opposed to a 750 which is rated
> at 18.5 HP at 2600RPM. I would suspect that a 60" finish mower would give it
> a really good work out. However, if you are not cutting long wet grass it
> might be able to handle it. 
> 
> I have a JD 503 (60" cutting width) rotary cutter that I use with the JD 750
> and in tall wet grass it works it out pretty good but have never run out of
> HP. I would think a 60" finish mower in normal lawn grass wouldn't pull
> nearly as hard. I guess it kind of depends on how thick it is and how sharp
> the blades are.
> 
> Dean A. Van Peursem
> Snohomish, WA 98290

We have a diesel 870 (27hp, 4x4) with a 72" belly mower. Admittedly, 
it's enough more tractor that it may not be comparable, but you can't 
get enough grass under the mower to work the engine. Even thick wet lawn 
grass is no contest-it gets uncomfortable to drive before I go to fast 
for the mower. The only time I can hear the engine pull the governor up 
is with dullish blades cutting field grass, which is usually stringy, 
dry, and 12" deep.
We have a '70s vintage JD400 with 60" mower, 20hp twin cylinder. It'll 
cut anything you can drive it over, too, though it's easy to feed being 
a hydrostatic drive. I'd think that a 60" finish mower which isn't 
confused with a bush hog (like mine) should be just fine behind it. FWIW 
it seems that a bush hog of equivalent width actually takes less power 
to run than the finish mower. I have a 3 blade hog 9ft wide, and it's 
hard to travel fast enough to overfeed it behind the 870.
In either case, ground speed is the key.

my $.02

Eric