74" Deck, What's the productivity?

[Drewaustin]

Anybody know aoubt what the acerage/day or hour would be with a walker 26 hp with the 74" deck on it. I just bought a used 74" deck and had a neighbor see it and asked if I would be interested in a gov. contarct do a cemetery (for veterans and wife's) that hasn't even began yet. Just had the land donated to them. Over all the land is 23 acre's but with roads and small building on it I would guess probably 20 acres. He told me that when they do get started they will only allow the flat headstones. Not many trees, just wide open mowing (Ithink, haven't actually seen it yet). What do your all think? Any idea's on bid amount? Of course I said yes I would be interested.

[Ground Works]

No Headstones

Well with no head stone then it will be pretty simple at first but as head stones come in the u will have to weed eat. If not too many obsticals I guess I would go with the basic 60$ an acre to start or soemwhere around that anyway. I just bid on 3 cemetaries filled with head stones lot of weed eating
I bid around 180 for 2 acre lots but the mowing won't be bad the weed eating is the time consuming part here

Lin

[1Chavez]

Drew,
Have you used this deck yet? I already have 2 MD's (24.5 gas Kubota) 48GHS decks and one 54SD. I have a new one (MD 26 48GHS and 74SD) coming the first week of March and am wondering on quality of cut.
-Rich

[Drewaustin]

yes

but not an actual prop with it yet. I just picked it up today and used it on small res back yard (neighbors rent house, testing pad if you will) took about 3 min. It works great just don't know how much I can actualy do with it. Also I sure hope I get faster at changing from the 48ghs to it. took a while

[Drewaustin]

Wow!!!!

$60.00 an acre, if my math is right that is $1200 each mowing, that seem high. Would I not be able to get 20 acres done in one day, I was thinking of a full day of course but actual time spent at the prop would be 6-7 hours. If I can get it all done in one day I would lthink 1200 would be high, I'm not gripeing if it's correct I just have never bid or done a prop this big at once. Need help!!!!!!!

[Ground Works]

Sellign time

Well Likemost are saying u are selling time so figure out how many hours it takes then figure it out at your per man hour rate. I would charge 45$ an hour basically and then however long it take u
Lin

[Yard Boy]

First thing you need to do is measure off 10,000 square feet and see how long it takes you to cut it and multiply by 4.356 to find minutes per acre.
Example: If 10k sq ft takes 20 minutes then multiply 20X4.356=87.12. At that rate it would take you approx 1.5 hours (87.12 minutes) to cut 1 acre or .67 acres per hour. Then figure your hourly rate - lets say $50 per hour.

20 acres / .67 per hour = 29.85 hours X $50 = $1492.50.

Of course these are hypothetical numbers but the formulas don't change. What does change is your hourly rate on a Walker. When you figure replacement cost, maintenance and longer mowing times due to slow ground speed, the Walker cost almost double to operate versus conventional hydro ZT mower.

Good luck.

Billy

[Ground Works]

Good job

billy I like the way u explianed that much better and gives u how to look at the actual cost and time

thanks
Lin

[Ground Works]

billy do u know how??

How do u figure lets say someone tells u they have 5894 sqft lot or soemthign anyway how u would u get a square out of it

Like 55x55?? whats the formula to get that info??

Lin

[Drewaustin]

YARD BOY WROTE:

When you figure replacement cost, maintenance and longer mowing times due to slow ground speed, the Walker cost almost double to operate versus conventional hydro ZT mower.

You are right, I bought the walker for the quality of cut and a contract I have basicly calls for the walker ghs, however pay well for it. I got the 74" deck because on the props with the contract only about 1/3 needs to be picked up and the rest is wide open mowing (approx. 1.5 acres). I did not plan on bidding on something of that magnitude, but if i get it and works well i could by a second mower ie faster midmount. I just would like to know if I could get it done in one day. I am pretty much a one man show. I do have hire help when I do props that have as much timming, edging, blowing etc. as mowing, but on 20 acres of mostly mowing a second helper wouldn't help much unless I had another mower.

[Yard Boy]

You first need to know your rate of productivity - how much you can mow in a given unit of time.

Then...

Buy a good quality measuring wheel and learn how to use it accurately. Total square feet is length times width of an area. Irregular shapes have to be broken down into shapes that can be calculated then added together. This link will help with the math.

http://www.ex.ac.uk/cimt/mepres/book7/book7int.htm

It is easy to get confused and miss your numbers. Go back and re-read my original reply. I had to edit the numbers because I realized I calculated wrong. Practice makes almost perfect.

Billy

[Galashiels]

Try this site to give you acres per Hour

http://www.ferrisindustries.com/m_productivity.php

There is no 74" deck but a 72" gives you the general idea for various ground speeds. For bigger decks just add two together to get an approx width.
For open ground the 74" will cut 4 acres per hour, or with the Walker speed up kit 5.2 per hour, about 4 hours for the 20 acres.
I have the 54" deck very good quality of cut, even in longer grass, the 74" just has an extra blade (4) so should be the same quality.
There is also a trade off in the bigger areas in that it is more effecient to cut them with a tractor or large area mower such as Jacobsen that will cut at 10- 12 acres per hour. The Walker is restricted but the slow ground speed (6.5 mph) with speed up.
Changing decks shouldn't take any more than 5 minutes max, little technique helps but the 74" is a heavy deck.
For area estimation what about a GPS system, takes out the guess work, very quick and accurate especially for odd shapes.

John

[Drewaustin]

Thanks John, that helps alot. as long as i could get it done in one day it would be worth bidding on. the ghs 48 deck came off in 3 seconds but putting the 74" on took about 15 min. (1st time) I could not get the two outside rods to line up w/ the deck, one pointing up, other pointing down.

[Galashiels]

I assume you mean the rods the deck slides on, never done a 74" but with my 54 its a non tilt so to get the rods to slide on to the deck I pull the two back deck hight pins so the frame can tilt up to slid on to the pins.
Other wise you have to lift the back of the deck, not easy as thay are B* heavy.
I use a tool of some sort to align the rods saves getting grease on my hands.
If its a tilt deck then release the tilt pins so the deck slides on easy.
Some people put the deck against a wall and drive the mower forward to push it on the pins. Don't try this with the GHS deck or you will strip the hydro fan as I Did!
I also put the deck on with a slight angle (not square to the tractor) so that one pin will stay in while you lign up the other, then just lift each pin in turn and push the deck. Practice!
The 42" decks are simple as they are so much lighter, big difference from 42 to 48 in weight.
If its all open ground then you should have no problems getting it done in a day. Do you have the speed up kit?

John

[Drewaustin]

Thank you, this will help. Yes I just put the speed up kit on the same day I got the 74" deck. I only have 16 hours on my walker. It's hard to tell, but I can and over the period of a day of mowing I can see it will make a diff. The 74" is HEAVYYYY. Thanks for your input.