Mott Mower

[Matt Kirsch]

For those of you who have them, how well do they work? How do you like them? How are they for taking down tall grass?

Even more importantly, what did you pay for yours?

I ask because there's a guy just around the corner from me who has a mid '60s Cub LoBoy for sale with a Mott Mower and a front blade. He wants $2750. It ain't worth $2750. It's had a ham-fisted repaint. The headlights are gone; someone screwed headlights to the grille. That's what I could see from the road, driving by. I'm afraid he's not going to come down $1000, but I guess it never hurts to ask.

What I'd like to see is if I can buy the Mott mower separately, but I need a few numbers to work from.

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

I've used a flail for years, and really like it It doesn't cut quite as smooth as a 3 blade rotary, but is about as smooth as a single blade woods. They have an advatntage. that they won't throw rocks and stones, and a disadvantage that they don't mulch the grass, just cut it, so if it gets very tall you have a lot of dead grass laying around.

[KETCHAM]

I LIKE MINE.CUTS GRASS REAL GOOD.NOT GOOD ON HILLY AREAS.IE SOLID ROLLER IN BACK.I GET 2ND GEAR FULL THROTTLE CUTS LIKE A FAIRWAY AT A GOLF COURSE.HAD PROBLEMS GETTING BELT LINED UP BUT ALL FIXED NOW.REPLACED BLADES BEFORE I USED THIS UNIT.I LIKE IT FOR THE FLAT PART OF MY LAWN.KETCHAM

[Matt Kirsch]

Thanks guys.

More specifically, how does a typical Cub handle grass that's say, 2 feet deep or more? Does it get wound up in the mower?

[Dan England]

Matt: I have a Mott Flail mower which provides a smoother cut than my single blade rotary mowers. As John said, does the best job in short grass while the rotary is better if the grass is tall. As the knives become dull on one side adding a twist to the belt utilizes the opposite, sharp side of the knives. My mower came with a tractor so I am not sure but would guess that a pretty good Mott would go for around two hundred. Dan

[KETCHAM]

SICKLE MOWER CUB-22 WOULD BE BEST FOR THAT TALL OF GRASS.EVEN A BRUSH HOG WOULD BE HARD PRESSED TO CUT GRASS THAT HIGH.I CUT TALL GRASS WITH THE SICKLE MOWER ,THEN SHRED IT UP WITH A BRUSH HOG.KETCHAM

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

tall stringy grass like fescue up to the axle, etc. will wrap up, not much problem ohter than that. Almsot forgot, barb wire wraps them up pretyt bad too.

[Bigschuss]

Matt,

I have a fast hitch Mott flail mower that I use to mow my fields. Two foot tall grass might be a problem, but 2 foot tall weeds, clover, timothy, wild flowers, etc. seems to be pretty easy for me to cut. I make sure I keep the blades nice and sharp. I have one of the Mott hand held blade sharpeners, so keeping them in top shape is easy. Even if the fields go beyond 2 feet, I simply adjust the rear roller to the highest setting or set my Touch-Control stops so that the first pass only chops off what the Cub can handle. Then I lower the mower all the way and finish the job on the second pass. I think the key thing to cutting is sharpe blades. As they become dull, the chance that you'll start to wrap grass around the blades increases.

Good luck.

Blair in Savoy, MA

[Matt Kirsch]

Hey, thanks for the responses everyone...

Looks like this guy's going to be hanging on to this Cub for a while. He came down some on his price, but still too high for a Cub that's running on 2, maybe 3 cylinders, with a Touch Control that doesn't work, and is missing a bunch of parts.

[Bus Driver]

The highway easements here are mowed by contractors who use a flail behind the tractor and a sickle out to the side. The flail does not throw bottles and cans as much as does the big rotary mowers. Evidently they do not do much maintenance on the flail as it generally does a poor job. But sometimes the results are good, evidently after some repairs and sharpening.

[Matt Kirsch]

Those might be hammer knives, not flail mowers. Imagine trying to cut grass by slinging a ball pein hammer around in a circle, and you'll get the idea