Massey Ferguson Lawn Tractors

[dlks151]

I'm looking to replace my old John Deere X165 with a similarly sized machine and am looking at a Massey Ferguson MF 48-24RD (48" cutting deck and 24hp engine, Rear Discharge), but I'm struggling to find much information on the Massey ride on's, and more worrying is that I'm struggling to find anywhere that offers replacement parts other than Massey dealerships.

I suspect that the Massey is just another machine badged up as a Massey, and the engine is the excellent Kawasaki 24hp V Twin, so should i really have any concerns.

Does anybody have any experience of the MF range of ride on's?

[WyrleyD]

Until August last year I had been running a Massey-Ferguson MF50-25SD but sold it to the person who bought our house in France. Went for the SD as I got fed up with emptying the grass box on the previous two ride-ons, there was a lot of lawn (in excess of 1 acre). Never had a problem with it apart from breaking two of the aluminium deck carriers when I hit a hidden rock and I only found that out when it went in for service. It was serviced every year by the supplying dealer who collected/delivered it. Also had a mini trailer with it that got used a lot around the place almost on a daily basis. The Kawasaki engine was good but a tad thirsty using 10 ltrs of petrol for around three cuts.

[dlks151]

Thanks for the feedback WyrleyD,

The Kawasaki engines are pretty bombproof, so my concerns were more around the build of the mowing deck. So many of the machines seem to have metalwork that is paper thin leading to all sorts of issues with the pulleys. Good to hear that they can take a bit of abuse.

They sit a bit higher than the Deere's and I have sloping verges to cut, how did you find the centre of balance?

[WyrleyD]

At the back of our pool area there was a steep slope down which we left "wilded" but did cut it with the ride-on at the end of each summer, it was a bit scary at times but I found I could lean over the opposite way I could manage it without overturning, lean too far and your bum would come off the seat and cut the engine!! It's not something I would liked to do often. In the manual, if I remember rightly, there was information about what sort of slope was safe and I managed to exceed that.

Edit to add that the deck was indeed strong and took a lot of abuse, I also got one of those gadgets that lift the mower on one side so that you can jet wash underneath, with mine I couldn't lift it too far as the deck was very wide and would hit the ground if trying to lift it too much and I didn't like it pivoting on the edge of the deck.

Edited by WyrleyD on Wednesday 2nd September 13:15

[dlks151]

Wheelbase is slightly wider, but the seating height is slightly more, so I'd expect it to be much like the JD then.

Appreciated, thanks.

[biggiles]

At 24hp, I'd be thinking about diesel lawn tractors, as you'll be going through a fair amount of petrol.

[dlks151]

biggiles said:

At 24hp, I'd be thinking about diesel lawn tractors, as you'll be going through a fair amount of petrol.

Thanks Biggiles, the step up in cost for a diesel unit doesn't warrant going for them and availability on the smaller lawn tractor is very limited. I've not got a huge acreage to get done, 1 acre of lawn and both sides of a 700m long access track, just need to do it quick and get out and the 48" deck allows me to do most of my verge work in a single pass.

[rxe]

dlks151 said:

Thanks Biggiles, the step up in cost for a diesel unit doesn't warrant going for them and availability on the smaller lawn tractor is very limited. I've not got a huge acreage to get done, 1 acre of lawn and both sides of a 700m long access track, just need to do it quick and get out and the 48" deck allows me to do most of my verge work in a single pass.

New diesels are indeed very expensive. Second hand, they're a lot cheaper, and you're buying a much more robust machine. We bought a Kubota G26 with 1700 hours on it - so lots of life left in it, probably will do me for several decades. Its an example someone else has mentioned on here, but the mower deck on the Kubota is made of thicker steel than the chassis of my old Countax. It's also more manoeuvrable than the old Countax - I'm getting into tighter corners with it.