They handle the rough better than any other style of mower. I have not got mine stuck, and my property is full of washouts and red clay. That stuff is slick. I love mine, I don't know of anything else that could mow my place shy of a real tractor. I used my real tractor for it for years, but this thing does it in half the time.
Jacobsen 628D
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northcreeek262
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I mow about 2.5 acres and it is also pretty rough (not country club) mowing. This is the best machine that I have ever been on even in the wet seasons. As we have stated here, there is no 4wd in reverse so you have to be careful not to nose into a mud pit with an obstacle in your way. The State of NY uses these machines in their parks and some of those are pretty rough terrain.
I found mine on Craigs List, a High School in Newark NY was trading up and I bought one of two that they had.
As a point of reference I bought mine, (a 2006 with 1200 hrs.) in 2015, they wanted $6,500 and I got it for $5,500. There are individuals asking crazy money for these but, you can find deals if you have patience. I like buying from an institution since money seems to be no object when it comes to maintenance, actually most of these are not in private hands anyways.
These have no suspension except for the seat and will bounce a bit in the rough stuff but, they have quite a bit of weight to temper the bumps and they do not rock back/forth like a zero turn.....Mike.
PS these also come in 2wd so look for the hoses to the rear wheels if you want 4wd.
I found mine on Craigs List, a High School in Newark NY was trading up and I bought one of two that they had.
As a point of reference I bought mine, (a 2006 with 1200 hrs.) in 2015, they wanted $6,500 and I got it for $5,500. There are individuals asking crazy money for these but, you can find deals if you have patience. I like buying from an institution since money seems to be no object when it comes to maintenance, actually most of these are not in private hands anyways.
These have no suspension except for the seat and will bounce a bit in the rough stuff but, they have quite a bit of weight to temper the bumps and they do not rock back/forth like a zero turn.....Mike.
PS these also come in 2wd so look for the hoses to the rear wheels if you want 4wd.
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northcreeek262
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Fellas,
Was wondering if you could help me get smart on these Jake front mount mowers. I am in the upstate NY area also.
My propert is pretty hilly and wet sometimes, so I would need the 4 wd for sure. My question is about the ability of these machines to handle rough terrain. I have a few acres of old pasture I mow and it beats the life out of me on my zero turn. Do these style of mowers handle the rough stuff pretty well?
I’m on the lookout for a used machine in the Albany area. How did you guys find your machines?
Thank you for the help, Joe
Saw this if you are still interested in a 628D......Mike. https://www.tractorhouse.com/listings/farm-equipment/for-sale/26796741/2004-jacobsen-turfcat-t628d
Was wondering if you could help me get smart on these Jake front mount mowers. I am in the upstate NY area also.
My propert is pretty hilly and wet sometimes, so I would need the 4 wd for sure. My question is about the ability of these machines to handle rough terrain. I have a few acres of old pasture I mow and it beats the life out of me on my zero turn. Do these style of mowers handle the rough stuff pretty well?
I’m on the lookout for a used machine in the Albany area. How did you guys find your machines?
Thank you for the help, Joe
Saw this if you are still interested in a 628D......Mike. https://www.tractorhouse.com/listings/farm-equipment/for-sale/26796741/2004-jacobsen-turfcat-t628d
I had to get a new membership to answer your question. They will handled very rough terrain. I drive through washouts often in red clay and have not got stuck yet. Just remember it does not have 4wd in reverse. I found mine on craigslist.
northcreeek262
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Joe..
Saw this if you are still interested in a 628D......Mike.
https://www.tractorhouse.com/listings/farm-equipment/for-sale/26796741/2004-jacobsen-turfcat-t628d
Saw this if you are still interested in a 628D......Mike.
https://www.tractorhouse.com/listings/farm-equipment/for-sale/26796741/2004-jacobsen-turfcat-t628d
northcreeek262
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The early winter weather has ended my plans to mulch the leaves before the snow sets in. So today I did the whole maintenance thing and put her to sleep for the winter. First time that I changed the hydraulic fluid and filter, A 5 gallon bucket of 10w-30 from TSC was perfect, The pre-fuel filter had some weird looking stuff in it. Should be good to go in the spring.....Mike.
New member here...bought a Jacobsen 428d last summer. Similar machine to the 628d I imagine but a little older. As others have said...amazing how little info is out there on them. Plenty of other commercial machines of various types that have a following. On another note, I used to have an old Jacobsen F-10 batwing reel mower like the one used in Caddyshack....15 ft cut. lol I bought it from someone else that b ought it from the Seaford Delaware golf course. It was fun cutting 15 ft in one pass!
So my 428d runs beautifully but the 4wd does not engage. I'm guessing maybe one of the safety switches is not working or adjusted right perhaps. Downloaded the manual, so maybe I'll pull it into the garage this winter and mess with it a bit. I wonder if theres any reasons not to bypass the switches in general? I mean...I know the factory had their reasons, but they usually cite safety and the reasons are relatively ridiculous and intended to try to keep them out of a courtroom.
I too feel as if it should reverse in 4wd without "burning up the motors" in the rear wheels. I can't picture that happening...it should just be reversal of flow and all those hydraulic motors are generally built to do it...no reason I can think of from an efficiency standpoint not to build them to be capable of reversing. Meaning you dont gain some type of efficiency benefit from building them to only flow one way. Maybe they felt as if the machine COULD be unstable if the rear wheels were turned and you were sideways on a slope...
So Ive downloaded the manuals and just need the time to read through to figure out where the switches are and what they do. I'm guessing mine may have a backflow preventer on the rear wheel lines like your machines do, and that might have to be removed. I'd at least like to try to adjust the switches or bypass them to see if I can get 4wd to engage at all. For all I know it could be the switch on the dash. lol For reverse 4wd...I do have a section of my lawn on a hill that I'd like to nose into downhill, but question being able to reverse out of without the 4wd. We'll see how much time I have this winter. I have lots of other projects going on too in the house, around the house and with some old cars I own. lol But just thought I'd sign up and log into this thread since you're the only ones I found who even mentioned this topic!
So my 428d runs beautifully but the 4wd does not engage. I'm guessing maybe one of the safety switches is not working or adjusted right perhaps. Downloaded the manual, so maybe I'll pull it into the garage this winter and mess with it a bit. I wonder if theres any reasons not to bypass the switches in general? I mean...I know the factory had their reasons, but they usually cite safety and the reasons are relatively ridiculous and intended to try to keep them out of a courtroom.
I too feel as if it should reverse in 4wd without "burning up the motors" in the rear wheels. I can't picture that happening...it should just be reversal of flow and all those hydraulic motors are generally built to do it...no reason I can think of from an efficiency standpoint not to build them to be capable of reversing. Meaning you dont gain some type of efficiency benefit from building them to only flow one way. Maybe they felt as if the machine COULD be unstable if the rear wheels were turned and you were sideways on a slope...
So Ive downloaded the manuals and just need the time to read through to figure out where the switches are and what they do. I'm guessing mine may have a backflow preventer on the rear wheel lines like your machines do, and that might have to be removed. I'd at least like to try to adjust the switches or bypass them to see if I can get 4wd to engage at all. For all I know it could be the switch on the dash. lol For reverse 4wd...I do have a section of my lawn on a hill that I'd like to nose into downhill, but question being able to reverse out of without the 4wd. We'll see how much time I have this winter. I have lots of other projects going on too in the house, around the house and with some old cars I own. lol But just thought I'd sign up and log into this thread since you're the only ones I found who even mentioned this topic!
northcreeek262
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I'm with you on that. I'm thinking that it might be as easy as unscrewing the check valves on the rear traction motors and pulling out the ball and spring.
As for the popularity it is truly baffling why these machines don't have a dedicated following. Jacobsen has been around forever, their machines are of industrial build, you see them used by Parks, schools,etc. and you can get them used for decent money, not to mention that Jacobsen doesn't kill you on parts. I do wish that their Dealer network wasn't so stretched-out, they really don't advertise to the masses, maybe that's good for us, I didn't have to get in a bidding war
when I bought my 628D and it's awesome .:thumbsup:
As for the popularity it is truly baffling why these machines don't have a dedicated following. Jacobsen has been around forever, their machines are of industrial build, you see them used by Parks, schools,etc. and you can get them used for decent money, not to mention that Jacobsen doesn't kill you on parts. I do wish that their Dealer network wasn't so stretched-out, they really don't advertise to the masses, maybe that's good for us, I didn't have to get in a bidding war
when I bought my 628D and it's awesome .:thumbsup:
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northcreeek262
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I'm revisiting this topic again because it has been really wet mowing this spring and 4wd in reverse would help. I've ordered some plugs to cap off the ports when I remove the check valves from the rear motors. I'll report back when I do the swap...Mike.