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I have a lot pine trees on 3 acres and it is really a pain picking up all the pine cones before I cut the grass each time. I am thinking of purchasing the Ariens 42"W, 22HP riding mower. Can i simply run over the pine cones without causing damage/excessive wear to the mower? Thanks

I don't think pine cones are hard enough to damage blades on a mower... but also don't think the chunks will break down very fast as they spread around your grass... They may prove to be easier to rake up whole, or vacuum bag them. :smile:KennyV

marchmaybe said:

I have a lot pine trees on 3 acres and it is really a pain picking up all the pine cones before I cut the grass each time. I am thinking of purchasing the Ariens 42"W, 22HP riding mower. Can i simply run over the pine cones without causing damage/excessive wear to the mower? Thanks

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Pine cones will cause no damage to your machine at all, I am curious however about one thing, are you planning to cut your lawn so short you are concerned that the cones will hurt your mower blades? I doubt the vacuum action of the deck will be strong enough to lift any cones, causing them to hit your blades. Pine cones come in all sizes but I have never seen one large enough to hit mower blades unless they are set to cut less than 2 1/2 inches.

I do a couple of city lots with my jd 42"tractor and/or my 22"push mower and have a lot of cones on their lots and i just run over them.....the noise of the cones swirling in the deck is intimidating, and watch where your aiming them from the discharge chute. in the years i been doing these lots i have never had any damage to blade or the deck, although the blades may dull up quicker:smile:

LandN said:

I do a couple of city lots with my jd 42"tractor and/or my 22"push mower and have a lot of cones on their lots and i just run over them.....the noise of the cones swirling in the deck is intimidating, and watch where your aiming them from the discharge chute. in the years i been doing these lots i have never had any damage to blade or the deck, although the blades may dull up quicker:smile:

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Gotta wonder, do the blades dull quicker, or does the sap in the cones build up on the cutting edges?

Just reminded me of something, about 12 years ago I took my chipper shredder over to my in laws to chip up a huge brushpile, the young nephews had so much fun throwing big pine cones into the shredder hopper to watch them explode out the discharge chute....:laughing:

"although the blades may dull up quicker" hey jd i never really examined the blades 'right' after the pine cone lot,but i gotta believe that the impact against the blade is greater than that of grass blades against the mower blades, and if there is sap on the blades from the cones it gets covered pretty quick with the grass clippings ...usually i sharpen the blades every week or sooner if i hit something unusally hard

LandN said:

"although the blades may dull up quicker" hey jd i never really examined the blades 'right' after the pine cone lot,but i gotta believe that the impact against the blade is greater than that of grass blades against the mower blades, and if there is sap on the blades from the cones it gets covered pretty quick with the grass clippings ...usually i sharpen the blades every week or sooner if i hit something unusally hard

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Man, you make me feel lazy, I only sharpen mine ONCE in the middle of the mowing season after about 40 hours use, they are sharpened in the fall when I pull the deck for the winter though...

EVERY WEEK...WOW...:thumbsup:

i also cut other yards other than my own. at one time in the past i was doing 15 (smaller) yards a week plus my reg. job.... now-a-days not that many, but i still want a clean cut job on every yard i do. i can pull a blade of grass and look closely at the end of the grass blade and see the sheer like cut as opposed to a rip cut with a dull blade. matter of fact i used to compare the cut quality of my 'reel' mower with a 'sheer cut' and try to match that cut with my rotary mower by having a cutting surface like a razor blade.some things i'm kind of a fanatic about.:laughing::laughing: if i was just doing my own yard i'm sure it would not be that often.:thumbsup:

Depending on how hard or soft the cut objects are will usually determine how often my blades need sharpened... I will sharpen all at the start of spring growth, nice soft moist new grass, easy cutting... then late summer when things start drying out I will resharpen on my largest mower, dry grasses dull my blades faster...
I doubt that sap would stay on a fast moving blade very long... In the spring about the only thing on any of my blades of deck, is a little green grass stain, everywhere except the cutting edge... That stays polished pretty clean.... :smile:KennyV

KennyV said:

Depending on how hard or soft the cut objects are will usually determine how often my blades need sharpened... I will sharpen all at the start of spring growth, nice soft moist new grass, easy cutting... then late summer when things start drying out I will resharpen on my largest mower, dry grasses dull my blades faster...
I doubt that sap would stay on a fast moving blade very long... In the spring about the only thing on any of my blades of deck, is a little green grass stain, everywhere except the cutting edge... That stays polished pretty clean.... :smile:KennyV

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I'd sharpen blades more often if it wasn't such a PIB to get them on and off, have to drive tractor up on ramps to get them off. Can reach discharge chute side blade easy and other side okay but getting center blade out is a nightmare.

Yeah the MMM can be a bit of a challenge to get under, without a loader mounted on your tractor or a stout overhead beam or two... :smile:KennyV