Reel Mowers, 3 gang

[Guitar Guy]

I wouldn't mind trying a reel mower. I ran onto the ProMow 3 gang mowers online, but they appear to be discontinued. They look like they would work well, especially for uneven yards.

I can't seem to find any others. Most are larger 5 or 7 gang.

Has anyone tried these?

[Sergeant]

Originally Posted by Guitar Guy

I wouldn't mind trying a reel mower. I ran onto the ProMow 3 gang mowers online, but they appear to be discontinued. They look like they would work well, especially for uneven yards.

I can't seem to find any others. Most are larger 5 or 7 gang.

Has anyone tried these?

Covid did ProMow in, so they folded the company in 2022. Here is about the only tractor-towed models left on the market https://cottagecraftworks.com/tracto...ing-reel-mower

[PBIjim]

I haven't played with reel mowers in decades. Back then, there were two big time brands. They were Toro & Worthington. The Toro had a tall thin gear box and the Worthington had a smaller diameter and fatter gear box. Both worked well. You could mix and match them in a gang. They were both golf course quality mowers. The big gang of Toros was 7 total with 3 in front and 4 behind them, obviously staggered. That set had a big rigid frame. It got pulled by a full size farm tractor, usually an H or an M or a Ford 2000, but sometimes a little 9N if the grass wasn't too thick.

The smallest set was a 2 gang that could be pulled by a 6hp garden tractor. With 2 and 3 gangs, we just attached a back mower on the corner of the one in front of it. It was also possible to pull just a single. I've pulled a full sized 3 gang with a Cub Cadet that was probably a 12hp. We also had a 3 gang of smaller reel mowers. I don't remember that brand, but we almost never used it because the little wheels on it had a bad habit of just dragging and not spinning the reel properly. The Toros and Worthingtons were good working machines when they were set up correctly.

Sharpening those reel blades is a bit of a trick. You need a special machine for it. If you don't have access to one of those, then stay away from the reels. Setting the blade gap is important too. You want just a slight clearance of maybe a few thousandths of an inch. If you can fit a piece of paper in the gap, it's too big. If the reel wasn't sharpened evenly, then the reel binds in some areas & doesn't cut in others.

Grass height matters with the reels. If the grass is higher than the center shaft of the reel, then you are better off with a flail mower or a brush hog or a deck mower.

Rubber tires worked better than steel wheels, but the steels were not worthless and they never went flat. The larger diameter wheels were less likely to drag compared to the smaller ones.

The Worthingtons were made in Stroudsburg PA.

These look a lot like the Worthingtons -
https://www.ebay.com/itm/19832985943...Bk9SR7D2uuLbZw

These look like a slightly newer version of the Toros, with a very different frame compared to what we had.
https://www.ebay.com/p/1727850983?iid=198329883788

The little ones I avoided using looked like the "sun masters" in post #5 in this thread -
https://farmallcub.com/community/thr...-mowers.42262/

[CubDieselFan]

Sounds like a lot of extra work. My 50” and 54” decks cut good enough for me.

[Red Dave]

Originally Posted by Guitar Guy

I wouldn't mind trying a reel mower. I ran onto the ProMow 3 gang mowers online, but they appear to be discontinued. They look like they would work well, especially for uneven yards.

I can't seem to find any others. Most are larger 5 or 7 gang.

Has anyone tried these?

I have no experience with a 3 gang reel mower. I do have some experience with reel mowers. We had reel mowers when I was a kid, mowing my parents lawn. This would have been late 50's/early to mid 60's. When everything is right, they can make an excellent cut. When they aren't right, they are the most frustrating thing imaginable. Adjustment is critical, sharpening takes skill and specialized tools. We used to have those tools, but that was a long time ago and I have no idea where they got to.

The lawn has to be flat and fairly smooth. No moles, no sticks, no uneven spots to get a good cut. They didn't work well on lawn weeds (this was back before everything was sprayed to kill those weeds). Our lawn at home was anything but flat and smooth. The day we got a used Lawn Boy rotary mower I thought I was in heaven. Today I mow with a ZT2. I wish I had one 65 years ago.

This is just my opinion and everybody is welcome to their own opinion. You can and should mow your yard any way you want to. But I wouldn't go back to a reel mower even if it was free.

Your mileage may vary.

[finsruskw]

The blacksmith shop here in town had one when I was a kid back in the 50's.
Quite a contraption and took up a lot of space.
He could also sharpen ice skated on it.
Fascinating to watch as I recall, as was everything in that shop.
Was always my 1st stop on the way home from school every day back then.
Sadly, it all went bye-bye in the late 60's on the auction block.
I still have some of the items I bought at that sale.
Time marches on and don't stand still for anyone!

[PBIjim]

Google turned this up. I know nothing about these guys, but they seem to have a 3-gang set in stock. It looks to be the size of the "little" ones that I didn't have good luck with. The rig is set up differently, so this is likely a different brand.

https://www.saferwholesaletest.com/P.../prm-sp301.htm

I found this auction too -
https://www.bidnow.us/auctions/6908/...-working-width

This is very similar to the 7 gang I ran. If you want to run just 3, you can pull a few pins or unscrew a few shaft nuts and disconnect the extras that you don't want to use.
Right now, the bid is only $500 for the full set. These are the big commercial grade reel mowers.

[ol'George]

Memories:
Those mowers were a pain to me as a kid in the mid '50's
I would mow lawns in the new subdivision that was built near our little farm,
and was lucky to get fifty cents to mow a lot, with our reel mower.
If adjusted too tight, it was very hard to push, too loose and it missed some thin grass, and never got the tall stick weeds.
People didn't want you to cut every week to save money, and then complained when the mower missed the taller stuff.

Most towns had at least one hardware store that sharpened reel mowers,
and they charged more if you had a "bent grass" mower, as it had more blades on the reel.
I saved up for a year, and bought a REO power rotary mower, what a joy that was.
But there were a few picky people that did not want their lawn mowed with a rotary power mower, they wanted you to use a reel mower.

I'm glad those days are long gone,but I freely admit grass cut with a reel mower,adjusted properly and mowed often, looks nicer than using a rotary mower.
I still remember a lady told me a reel mower cut the blades of grass, where a rotary blade made the grass look like it was cut with a ball bat.

[Guitar Guy]

Thanks for the info, folks. Sorry for the late response, I was out of town.

So I did find a used set of the Mascots like the ones in the link on post #2.

Got a great deal on them, but had to drive a ways to pick them up. Have not had a chance to try them yet. The fellow I got them from has them set low for Bermuda grass. I plan on increasing the cut height. He also adjusted the blade clearance. They seemed to cut well at his place when I picked them up.

I have a friend who used to work for a golf course. I'll probably be contacting him to help teach me how to set them up.

Those Jacobsens in that auction link look sweet.

I'll fool around with them, and if I don't like them I can probably flip them for a profit.

Will update.

[Guitar Guy]

I hooked up the new reel mowers to the 1000. It pulled them easily, even up the steep part of the hill. They seem to cut well. My grass was fairly high but they went right through. I thought I'd have to raise the cutting height, but I didn't. Seem like they will work well as a finishing mower. Definitely can't back up, so you have to be careful to not bottle yourself in.