John Deere 8700 fairway mowers Cancel The title field is required!

1. Steven Fisher

   

   0 posts
   
   10/17/2013 6:10 PM

   Does anyone have any positive or negative things to say about John Deere 8700 fairway mowers. Looking for info concerning quality of cut, maintenance, ease of adjusting and machine holding its adjustments and HOC. Thank you.
   
   
   Steve Fisher
   Camillus Country Club
   Camillus, NY

   
   
   
   
2. Michael Wagner

   

   0 posts
   
   10/31/2013 7:10 AM

   We have been using one of these as our primary fairway mower for about 5 years. With a good operator and proper adjustment it has been a great mower. The first year was a little rough for the mower as we had an operator that was very rough on equipment so things kept getting broke. We have mowed with this mower for about 3 weeks at a time without any adjustment so I would say that it is excellent and sometimes when we check it it is still in pretty good adjustment after 3 weeks. However it must be properly ground and properly adjusted to achieve this. That means no contact on the reels and they must be perfectly cylindrical and I prefer some relief on the blades. The cutting units do have a tendency to twist over time although it is slight. Sometimes if you are having trouble getting the relief grind to be correct it's because the reels have twisted and need to be re-squared. Loosening all the bolts that hold them together and retightening usually brings them back to square. The reels I have on mine are pretty much identical to the reels on our JD 2500B greens mowers just with heavier reel stock and bedknives. This makes it easy for us when it comes time for rebuilding them. All in all I would say it is the best fairway mower I have seen and I've used most that are available.