Getting More From Mowers: Mower Attachments

There’s no doubt about it – equipment can be expensive. In fact, respondents to the 1999 Lawn & Landscape State of the Industry Report survey said that equipment expenditures are the third greatest expense for their business every year, behind only employee compensation and plant materials. When the final numbers from 1999 are tallied, contractors’ product expenses will likely total approximately $15 billion.

When contractors are spending this much money on one portion of their business, the expectations they have of that equipment are high. These high expectations often include how much work their equipment can do. More versatile machines, such as skid steers/loaders and compact utility machines, and attachments are just some of the types of machines and machine enhancements that contractors are demanding.

Just as contractors are looking for their construction equipment to do more, some manufacturers have shown them that they can also expect the same from their maintenance equipment. Attachments for walk-behind and riding mowers have been populating trade show floors more regularly in the last few years as more contractors expect their mowers to do more than just mow.

"I think the popularity of mower attachments is really increasing at least partially because there are more of them available to contractors now," observed Jim Doring, product development manager, JRCO, Minneapolis, Minn. "All of our products have grown out of response to contractors’ requests for a particular implement."

"We probably sell attachments other than a grass catcher with almost four out of every five mowers we sell," affirmed Bruce Yennaco, director of retail for Granz Turf Depot, New Hampshire.

EXAMINING THE OPTIONS. The first issue to explore with mower attachments is how they mount to the mower. Many of the attachments on the market today are designed for use with both walk-behind and riding mowers, but that’s not always the case.

Once you’ve identified what mowers an attachment can attach to, the next challenge is figuring out how that attachment can be affixed to the mower.

Most of the options include the use of mounting brackets that attach to the frame of the mower where the steel is stronger than on a deck and then attachments are locked in place with the use of clevis pins. Manufacturers also tend to standardize their mounting system within their own product line so that once mounts are fixed to a number of mowers the attachments can be rotated among those machines with ease.

"We try not to interfere with the normal process of the mower, so we don’t want to drill into the mower or influence the deck unless doing so is absolutely necessary," Doring pointed out.

Among the most popular mower attachments with contractors are the sulkies, dethatchers, aerators, leaf blades and granular spreaders, noted Yennaco.

"Contractors invest a lot of money in their mowers, but sometimes those machines are just sitting around during certain times of the year," Yennaco. "Attachments let them keep the mowers in use longer."

Yenacco said the reason contractors are buying more attachments is because they are trying to get more use out of their equipment.

"We’re just trying to get more production out of one piece of equipment by using it for multiple applications," explained David Pucket, vice president/general manager, Longview Grounds Maintenance, Longview, Texas. "In addition, we don’t want to carry any more equipment on the back of our trailer if we don’t have to."

"With the mower, the contractors already own the piece of equipment, and that piece of equipment represents the bulk of the cost," explained Mark Wyne, a contractor who has begun manufacturing and marketing attachments he devised for his own use.

"The cost of the attachment ends up being pretty negligible in comparison to the mower," added Wyne, president, Combined Manufacturing, Wildwood, Mo. "Plus, a lot of the attachments can be used on numerous pieces of equipment."

While all of the attachments available for mowers obviously increase the number of applications a mower is used for, contractors should familiarize themselves with the specific performance of different attachments before making a purchase.

"In some cases, the performance of the attachment is comparable to the performance of a dedicated machine doing the same type of work," noted Yennaco. "But that’s necessarily the case for all functions.

"With a tine dethatcher attachment, for example, the success of the attachment depends on what the contractor’s intent is," Yennaco continued. "If the contractor’s intent is to dethatch someone’s lawn, then he or she is going to need a free-swinging flail machine because dethatching attachments tend to work more as really good rakes. But if that contractor just wants to lift up matted down grass and leaves, then the dethatching attachment will be fine."

This type of application that Yennaco just described is exactly where mower attachments can deliver productivity benefits to a landscape contractor.

"In this case, the attachment can be used while the mower is operating, so the mower can just pick up any loose material the attachment lifts up and cut it into smaller pieces or bag it," he explained.

What differentiates the attachment’s performance from the dedicated machine’s performance is that the attachments typically aren’t powered in any way other than by the movement of the mower.

"The forward driving force of the mower will activate the product," explained Doring.

Aerator attachments also operate this way, and while their performance may not be as effective in harder or more compacted soils, the other key to watch when using these tools is the traction of the mower.

"The aerators require more traction to push than the other attachments because of their contact with the soil, and this can be a concern because as you lose traction you also lose maneuverability," added Doring.

ALL SPREAD OUT. The granular spreaders differ from the aerators and tine rake dethatchers because the spreaders do require some additional power to operate, and this generally comes in the form of 12 volts of electricity off of the mower’s battery.

The electricity then drives the spreader’s motor to broadcast the product, and the operator has a foot-pedal control that opens and closes the gate on the spreader in the event product shouldn’t be applied everywhere the mower goes.

"Contractors won’t use a spreader while they mow, however, because of what this would do to the fertilizer distribution," pointed out Wyne. "The mower may only be cutting a 5-foot-wide space, but the spreader throws the fertilizer 12 to 15 feet at the same time."