Horsepower/Mowing with Super A

Personally I have never seen any mower do the quality work of the Woods. A section of my grass I let grow to 6" to 8" every time. This ground is a bit rough so I set the blade 4" off the floor and travel in 1st gear. From the highway it looks like a top quality lawn. I find that very rarely do you ever see clippings. I could travel faster, but I tend to think a bit of extra time on the Super A, is much better use of time than time spent sharpening and straightening. I don't mow a large area, thus the time is not a big issue.

I know a guy who has a garden center, mows a lot, on perfectly level ground. He tells me he mows in 2nd and 3rd gear. When the grass is lush and green, growing fast 2nd is order of the day. 3rd will look a bit ragged. Later in summer as grass growth slows, 3rd works fine. With 2nd and 3rd he is talking close to 3.5 and 4.5 mph respectively. Many Super A's are running Woods 306 which are a 72" mower. Power is no problem.

On the down side, I used to use a hydrostatic mower and got used to easy direction changes. With the A, I had to modify my mowing pattern to avoid stopping and shifting into reverse, as the mower also stops during the gear change. Trimming around small objects is somewhat less precise, and due to the offset you can't see the left front wheel at all but you get used to it. Lack of power steering makes quick moves tougher but also builds shoulder muscles too!

Good luck and hope this helped.
Sam