New mowers for new contract
National grounds management company Glendale recently re-won a 10 year contract with Lewisham Borough Council, and has bought the first three of John Deere's new 8400 Commercial triple reel mowers sold in the UK, to work in parks and open spaces in south-east London.
The mowers, supplied by John Deere dealer Golf & Turf of Wokingham, will be cutting around 20,000m² of grass a day during the season. They are the first 8400s to be bought by Glendale, who have been using John Deere mowers in their fleet since the early 1990s.
"We chose the 8400 after several successful trials, mainly due to John Deere's excellent quality and customer service record with our company, as well as the attractive finance package available from John Deere Credit," says Glendale's commercial director Stuart Darbyshire.
"We have traditionally worked closely with our suppliers on the development of new products, and both our machinery and contract managers provided feedback to John Deere throughout the 8400's development. Our staff also received extremely thorough installation training on delivery, as part of the deal, and operator feedback from that was excellent.
"We normally depreciate the mowers in our fleet over five years, and we are happy that the 8400s will be able to carry out the contract work to the required standards, and cope well with the demands of our commercial grass cutting operations - we've certainly experienced no problems at all since we started using the mowers in March," he adds.
The 37hp 8400 Commercial mower features durable, high capacity Jumbo cutting units and a Cross Cut function for increased productivity. The 25cm (10in) six-blade cutting units provide an overall cutting width of 2.13m (84in), and the established GRIP all-wheel drive traction system allows effective mowing on slopes - both of these are firsts on a John Deere commercial triple mower.
The operator's CommandARM moves with the seat and puts all the mower controls at the driver's fingertips. The Cross Cut feature makes turning and switching from mowing to transport very quick and easy; a rocker switch on the CommandARM allows all the reels to be lifted just off the ground when turning and then lowered back to the mowing position. When the right hand side of the switch is pressed continually, the reels lift up from the mowing to the transport position.
Three further switches control each of the cutting units individually, which is useful when mowing in and around confined spaces. The reels are automatically engaged and disengaged when the cuttings units are lowered and lifted. Other standard features include a ROPS and deluxe air suspension seat, plus Twin Touch pedal foot controls in a spacious operator platform.
For further details please contact:
Henry Bredin
John Deere Limited
Tel: 01949 860491
Fax: 01949 860490
Website: www.johndeere.co.uk