New Jacobsen LF557/LF577 debuts at BTME

The new Jacobsen LF577 lightweight wide area fairway mower made its world-wide debut at BTME recently. The new mower, one of two additional machines to Jacobsen's LF range, features seven cutting units with a mowing width of 3.53 metres, providing industry leading productivity and functionality. Productivity is increased by 38% when compared to similar fairway mowers with five cutting units, with a prodigious output of 4.5 hectares per hour at a mowing speed of 12.9 km/h.

An electronically controlled hydrostatic traction pedal provides smooth operation through controlled acceleration and deceleration helping to increase traction. This helps to prevent wheel spin and the low pedal effort increases operator comfort. Also, its SureTrac 4WD parallel-cross series system provides superior traction and climbing ability. In the event of a front wheel losing traction, the power (hydraulic fluid) is split and transferred to the rear wheels ensuring optimum traction at all times.

Situated in a moveable armrest control pod, Jacobsen's InCommand control system puts all controls within easy reach of the operator and includes a full text LCD display screen, one-touch joystick, electronic cruise control, operator storage and 12 volt power socket.
The active monitoring system provides real-time information including engine hours and temperature. If a problem is detected the LCD display provides simple text messages along with a warning alarm to notify the operator of the fault.

For the course manager and technician there's a pin-protected maintenance mode which allows numerous functions to be adjusted and set. Maximum mow and travel speeds can be input, the cruise control enabled or disabled and there's a status screen that checks the functional operation of all electrical switches. Automatic wet parking brakes are maintenance-free with no linkage, cables, pads or discs to adjust or maintain. A rocker switch on the control arm applies the brakes when the engine is running and the brakes are applied automatically when the engine is turned off.

The Jacobsen LF577 uses the legendary Classic XP cutting units with 17.8cm (7") diameter units fitted with either 9- or 11-blade reels. Smaller 12.7cm (5") diameter Classic XP units with either 7- or 9-blade reels and TrueSet adjustment are used on the Jacobsen 557. The flexibility of the two seven unit machines is evident with overall cutting widths of 3.53 m, reducing to 3.04 m with 6 cutting units deployed and 2.54 m with five units in use. From this it can be noted that the two outer decks have individual lift/lower control.

The standard power unit is a Kubota 28 kW (37.5hp), 3-cylinder, liquid cooled diesel engine with an optional Kubota 36.5 kW (48.9hp) 4-cylinder, liquid cooled diesel engine.

For more information, visit www.ransomesjacobsen.com.