Step 1
Pick the machine family
Job type means the terrain and vegetation that dominate your year, not the occasional ditch you mow twice a season. Match the machine family to the job before you open a brand catalog.
- Open pasture / trails: center-mount rear flail (Woodmaxx FM, MechMaxx EFS or NAM). No hydraulic remotes required for the mower.
- Fence lines, orchards, pond edges: hydraulic side-shift (Woodmaxx H models or MechMaxx NAM-H / KDK). Needs at least one rear remote. On Woodmaxx, FM-62H is about $600 over the FM-62 and the factory does not supply the remote. NAM68H / NAM72H advertise about 8″ left or right (16″ total travel). H decks slide. They do not tilt.
- Ditch banks / slopes while keeping the tractor level: articulating ditch-bank head (MechMaxx VAM). Needs two hydraulic circuits. Manufacturer limit: green or tender grass only.
- Heavy roadside / commercial offset work: look at heavier hydraulic packages (e.g. MechMaxx KDK) and verify tip-speed and weight claims carefully in the review. KDK is still side-shift, not a bank tilt.
Step 2
Confirm hitch, remotes, PTO, and lift
These four gates kill more bad orders than brand choice does. Hitch class first: most decks in this catalog are Cat 1. The three Cat 2 decks are the Woodmaxx FM-96H, MechMaxx KDK63H, and KDK72H. Do not count on an adapter to put a Cat 2 deck on a Cat 1 hitch.
Remotes next. Rear FM / EFS / NAM need none for the mower. Hydraulic H models need one rear remote the factory does not supply. VAM typically needs two circuits for offset and tilt, and only for green or tender grass.
PTO horsepower is the power at the shaft, not the engine number on the hood. Stay inside the published min–max band. A Kubota BX-class tractor near 17 PTO HP fits 47–48″ decks (FM-54 at 15–25 HP, EFS48 at 15–35 HP). A 55″ FM-62 / FM-62H lists 20–45 PTO HP. Utility tractors at 40+ PTO HP are the honest home for 70″ decks. NAM72 / NAM72H start at 45 PTO HP, not 30.
Then check three-point lift against machine weight. The FM-62H is about 716 lb machine / 860 lb shipping; the FM-96H is about 1,351 lb machine weight; both KDK heads sit over 1,000 lb. If the loader or ballast story is weak, downsize width before you “make it work.”
Step 3
Size width to the published HP min
Cutting width is the mowed swath in inches. Wider means fewer passes and more HP, weight, and lift demand. The gate is the manufacturer min, not a 2–3 HP-per-foot rule of thumb. Every spec-checked floor in this catalog already clears 3.0 HP per foot of cut. EFS60 equals that floor (15 HP / 60″) and that pairing is a light-grass deck, not a 15 HP brush rating.
A 55″ FM-62 lists 20–45 PTO HP. An 85″ FM-96H wants a true 50–90 HP utility tractor and a Cat 2 hitch, not an optimistic compact. Tractor examples and the HP/ft chart live on the sizing page.
Full sizing tiers and model picks →Step 4
Choose hammer blades or Y-blades
Hammer blades are heavier flails that mulch brush and rough grass. Y-blades (knife blades) cut finer and leave a cleaner finish on maintained pasture. Woodmaxx FM models let you choose at order time; MechMaxx EFS/NAM/VAM/KDK packages in our catalog ship hammers.
If most of your acres are brushy edges and saplings, order hammers. If you mostly mow kept pasture and care about finish, Y-blades are worth the Woodmaxx option, knowing a later full blade-set swap is expensive.
Hammer vs Y-blades deep dive →Step 5
Weigh build, warranty, and price
Warranty and options are the brand layer, after the machine already fits your tractor. In our catalog, Woodmaxx FM models carry a 2-year parts warranty and hammer/Y-blade choice. MechMaxx models are typically 1-year, hammer packages, and often wider cut per dollar (EFS60 at 60″ / $1,699 vs FM-62 at 55″ / $3,630).
Neither brand automatically “wins.” Compare the specific deck you can lift, the remotes you have, and whether you will still want support in year two. Our brand matchup walks through that tradeoff.
Woodmaxx vs MechMaxx →Avoid these
Common buying mistakes
- Picking a brand before a family. A cheap VAM does not replace a rear hammer deck on brush.
- Ignoring hitch class. FM-96H and both KDK heads are Cat 2.
- Sizing to engine HP instead of PTO HP, then stalling the rotor in July grass.
- Buying width for acres alone without checking lift capacity (especially FM-96H and KDK heads).
- Paying for hydraulic side shift with no rear remotes, or for ditch-bank tilt when you only mow flat pasture.
- Ordering a VAM for brush despite MechMaxx’s green/tender-grass-only warning.
- Choosing Y-blades for saplings because the finish photos look nicer, then bending knives on the first fencerow.