Yes the King Kutter does well in lawn areas. I'm certainly not overpowering it on a 8N Ford.

The gearbox whine is a negative but I suppose it depends on how many hours of continuous running you use it. I'm often mowing for long periods up to 4-6 hours at a clip. It does a good job but in taller or wetter grass it also sometimes discharges kind of clumpy grass instead of a smooth even spread. I've removed the deflector mounting plate and discharge chute which seems to help some.

I've always thought of building my perfect mowing machine but would probably have so much in it to get all the features I really wanted that it would be cost prohibitive.