zero turn mowers

[eclipchic]

I guess we need to replace our lawn tractor, it keeps breaking and it takes forever to mow the amount of yard we have right now. Anyone have a good suggestion of a reliable brand/make of zero turn mower? My husband says it has to have a 60" deck because that's the largest our trailer can handle and he wants the biggest he can get.

I'll be looking forward to your suggestions

[RonM]

John Deere, a little pricey. but the best.....

[eclipchic]

I looked at those, definitely on the list.

[nathan104]

Make sure to get a commercial unit. I would look for a used scag with lower hours. I had a commercial MTD and it was a beast but one of the hydro transmissions went out (zero turns have two) and it was too expensive to fix. So, if you buy a new one, go for the extended warranty.

[tyusclan]

Grasshopper or Scag.

Scag is probably a little more heavily made, but the Grasshopper has a much smoother ride. The Grasshopper with the Kubota diesel can burn off-road diesel, and will use half the fuel that the gas engines will. A big consideration at today's fuel prices.

A lot of lawn pros trade their mowers every year or two to limit down time from repairs. The dealers will go through them, make any needed repairs and resell them. Even with a huge yard to mow, and good used commercial ZTR will last for years in homeowner use.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

go commercial , scag ,john deere , dixon, others , commercial machines that are designed to cut all day will last you much longer

residential mowers are generally designed for 1 to 1.5 hours of mowing a week 6-9 months a year , and give a 7-10 year life without major repairs

commercial mowers are designed to mow 5-7 hours a day for 3-5 years and have more , and more easily serviceable parts bearings , belts , grease fittings are a good thing as are oil filters and oil coolers

or mow less

put some into prairie , or leave it go long , plant it in hay , fence it and graze

other ideas , depending on your yard , get a mower to pull behind a real tractor and trim less or with a smaller mower

if i were to build a new house today on several or more acres of land i would mow right around the house , and either fence the rest and graze or put it in a crop like hay or wheat

[foxtrapper]

From watching the commercial crews, I'd be very inclined to get an xmark. The crews that do the fastest and best work almost always run xmark mowers. They *fly* and cut great.

I've got a standup GreatDane, and having gotten used to it, I far prefer a standup unit to the sitdown types now. A standup unit is even more nimble. And, if anything starts to go wrong, I just step off.

[treasureacres]

I have had great luck with Cub Cadet commercial mowers. We are currently running three of their Tank models. Make sure what ever you buy make sure there is service available close. Some people buy these expensive mowers and then have to drive hours to get serviced.

[Gripshover]

I have used ex marks and really like them. They come in 60".

Leo

[Alice In TX/MO]

Have two Bad Boy ZTRs. The big one beats me to death. I like the smaller one.

[Tobster]

Originally Posted by Alice In TX/MO

Have two Bad Boy ZTRs. The big one beats me to death. I like the smaller one.

I have not heard that complaint with the Bad Boy, but I have heard it applied to other mowers.

If you have not yet tried this, run the tires with less air pressure, see if that helps.

[MO_cows]

My DH wants to get a zero turn next time we have to replace our mower, but I can't get past the fact that the same size motor and same cutting width costs at least $1k more as a zero turn than the "lawn tractor" style of mower. Also we use a trailer behind our riding mower at times, so can the zero turn even pull that?? So, I am far from sold on them, but I think he is gonna make me buy one anyway! I'll be glad to hear what others recommend here, too.

[treasureacres]

Big advantage of the zero turn is speed and agility. You will literally cut your mowing time in half, or less. I don't think zero turns should be used to pull things very heavy, not sure about that as we don't pull to much other than a broadcast spreader for fertilizer occasionally. A good friend of mine uses a couple of Snapper Pros I believe they are called and just loves them as well and speaks very highly of them.

[Alice In TX/MO]

We *kept* our regular mowers, too. There are small spaces the ZTR won't get into or maneuver well in. Seriously.

Personally, except for the large front space to mow, I'd rather use my riding lawn mower.

[Ozarks Tom]

I've had my Yazoo Kees/Husqvarna (same thing) for 6 years now and love it. DW made a cushion for it, and I picked up 2 - 3 mph. Very well made, heavy commercial. We have 140 trees to mow around, and couldn't get done in 3 times the time with a regular rider. Even with everything to mow around I can do approx 4 1/2 acres in 3 hours.

[agmantoo]

I have had a 60 inch cut 27 HP commercial zero turn for nearly 6 years. No problems to date. Grass doesn't get too tall for it to cut and the efficiency of the zero is difficult to appreciate if you have not used one. If I had to go back to using a conventional lawn mower I would spend that money on Roundup. As far a pulling something I recently had to move a full size pickup truck that was blocking the drive and the zero turn is all that I had access to at the time. The zero turn had no problem with the task.

[danielsumner]

Love my BadBoy. Would like it better but the DW won't get off it, Bet I've run it a total of 15 minutes.

[fixer1958]

Ferris in my opinion.

[Macybaby]

I have a Dixon. Love having a zero turn. I use to spend 4-5 hours a week mowing the lawn, now DH rarely lets me get the chance as he loves using the Zero turn too. Funny how he rarely had time to mow using our old rider. . . First year I got to use it exclusively, second year he had some time off and decided to mow for me - Since then he's done most of the mowing. Some days I'd be looking forward to coming home an spending a relaxing few hours on the machine - only to find DH about done.



Warning, while the zero turn does mow twice as fast ( or more) it's so fun to use that we ended up mowing a lot more than we use to. Retired neighbor got a Grasshopper, and reported the same thing - mows way more now than he use to because it's fun to mow.

Here is DH working hard mowing the yard. We made sure to get a machine with the better quality seat.

[hippygirl]

We've had a Bunton for about 6 years...I've used and abused it and it still runs like a new one. DH does the maintenance based on X hours of run time (I can't remember how many exactly). I have no idea what it cost as it was a gift from my uncle, but I know they're a bit pricey.