Zero Turn Mowers, Diesel or Gas?
 

I've been looking at commercial grade zero turns to mow around 9 acres of somewhat hilly terrain. I can use a tractor for a good portion, but there are some areas where a tractor just isn't maneuverable enough and the terrain is too much for my lawn tractor. I've also got to mow around 200 yards of sloped dam and the tractor scares the chit out of me.

I've narrowed it down to two models from Kubota:

The ZG327 which is gas:

http://www.kubota.com/f/products/ZG222/index.cfm

and the ZD326 which is diesel:

http://www.kubota.com/f/products/ZD/index.cfm

I'm leaning towards the diesel due to the easier logistics of diesel for both tractor and mower, but I'm not yet sold that it's worth around $2300 more. I usually buy a piece of equipment and run it into the ground, meaning wear it out so the diesel may last longer. But.....I'm not positive it's $2300 longer.

Both models come with a drink holder, so it's a wash there.

Thoughts on which one is a better choice?

Thanks,

Chuck

My neighbor lawn guys got zero turn diesel . Loves its. He spent around 13000.00 for it. You have to mow a lot yards to get your ROI.

Unless you are going up and down the slope a zero turn mower tends to spin out trying to hold the front of the mower from turning down the hill. Ask for a demonstrater before deciding on the mower you want. <>UNK

I am looking at a walk behind zero turn with a sulky for this reason. Usually you can work around slopes a little easier with them than a ride on zero turn.

I do not have the experience of my commercial Toro wanting to turn down hill. I can and do have it to crab a bit on steep banks but it manages to hang onto the bank just fine and I am pleased with the way it handles. If I were going to mow 9 acres I would opt for the diesel. Diesel fuel will not gel the fuel system like gas and you can store diesel.

How about electric?

http://www.hustlerturf.com/Web-content/Index.html

My father passed away over a year ago. That left us kids to mow his three acre lawn. He had recently bought a new zero turn mower for the job. I knew within the first half-hour I would never buy one for myself.

Unless you've spent a few hours on the machine you're planning to buy and already made up your mind, I strongly recommend you take a test ride before you part with your money.

I bought a Dixon last fall, neighbor bought a Grasshopper. We both ended up with the same problem - we are mowing everything we can LOL!!

The one I got is a low end commercial grade, and I spend about 4 hours a week mowing. Ended up I don't spend any less time mowing, I just mow a heck of a lot more.

I love this machine, I really wish I had bought one years ago. It takes some getting use to, I would say at least 5 hours. Mine has 14 hours on it and I'm still figuring out the best way to get around the trees and all. My only gripe is I sit up higher and I'm hitting tree branches I use to be able to duck under. Time to get out the trimmer and do some more work.

My machine cost around $6,000, don't know what my neighbor paid. We both love our Z-turn mowers.

Cathy

I will start off by saying I own a lawn service company. So I get a lot of seat time on a zero turn mower. And I say to the person who has to mow 3 acres and recomends not buying one. Please, do your self a favor and give yourself a chance to get used to it. It does take some time to get use to. But, once you do you can mow circles around any other mower and some tractors.
As far as diesel v/s gas. I think that is a personal preference. You can replace the gas motor if it wears out for less than $2300 dollars. I would not buy a walk behind even with a sulkie for that much mowing. Get a big wide rider and it will do just fine. It will mower a pretty steep hill and not slide anything steeper than that and you will have trouble with any kind of mower. I have to mow a lot of pond banks in the back of customers yards and my 54in mower does just fine. JMHO

Go with the diesel. You can run off-road fuel in it, which is cheaper, it'll use about half the fuel of gas, and last much longer.

BlackWillowFarm, I agree with johng, give yourself a chance to get used to running it, and you'll never want to go back to a regular riding mower again.

I still dont understand people wanting a several acre lawn and buying a multi thousand dollar machine to do it unless you run a private golf course or otherwise make money off it. Mowing lawn just for sake of mowing lawn seems like the biggest waste of time and fuel ever devised. Brush hog it couple times a year to keep brush from getting established and knock down big weeds, otherwise leave it alone.

I bought the zero turn because our DH does not like the idea of me out with the big tractor and 8' brush hog when no one else is around. It does go much faster than my Dixon, but it also does not leave near as nice a look.

Mowing keeps down the bugs and mosquitoes. With having at least 10' mowed all around the garden and the walk back to it, I don't have near the problem getting eaten up when I am out there. Same thing with around the shooting berm. I've also noticed a decline in rodents around the buildings now that I'm keeping the grass down. The cats can catch them much easier in the short grass. I'll keep mowing to keep Nature at bay, I prefer to do the chores without being eaten.

Cathy

I gotta say I total agree. Never cared much for mowing acres of lawn. If I am going to mow acres it better be for hay. I suppose some people really enjoy mowing their lawn. I guess there are worse things to waste time and money on.

Only reason I am looking at a zero turn is to get around all the fruit trees that are arriving next year.

High grass is a haven for mosquitoes. When we bought our 52 acres 6 years ago everything was over run and over grown including the lawn. I got West Nile virus and almost died from a mosquito bite.

I will keep my areas mowed.

I have a zero turn toro and love it.

I can see not wanting the massive chunks of lawn, but have you seen nicely groomed farms? It may be me, but seeing a farm with a moderate yard size, but all of the area around the house, out buildings, field access, some road frontage well mowed just looks... prosperous and neat. It may be a midwest/Wisconsin thing to have field/house/field and everything visible from the road.

Is an orchard considered "lawn"? There's many reasons to have a lot of area mowed, and not just to have a massive lawn.

BlackWillowFarm: I agree with the others. You have to learn how to control it, and that takes awhile. You get smoother, faster, and less dizzy the more you use one.


Then again, there are the retired people that have nothing else to do, so the front 40 is mowed weekly...

Michael

Stagnant water is what breeds mosquitoes, never noticed mowing or not mowing making whit of difference. Get rid of anything that holds water long time before it evaporates.

And I have no problem mowing border around house or garden, but acres??? Everybody needs a hobby I guess.

I've seen such, grew up in Iowa. Growing up our neighbor had right idea, he had his barnyard tightly fenced and would buy some sheep in spring to keep grass mowed, then sell them before winter so he didnt have to feed them through winter. He never owned nor ran a lawn mower. A professional grounds crew couldnt have had things looking any nicer. Anymore though people arent farm friendly so some goofball salesman or other unthinking visitor would probably leave gate open and sheep get out on road. People that farm rarely are so rude to leave gates open.

But guess its a personality thing. Looks mean little to me if its for looks only. If it doesnt serve some truly practical purpose for me, I am not going to waste my time, fuel, and lifespan of my machinery just to try and impress my neighbors. Where I live here you cant see my house from road. Dont like being on exhibit in a zoo. Wish there were affordable truly remote places where you dont have to either live in a desert or the frozen tundra or fight banditoes all the time.

Absolutely the tall grass is where the mosquitoes hang out during the hot part of the day. Then they come swarming out at night to bite and reproduce.

Keeping the grass down around the house reduces the mosquito problem in the area.

Yes, of course, they reproduce in standing water, but they don't hang there all the time.

Thanks for the input, but that's really not an option. We have a 9 acre pond on the property which we like to enjoy without having to wade through ----high grass.

When I brush hog it, there's quite a bit I can't get the tractor. We have guests out quite a bit for camping and fishing and as some other's said, we kind of like the neat trim look. We've done a bunch of earth work on the pond adding point's and coves for retriever training which has created a nightmare for mowing with the tractor. I've also gotten to the point where my "off" time is worth quite a bit (to me at least), so I'm willing to make a capital investment to get the mowing done as quickly as possible.

As I said in my OP, the question is between gas and diesel, I've already decided the zero turn is worth it to me. I really don't like mowing the dam sitting 4 feet up at that angle, I've been less nervous jumping out of airplanes at night. Also the added maneuverability makes the zero-turn a faster than the tractor due to our trees and pond features.

johng,

I've driven one before and spent my lunchtime yesterday on a big Toro. There are probably some folks on post thinking they've up'd the dress code for the landscape guys on post after seeing me mowing in a shirt an tie.

We literally have a fleet of the things on the fort and I've watched them for years mowing some remarkable terrain, very, very quickly. They also do a very good job of "finish" type mowing on the parade fields etc. You're right, the one I drove yesterday had no problem mowing a slope steeper than my dam bank. It looks like they also have ground clearance comparable to a brush hog with an adjustable blade height of 1-5".

All,

Thanks for the advice, looks like I've got some more reading to do.

Chuck

Another landscaper here...
Definitely, the best nugget of wisdom you've recieved thus far is to ask for a demo unit. Most z-turns handle slopes pretty well, but some handle them MUCH better than others. I have an ex-Mark that's fretty limitid in what she can do without flipping over, and a Scag that will handle more than my nerves will on a slope. Hustlers are slow-slung an handle slopes very well, too. If it's a lotta' slope you're mowing, the other thing to consider is how the hydraulic drive motors are situated, and how they react to a slope. I've had mowers that within less than a hundred yards of distance on a slope get a hot motor on the uphill side 'cuz all the hydraulic fluid is on the downhill side, and ya' lose power there...not what you want, at all. Never had that problem with a Scag.
I'd try both the mowers, as the diffence in weight will probably affect how it handles the slope.
Cut some grass with the demos, and don't pay any mind to the pitch about ground speed, which is baloney sales shtick more than anything else. My Ex-mark can outrun my Scag in a drag race, but it don't matter, cuz the Scag's superior deck design still cuts grass at a higher speed.

That said, I have no experience with the Kubota z-turns, but my sod guy uses one, and raves about it. Rod (Rod if the sod) knows machines as well as anyone else, too.
Happy mowing.

I agree. Why pay thousands for a mower, buy expensive fuel, and spend time mowing when you could fence it in and raise a few lambs? Instead of costing you money every year, you will make money off of your land. Butcher what you want for the freezer and sell the rest.

Rent or Landscapping Service?
 

Chuck:

Just two thoughts for you. Our farm is over 230 miles away, a four hour drive, so for me just to run up to mow the lawn on the weekend is really cost prohibitive now with the price of fuel, and like you, time is precious. What I have done is:

1 - When needed in the past, rented a zero turn mower from the local rental agency. This spring I rented one and cost a little less than 75.00 for four hour rental, (actually they dropped it off at 2pm in the afternoon, and picked it up at 9am the next morning), the cost included delivery, insurance, and a tank of fuel. Even if you look at the cheap Cub Cadets at TSC for 2300.00 you can rent one for quite a few times before you break even. Plus you dont have maintenance issues and storage issues.

2- Landscapping service - wife talked me into a landscapping service, costs $50 a week for two guys on a John Deere Zero Turn and John Deere Garden Tractor. They mow and trim for about 1.5 hours. It is nice to show up without worry of having to mow, if it just rained, if it going to rain, or if I could not get to the farm for awhile how tall the grass is.

Just a couple of thoughts. I also personally happen to prefer my old 1960's Cub Cadet with fuild filled dual Ag style tractors in the back with weights, and fuild filled front tires, for mowing on slopes over a Zero Turn, but just my experience and preference.

Jim

Had a Grasshopper mower went to a Dixie Chopper. Sorry I do not remember the sizes as it was a few years back. I love the Dixie chopper. Did not break near as much. DIXIE CHOPPER gas or diesel. Just my .02

Zero Turn Mowers
 

I mow about 10 acres and When I first started mowing it years ago I used a Cub Low boy and spent a couple days mowing, Then I started using my tractor with a 72" finish mower which still took about the same amount of time maybe a couple hours less, I have a couple grades which are very steep and the tractor and lowboy would barely pull the hill but made it. Next I went to a John deere 400 series which mowed pretty decent and I could mow in a day anyway. Then I tried out a zero turn and tried the xmark,grasshopper,and bobcat, I settled on the xmark and mowed for several years with it and it went up and down the hills my tractors could barely pull, It saved me lots of time and made it to where I could mow my 10 acres in less than half a day or 4 hours and especially saved me time trimming around the 100 trees I had to trim around, The xmark was gas and I have since traded for a Badboy zero turn 30hp gas which is built like a tank and even though I was satisified with the xmark the price on a new one was ridicilous as well what they were willing to give me on trade vs a bad boy which I felt was a better built mower for the money . I have never had any problems with steep hills with my zero turn going up or down , they will at times want to slide on a steep grade if its wet but its definately not out of control and I have some very steep grades I mow,So for me I would never go back to the tractor or regular rider verses the zero turn it makes fast work of big yards and saves a ton of time around trees and obstacles, The resale value is good and will probably cut your mowing time at least 30% maybe more after you get used to it, I would get a dealer to bring you a demo to try out they do it in my area a lot and let you try them on your lawn if they feel your really interested and see what you think, just my opinion.