looking at zero turns

[newbietroller]

I have a dienes 72" cut zero turn. Heavy duty and mows my 1+acre lawn and around 80 trees in under an hour. My in laws all have ex mark 72" cut mowers and they rock. they mow grass at 11 mph and do a super job. Either of these mowers will run for years

[teamlund]

Originally Posted by rwl

Consider a diesel with the fuel prices.

I went with a 60" Kubota sub compact tractor for my 3 acres because I needed to put in the lawn, mow the grass, install paver patios (1500 sq feet) on one 20 ' circle on the other, plus needed something to remove snow.

Got the opportunity to demo a gravely zero turn for a summer. It was 54" and 27 horse gas. It might have been about 5-10 minutes faster but used 5-6 gallons each mowing, sometimes that's 2x's week. I can mow 4-5 times with that much diesel in the tractor. Tractor goes 10 miles per hour, and it will cut great at that speed power steering 4 wheel drive front end loader all for about the price of a Scag, Exmark, Gravely that can only cut grass. That was back a few years, haven't checked lately, 900 hours and it runs like day one.

I use the tractor almost daily to move trailers, boats, firewoodtill the garden snow removal, spreading bark in our islands and planting food plots. once in a while I wish I had a zero turn, but it would need to be in addition to the tractor.

seriously??!! 5 to 6 gallons each mowing?

[97roughneck]

Check out this website before you buy-

www.crankyape.com

They are an auction site for bank repos. Check out the lawn and garden link- lots of commercial repo mowers, many are diesels, many with low hours. I often thought there were some really great deals but I have no use for such large equipment but sounds like this would be right down your alley.

[MrEyes]

Lund it looks like your a fellow cheesehead like myself if I'm right? If you do live in the cold/snow area you might want to consider a tractor that can cut or plow/snowblow. My neighbor has a zero turn and loves it, but it does him no good in the winter. I prefer my John Deere 585 (4 wheel drive) for cutting grass with a 62" deck and in the winter I put a plow on it and clear the driveway. I have 2 acres and usually burn about 5 gallons of gas every 4th or 5th cut. Just a thought for you.

Mark

[vtec]

Zero Turn all the way. I mow 1 1/4 acres in 45 minutes/1.25 gallons gas with a ZTR. It took almost 2 hours/2+ gallons of gas with a garden tractor. I ended up getting a closeout commercial grade Husqvarna (Yazoo Keys made it) 48" cut that no professionals wanted because of it's small cut width. That made the price much closer to the homeowner models. It works out really good for tight obstacles and is really fast so I am happy. I would recommend commercial grade in a heartbeat over the homeowner models. Might be much bigger cost to begin with but you will get one mower instead of 3 over your lifetime. In long run I think it's cheaper to go that route, at least that's how I justified it to my spouse Multi- use tractor would be nice but nowhere near as fast as a ZTR for cutting. ZTR's are not very good on large hills though.

[MrEyes]

I look at mowing the yard like riding in a boat. You can have 300HP on the back of your boat but if your running in 4 foot waves your not running WOT. Likewise if your yard is full of bumps your not going to be running your tractor at full speed, unless you like to visit the doctor for back pain meds. To me deck size is more important.

Mark

[teamlund]

Originally Posted by MrEyes

Lund it looks like your a fellow cheesehead like myself if I'm right? If you do live in the cold/snow area you might want to consider a tractor that can cut or plow/snowblow. My neighbor has a zero turn and loves it, but it does him no good in the winter. I prefer my John Deere 585 (4 wheel drive) for cutting grass with a 62" deck and in the winter I put a plow on it and clear the driveway. I have 2 acres and usually burn about 5 gallons of gas every 4th or 5th cut. Just a thought for you.

Mark

born and raised a cheesehead

I have a 05 kawasaki praire 700 4x4 and my brother is selling me his atv plow and i already have a snowblower (might sell it) so snow removal is taken care of with the atv....

[teamlund]

Originally Posted by MrEyes

I look at mowing the yard like riding in a boat. You can have 300HP on the back of your boat but if your running in 4 foot waves your not running WOT. Likewise if your yard is full of bumps your not going to be running your tractor at full speed, unless you like to visit the doctor for back pain meds. To me deck size is more important.

Mark

if we end up getting the house that we bid on I will take a walk around the yard to see how smooth/rough it is.... Didnt even think about that!

[fourize]

Originally Posted by newbietroller

I have a dienes 72" cut zero turn. Heavy duty and mows my 1+acre lawn and around 80 trees in under an hour.

72" cut mowing one acre with 80 trees? A bit over kill, isn't it?

[MN_Moose]

I use a Country Clipper Jazee Pro 52" with a Kawasaki 24hp. I like the mower. Like they say it literally cuts mowing time in half. 2 acres used to take 2+ hrs. Now 1 hr max. I like the joystick control. Plus on the Country Clipper you can flip the deck up and wash it. The only problem I've had is with the Kawasaki motor. Pushed the valve seat out and bent the valve stems. They say you have to shut down the engine on full throttle.