Zero turn mowers, commercial

[Larry Frank]

I have a Simplicity ZTR which I really love. It also has springs and shocks on the corners which is much kinder on my back. It does mow very quickly but there is a learning curve.

[Mike Cruz]

Andy, I have the John Deere 757 with 60" deck. I really do like it, but there are some "issues" with it. First of all, mine is 7 years old. So, take what I am saying as what it is...information based on experience with a mower that I've owned for 7 years.

Overall, I love the mower. It has been a workhorse for me. I not only mow my lawn with it, but for years, I mowed our 9 acres of horse pasture with it...yup, 9 acres. Stopped doing so only because I needed to mow at 8" (to keep weeds from germinating). And the mower only goes up to 5".

Downside to the mower: There are two air intakes. When you lift the seat, there is one directly under the seat that leads to a fan. The other is directly in front of the engine. Both have access from under the seat. The problem is that BOTH are located towards the right side of the mower. The grass discharge is coincidentally located on the same side. If the wind is blowing from your right to left, all the clippings get blown righ back at you and, you guessed it, those intakes get clogged. The solution, before EACH mowing, you lift the seat and clear the clippings. OR you do what I did (before I knew to do this) and start it up one day to find the mower has no "power". Why? Because one of the cylinders overheated and no longer works. Then, 6 months later, you find out the other one needs to be replace too...from the same symptom. Yeah, I've had both replaced. Not cheap. But I know better now. Have they changed this and solved the problem? I have no idea. But I've tried the EXmark and "others" and like the fit and feel of the JD best. Good luck!

BTW, JD's at the BORG are not true JD's. Just like a Stihl at the BORG is not a true Stihl. If you want a JD, go to a JD dealership.

[Jerome Stanek]

If you can afford it the Dixie cutter is one of the best

[Jim Laumann]

Add me to the Skag club. We have a Tiger Cub that we bought last spring - 23hp Briggs w/ a 60" deck. The thing is a tank - very heavily built. We purchased it from a local dealer. Paid $7800 +/- w/ the sales tax, etc.

While heavily built - I do have reservations w/ the mower....

1) Not the mowers fault - we "over bought" - the area we mow - has dips and valleys - not to mention trees and shrubs - and there are spots we can't get the Skag in to due to deck size, and we find its width causes the deck to bridge - resulting in some scalping in spots. We might have been better off had we bought a unit w/ a smaller (narrower) deck. We went w/ the large deck to "reduce mowing time", but we haven't seen the time reduction we anticipated......

But - if we crank up our older Dixon (chain drive ZTR), and run it & the Skag - I run the Dixon - and focus on the areas w/ trees, and the confined spots, while wifelet hits the level - wide open areas, we get things done quick.

2) I don't like how the mower is laid out - maintinence wise - some of the grease fittings are nearly impossible to reach, it's hard to change oil w/o spilling oil on to the mowers frame due to the location of the drain plug, etc. Nothing that can't be worked around, more pain it the butt stuff.

In the mowers defense - give it a wide open area, and it will chew some grass in a hurry. It has a excellant deck height system (adjustable by the 1/4"), the controls are well laid out, and full hydrostatic is really nice.

Jim

[Dave Lehnert]

BTW, JD's at the BORG are not true JD's. Just like a Stihl at the BORG is not a true Stihl. If you want a JD, go to a JD dealership.

Big box never have stocked Stihl. Are you thinking Echo?
http://www.poptent.net/assignment/185

[Mike Cruz]

I bought a Stihl weed eater some 10+ years ago at HD. I thought I was getting a "for life" weed eater. When the pull rope broke, I took it to my local dealer. He said he could fix it, but it would cost $100. WHAT? WHY?!?!?!?!!?! Because it was not a true Stihl. It was made by Ryobi (IIRC) FOR Stihl to be sold at BORGs. The reason it would cost so much was that the string cost $5 and since they would have to take the entire motor out to get to the string (on the downhill side of motor assembly, not on the very end...if that makes sense) the other $95 was in labor...basically time. Sure, if I had the time and energy, I could have repaired it myself. But a few other things had gone on it too...like the on/off switch didn't work anymore. I had to turn it off by choking it. And something else that I can't remember. So, it wasn't worth it to me. BTW, it was the FS36 IIRC.

[Eddie Watkins]

I have a Grasshopper 722D and really like it. Conceptually it built a little different than the other ZTRs in that the deck is self supprting and can mow under trees and shrubs. The Walker mowers are supposed to give the best cuts for manicured lawns. I'm not sure how they would work on a converted pasture lawn(:>)

[Keith Outten]

72" Dixie Chopper with a 25 hp Kohler engine. Made in America...mine is 15 years old.
They have a very heavy steel deck that you can step on or jump on for that matter.
.

[Bob Riefer]

I have a 48" walker with 15 hp kawasaki motor, belt drive not hydro (but honestly, for a home owner the belt drive is fine and saved me a grand). I only have a 1/2 acre, but speed was important to me given the number of things I try to squeeze into the average day. I can mow the entire thing in 30 minutes flat, using 2nd gear. I string trim the fence line, but otherwise the machine is sized such that it can very nicely maneuver around all obstacles. A traditional rider wouldn't work for me due to obstacles and turning radius, and a zero turn rider would be major overkill for my acreage. This has been perfect, plus I enjoy the exercise of briskly walking my property for 30 minutes.

Yesterday, my neighbor (who sold me my mower, and sells high end equipment wholesale for a living) brought a 60" cub cadet rider over to test drive. He did my yard in 10 minutes. The wide deck prevented him from reaching some areas, and he did "bridge / scalp" a few spots, but overall the cut was great - the mower sounds like a helicopter when it passes. If I had a large lot without many tight spots and without lots of sudden elevation changes, it looked like a great machine, I know he sells quite a lot of them.

[Ole Anderson]

I am happy with my 425 Deere, I went with the 48" so I could fit it in my garage along with everything else. Had it 3 years. Bought it from my local Deere dealer, not the BORG. Downside is it is tough on your lawn until you figure out how to do the turns without causing damage, especially if you have a lot of trees you do a circle around every week in the same wheel path. Any tips out there?

[Brian Elfert]

Has anyone tried one of the new ZTR mowers that have a steering wheel instead of the hand controls? I spent five years driving Toro Groundsmasters with a steering wheel and hand controls seem so foreign. A Groundsmaster can do a turn in place by braking one wheel, but it pretty much destroys the grass. I only did it a few times to prove it works.

I am hoping to be able to move to some acreage down the road and I will need a riding mower. I only have a 100x40 patch of grass in front of my house and about 40x40 in the back right now. I can do the whole thing with my push mower in 45 minutes or so.

[Jim Becker]

I have a Scag Freedom-Z and absolutely love it. My second choice was the Hustler, but there was just a lot about the Scag that I really liked when I was shopping. Not inexpensive, but it cuts like a dream and is easy to maintain. It replaced the mower deck I had for my Kubota sub-compact tractor and I don't miss the mounting/dismounting dance in any way, shape or form. The Kubota deck cut wonderfully, but it was 300 lbs of steel that got in the way of many other things I use the tractor for on the property. IMHO, if you have a reasonably size lawn, a ZTR is the way to mow.

Brian, it took me very little time to get used to the lever steering on my ZTR and it's the key to the amazing maneuverability. My 80 year old dad, who loves to cut the grass when he visits, picked it up pretty quickly, too.