I've looked at Toro, Kubota, and Ferris. I am buying the Ferris IS 2100Z 61" deck with the new Vanguard 28HP EFI Oil Guard system for my new home ...

I must be the only guy in the world that prefers a garden tractor over a zero turn. I had a John Deere 757 for a while. It was rough riding, fuel thirsty and prone to getting stuck if ever you got one drive wheel on something slick. I mow about 1.75 acres and I found I could mow it in about 1 hour with a John Deere 740 diesel tractor and about 50 minutes with the 757. A lot of folks talk about cutting their mowing time in half but it sure didn't do that for me. There may be better zero turn mowers out here than the 757 but that was my experience.

Hills? Many trees?

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Hills? Many trees?

I have two small ponds and mow the valley between them. They aren't that bad. The rest is flat.

Not many trees at the moment. We may plant some in the future.

I mow this about 4 times a year. Really should use a bushhog but I do fine with my Bobcat.

From my buddy at Toro, after I asked him about zero turns.

"Ferris are nice mowers they are in the mid-range or commercial mowers."

I'm still looking as my need wasn't pressing.

I'm a Grasshopper owner.
Your description of your acres/yard sounds like ours. Not real smooth.

I also have a number of trees and bushes to mow around/under so I went with the front-mount Grasshopper. I didn't know it at the time, but when I bought a front mount, I got the smoothest ride.

Mid-Mounts beat me to death. Our church had a brand new Gravely mid-mount. After 20 min. I drove home and got my Grasshopper. Nothing against the Gravely, It's the nature of the beast.

My first was a gas Model 725K . I now have a diesel Model 722D and enjoy much more torque with the same size deck (61").

I'll never buy anything else. But I'm pretty happy with the two I have had.

Oh, and the design allows for the deck to be dropped and tools to be added. I have a light strike-off/angle snow blade...and a serious 5' full-power snow blower. The blower is no toy - PTO driven.

Just my .02

Bob



My philosophy is "if it don't grow, I don't mow"
So no fertilizer.

I mow about 5+ acres around trees and hilly section with a lawn tractor. It doesn't pack the soil down like a regular tractor. I leave sections for soil erosion and areas for the turkeys to feed on bugs and seeds. Later in the year, I don't mow under the trees to keep the soil from drying out. It takes me about 4 hours using a Bolens 1700 with a 48 inch deck.



41

Watch for a good design belt drive tensioner. Heavy grass can bog down the deck, and belts get thrown.

I ordered a Hustler Raptor SD zero turn with 48" deck yesterday and pick it up in a week. Right now I mow a little over an acre with quite a few trees to go around and I plan on reclaiming another acre or so. Made in the USA and local service department played into my decision but the Hustler ZTR's look to be a solid built machine.

When you get into $10,000 mowers they are pretty much all good. Scag, Exmark/Toro, Hustler/Big Dog, Grasshopper, Ferris, Bob-Cat, John Deere, Snapper Pro, et al.

For ride an outfront mower can't be beat and the Grasshopper/Kubota combo is an heirloom item. Mid mounts do ride rougher but a good suspension and seat can do much to cushion the bumps. My Bobcats frame mounts on neoprene bushings and the drivers platform is cushioned. My seat is memory foam and it's good but there are better. I use a donut pillow and work fine on rough ground as long as I go slow.

A few reasons why I picked Bobcat. Being a Louisville native I've grown up with Bunton lawn equip. Good Stuff, Schiller Grounds, parent of Bobcat bought Bunton several years ago and kept many of the features and tweaked some more. I love being able to raise my mower deck by hand as well as by foot. 61" is heavy even with spring assist so be sure your comfortable raising deck with your foot alone, especially a 72" deck. I can't think of another ztr that has this feature unless it's electric/hydraulic. Also like the twin 7 gallon gas tanks and with 37hp I need all 14 gallons. Another feature BC has that many don't is the discharge chute will stay up from friction, you don't need a bungee cord. Many take the chute off - I don't. Keeps clippings from blowing on me a little and I think it makes for a better dispersement pattern. Safety factor, too. Flip a rock through something important and it will ruin your day. Big reason I picked BC is my dealer.

We had a tragedy here last summer. Local businessman and all round good guy was mowing around his big pond/small lake and his Turf Tiger slid into the lake, the mower overturned and the steering sticks pinned him in and he drowned. I've had some oh shit moments on hills but never had any danger of sliding into water. On steep hills up and back is your friend.

Since this is a lawn mower thread I'm going to post pictures of my latest Craigslist score. Honda GX160 5 hp 21" commercial mowers. 2 is 1 and 1 is none.

Doublesharp,

If my old Honda commercial is any indicator.......Sell one of those, as You will never need it. My Dad bought a 21" Commercial model 30+ years back. I have maintained it, but it is still going strong.

Quiet and make a beautiful cut. Enjoy!

What's the model number of the Commercial Honda mower? So you need a backup mower or you have a helper?!

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I mow about 5+ acres around trees and hilly section with a lawn tractor. It doesn't pack the soil down like a regular tractor.

That is another issue now that you bring it up. My tractor is about 4,000 pounds. I suspect this also plays into the yard not being smooth. I do have a smaller lawn tractor that I use over the septic field.

The zero turns I have looked at are all in the 1,100 to 1,500 pound range.

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the design allows for the deck to be dropped and tools to be added. I have a light strike-off/angle snow blade...and a serious 5' full-power snow blower.

If I didn't already have a tractor, the abilities of a front mount would have made it a top contender.

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Watch for a good design belt drive tensioner. Heavy grass can bog down the deck, and belts get thrown.

I have been watching Youtube videos of people with their various mowers. Almost all of these larger machines look like they will cut grass much heavier than I will ever go after.

I have broken a belt on my 3 point finish mower, but I have used it for things I probably shouldn't have.

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Local businessman and all round good guy was mowing around his big pond/small lake and his Turf Tiger slid into the lake, the mower overturned and the steering sticks pinned him in and he drowned. I've had some oh shit moments on hills but never had any danger of sliding into water.

I do have a pond that I mow around. Eventually I'm going to rebuild it to make the terrain around it a bit more friendly.

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Since this is a lawn mower thread I'm going to post pictures of my latest Craigslist score. Honda GX160 5 hp 21" commercial mowers.

21" per row x 6 acres..... You'd have to start again as soon as you finished.

I mow high because there are black snakes, garter snakes and Eastern Box turtles in the field. Usually, they escape injury or death.

The neighbor uses a brush hog and his grass gets ripped up at times, soil is packed down, kills anything in its path, and wonders why the deer are always feeding on my property. In the summer with little rain, my grass is still green while his is brown and died back. Sometimes it is better to not mow too often.

When I bought our home the front and back yards were like billiards tables: Essentially obstruction-free from top-to-bottom, side-to-side. A few trees to go around, and that was it.

The John Deere STX38 I bought could get it done in about an hour-and-a-half if I left the clippings on the lawn, with a little string trimming around the trees and so-on.

By the time my wife finished adding trees, gardens, paths, water features, you-name-it, that 1-1/2 hour job was up to three. If I wanted to do a "detail job," incl. bagging the clippings: Seven hours! (No joke.)

Bought a commercial ZTR mower with a 48" deck and grass catcher, and a commercial grade stick edger. Ahhhh Back down to three hours for a "detail job" and I've been able to do a quick "whack it down before it gets out-of-hand" in as little as 50 minutes.

Here is a nice Bolens in your area about 80 miles away if you can fix things yourself. Only $950 while it sold new for $5000 +.

http://i213.photobucket.com/al.../179_zpsis8evmfy.jpg

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Originally posted by doublesharp:
I mow this about 4 times a year. Really should use a bushhog but I do fine with my Bobcat.

I have one of these, too. Mine is a 60", and I wouldn't go bigger. I use it around the house, to trim all the electric fence lines, and clip about 20 acres twice a year. It's ten tears old and has had no serious mechanical issues (the choke cable was replaced twice, that's all). I use this thing almost like a bush hog and it keeps going.

I also have a Grasshopper 48" front mount that I inherited from my mother in law. It is now 20 years old. It has also been a very reliable machine, but it is too small.

I would not go with the 72", the 60" is more versatile when going around bushes and such.

My neighbor has a Feris, he loves the suspension, but the short lawn cuts are not as smooth as a machine without suspension, in my opinion.

If I had it to do over, I would get the V tread tires, the turf tires are slick on hills.

Zero turn mowers are FUN!

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My neighbor has a Feris, he loves the suspension, but the short lawn cuts are not as smooth as a machine without suspension, in my opinion.

Tru dat until you learn to turn slow. Hustler has a flex fork option for the front wheels. Basically a stiff spring that allows the wheel to flex a bit on impact with a bump. Until the operator learns what he's doing most leave divots when they turn because they were going too fast and when you make the turn the front end sags from the flex forks. You can do a lot of damage with a commercial ztr if you try to burn and turn all the time.

This is the mower I keep for my 3/4 acre lawn. 48" cut 21hp kawasaki, same mower as the Hustler Fastrak but has power bar steering which I love. Weighs in at about 700 lbs and doesn't damage the yard on turns. The steering is the same as whats on Hustler Trimstars but the riding mower version never sold very good and I picked this up way cheap on a close out deal.

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Originally posted by 41:
Here is a nice Bolens in your area about 80 miles away if you can fix things yourself. Only $950 while it sold new for $5000 +.

Corrected link:

https://stlouis.craigslist.org/grd/6053161111.html