Buying Advice First Tractor

[camps23]

I think I agree with last post. I think I will go zero turn to start while kids are young and time is limited and reevaluate in a few years when I have more time to play with an scut and attachments. I can get a great price on an ZG1272-54 2013 with only 25hrs but I have heard there are a bunch of safety recalls on it ? Any one have any insight to this ?

 

[KYDan]

I am not familiar with this mower (ZG1272-54), what brand is it? I have an older JD 757 (7 Iron) that has about 600 hours on it and it has performed flawless since 2005 under pretty tough use with regular maintenance. The new JD's have had some issues, particularly when they began manufacturing them in China. The preferred ZT by the professional lawn services here are Exmarks. However, they are pricey and used ones in decent condition are hard to find. Check out one of the lawn mower forums and see what they have to say about them. If you are buying from a private owner your are more or less on your own unless you get some sort of written warranty and even that could be very expensive to enforce. A good, reputable dealer in your area may be your best bet and he may be willing to give you some kind of conditional/limited warranty and possibly try before you buy.

Good Luck on your quest.

 

[Arc weld]

Whatever you buy, NEVER, EVER take the kids for rides while you're mowing the grass! It takes a millisecond for an accident to happen and the blades could care less what gets in their way. Had a former neighbor with a new zero-turn take her 3yr old daughter on it while cutting the grass going about 6 MPH. As far as I'm concerned, that's child endangerment. I cringed when I saw it and wanted so much to slap her upside of the head. Let the kids sit on the machine when it's stopped and shut off without the key in it if they're interested. I read an article that said riding mowers are the number one cause of accidents involving kids.

 

[chim]

Acc weld has a REAL valid point. Not only shouldn't they be on the mower, they shouldn't be anywhere near. I'm from a small town and know of a little girl who lost the front half of one foot when her dad didn't see her and hit reverse before backing up. A small boy was riding on his dad's lap when one wheel hit a pipe or something. The mower flipped and the boy lost most of the bottom half of his leg. It's not worth risking all the pain, suffering and guilt.

 

[WilliamBos]

Leave that up to the parents to decide.

 

[chim]

Leave that up to the parents to decide.

I wasn't saying "There ought to be a law", just pointing out that it would be wise to exercize caution.

I never asked either of the dads if they were happy with the decisions they made that resulted in their kids being mangled. I doubt they were. There is at least a slim chance that they would have done things differently had they read about an actual case or two that didn't go well.

 

[Don87]

Safety of children is a consideration.

I wouldn't let my grandson on the tractor with me while I was mowing, but I did take him for lots of rides, and he loves working the FEL
They live several hundred miles away now, but my grandson does not forget the tractor.

 

[Arc weld]

Leave it up to the parents? Some parents shouldn't be allowed to use a rubber mallet! There is NEVER a reason a kid should be taken for a ride on mower while it is cutting!!! My dad sold commercial turf equipment for over 40 years. Some people were amazed he never had one accident involving a mower. He could tell you stories of stupid things other people have done though.

The best story he had involving a mower, I wish was on video. He was delivering a 9 gang Jacobsen F20 reel mower to a sod farm. This is a big self propelled mower that cuts 21' wide in a single swath. The outer reels are on arms and raised and lowered hydraulically. The top speed is about 25 MPH. Anyway he was going down a 2 lane street that one lane was blocked off for repairs. Some idiot in a red convertible sports car was behind my dad and honking his horn and yelling profanities. After the construction zone the 2 lanes were open but there was a red light and this idiot pulled beside my dad still yelling profanities. There was no cab on the F20 but my dad just pretended to ignore the guy, except for one little detail... my dad moved his hand ever so discreetly over to the hydraulic control and started to lower the outermost reel over top of the idiots car. The guy was so busy cursing my dad he didn't notice at first. When he finally realized what was happening he must have soiled his pants pretty good because he took off right through the red light without even looking!:laughing::laughing: He's lucky there was no one coming the other way but my dad was watching for traffic. My dad said later he shouldn't have done it in case the hydraulics failed but I would have paid to see that.:thumbsup: My dad was pretty humble and easy going but he didn't take crap from anyone. He had a great sense of humour too.

 

[WilliamBos]

You a life long city slicker? How do you think farm kids learned? Sitting on the fender, or standing beside Dad...

Like I said, leave it up to the parents!! Their business , no one else's!!

 

[farm88]

Go with a SCUT.