Advice for buying ZTR on a low budget

   / Advice for buying ZTR on a low budget #1  

CatLady

Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2010
Messages
30
I'm interested in buying one for under $1200. Maybe up to $1400. Other than saving up so the budget is bigger, any advice?

It would be for mowing 5-6 acres personal property, but I would to try to get small paid gigs too. The paid gigs would be probably be limited to 5-10 hours of mowing a week. If I got more paid gigs, then I would upgrade. I know with a cheaper one, it would be smaller and take longer to mow every acre, so that is factored in. I'd hope to get one that where I'm not wishing to upgrade the whole time I own it, but the budget is low.

What's the best time of year to buy a used one? I may wait til fall or spring if that helps me get a better one. I'm thinking now is okay, people have used their old one, upgraded, and are still trying to sell their old one, or people who are moving and can't take theirs. If I wait 2 or more months, will the deals get worse? I may have to buy a trailer first.

Most of the cheap ones for sale are Dixon's obviously. I'm thinking of going with anything but Dixon. Dixon might serve me fine but I believe it would need repairs and be harder to resell in a year or few. Ones up for sale usually already need repairs.

Anyway, I don't see many in this price range in my area, so maybe I'll take almost anything that comes along, as long as it's working well? I'll have a mower repair tech look it over, and test it, before buying.

Thanks.
 
   / Advice for buying ZTR on a low budget #2  
CatLady late last fall we picked up a 2010 Swisher 2760 ZTM with 27 hours on it. The guy had about $5000 in it and sold it for $2200. We were just so so in the market but reached for that deal.

He had 6-8 acres he wanted to keep mowed on some hilly land and bought a diesel Kubota mower.

Swisher is not a top of the line mower but does have commercial grade hydralic belt driven motors. The 27 HP seems plenty for 60" cut.

Belts can be cheap on lower end mowers so when one fails just go with Gates green belts the Powerated Line. Regular black V belts get broken by idlers that bend them backwards.
 
 
Top