Front mowers??

[06Z51]

This is my first post here so I'll try and avoid the "newbie"questions. I'm currently looking to over haul my mowing fleet this year and I thought I had it narrowed down till I priced everything out. I currently mow my property of about 1/2 and acre with a 1995 LX172 (38 inch deck)and my father's land of about 4 acres with a 2000 GT225 (48 inch deck). The LX has a blade and the GT has a 42 inch snowthrower. I want to reduce the fleet down to one and get at least a 60inch deck to cut down on the mowing time. The machine will be mainly a mowing machine with snow removal in the winter. After reading everything I could find on the subject I decided a 1445 series Deere front mower with 4x4, a 60inch blower and a 60 inch deck would handle everything I needed. My total came to a whooping $27,800!!!!! The base price for thise thing is $17,490 according to John Deere's website. For that kind of coin I could get a 757 ZTR for mowing and a 3120 tractor for the snowblowing. The questions.....

First roughly what do ya'll think my two tractor are worth on trade and,
why the heck are these front mowers SSOOOOO expensive?

I thought they'd be the best of both worlds, Tractor and ZTR. Not if I can buy 2 rigs for the price of this one. Who are these beasts geared towards? Most landscaping guys use ZTR and homeowners seem to go more towards the tractors. Thanks in advance and soo for the long winded first post.

 

[ronjhall]

Welcome to TBN. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Pricing out a 757 and 3120 with front blower has a price of $32000.
If you want a Front mower you may want to look at a 1420. Smaller but will run the 60" mower and snowblower without problems. But this will only save you about $2500 over the 1445.
These are commercial mowers that will last a lifetime with the amount of lawn you have to cut. I have a <font color="green"> JD </font> mid sized F735, 60"front mower and 46" snowblower that will out cut my <font color="orange"> Kubota </font> 72" MMM all day.

 

[Dutch445]

Welcome to TBN!
Where are you located?

You certainly went to the top
of the scale with that idea...
the 4wd 1445!
Have you considered an X series
tractor, with 4wd (if needed) and the
62" mid mower, and 47" 2 stage front
snowblower? If you are doing these lawns
with the tractors you have, this X series will
be a huge increase in performance, and give you
1 machine that will do it all, and very nicely!

As far as your trades,, can you verify that the
GT is a 225? If so, it's 15hp,, and with the 48" deck
it's a bit of an oddball... a little underpowered.
But, the LX should bring 12-1500, and the GT 18-2000...
depending on condition.

anybody else with any ideas?
/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[06Z51]

First off the GT225 is a 42 inch deck, oops. Secondly, I knew that the Deere ZTR were around 11 grand for a big one and those are commerical grade so I thought that the Front mowers couldn't be much more expensive. Basically I thought the 1400 series would be a great mower but still be able to blow the snow that a ZTR can't. I guess I'll trade in the 2 and pick up a 2305 or somthing similiar and be done with it. Thats what I get for thinking outside the box.
So who are these thing marketed towards. Seems like the intended buyers already have somthing better in the ZTR, they'd be a great alternative for someone who needs a sweet mower and needs to do some light blower work but no loader work, which is me, but at half the price.

 

[RisingStar]

I have a 1435 with a 72" deck, these mowers are designed for commercial use. For the amount of mowing you do it will last you a lifetime if you change the oil and keep it maintained. I will warn you, they are fun to drive, when you finish your yard, you'll be looking for more to mow and will start mowing your neighbors yards just for the fun of it. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
I understand they have other attachments besides the front deck mower, but that's all I have. In Texas our snow is normally gone by 1 O'clock so we don't have to worry about that much. Good luck.

 

[dsb5610]

I have a JD F911 with a 60" deck and 54" blade. The F9xx and F1145 were the predecessors of the 14xx/15xx series. Mine has over 1400 hours and still does a great job of mowing and it really is enjoyable to run. The 54" blade does a good job of pushing snow.

These are commercial units. I know of school districts, park districts and forest preserves that have them. Been casually watching the used 14xx prices and there are what appear to be some good deals on low hour units but I would use caution buying a unit used commercially.

dsb

 

[bigpete]

I have a 4110 w/60 and picked up a Ztrac F687 front mower last year. I only have about 10 hours of mowing on the machine but it appears to be everything I need for my 4-ish acres with a few dozen trees. The trees are my fault and my 4110 handled it just fine until I added the obstacles. I went with the 54" 7-iron but I understand it pushes the 60" just fine. Yes, it can be fitted with a JD approved blower. Pic attached:

 

[bigpete]

Oh yeah...priced under $9 grand w/deck and no blower. Flip up deck for easy cleaning and transport.