jcmseven
Veteran Member
Fellow Posters:
My good friend and dealer was showing me two of the ZTR's he offers. One is a 757 and the other a 797. He knows I have been looking. I just do not know if I do enough mowing to justify a machine like these. My father who I have described in previous postings, is now 76. He mows his lawn of around two acres and his lawn at his cabin of about one acre with his two year old JD 335 garden tractor. I mow a local soccer field for free (because I like to mow, and am friends with the father of two of the players--we split duty). That total area is 5+ acres which I mow on average twice monthly. I am still entertaining options but here are the original finances: my dealer says he will help me sell Dad's 335 (I bought it for him--he really does not care if I were to trade it out) and thinks it would bring $4200-$4500 in its current state (I paid $6200 plus tax two years ago). He priced me a 757 with a light kit at $7900 plus tax and a 797 at $10,100 plus tax. He says the 757 is a great mowing machine and the 797 with a 6' deck is a monster. Obviously, it would be nice to ride around on a 6', 29 hp machine mowing at 10 mph, but that is excessive. It also would be too big to put on my dad's trailer, but not mine. The 757 seems nice and has a 60" deck. I could potentially leave it at my dad's and get it when I need it, but that is a drive. I could also buy a 2072RFM for my tractor and forget doing it for 1800-2000. What does the group think of these prices; do we think it is worth it to consider? The reason I mention trading Dad's tractor is that he might wish to use the ZTR, and as he gets older I will either have to hire out or do his lawns for him more often, so I want something fast that does a good job.
John M
My good friend and dealer was showing me two of the ZTR's he offers. One is a 757 and the other a 797. He knows I have been looking. I just do not know if I do enough mowing to justify a machine like these. My father who I have described in previous postings, is now 76. He mows his lawn of around two acres and his lawn at his cabin of about one acre with his two year old JD 335 garden tractor. I mow a local soccer field for free (because I like to mow, and am friends with the father of two of the players--we split duty). That total area is 5+ acres which I mow on average twice monthly. I am still entertaining options but here are the original finances: my dealer says he will help me sell Dad's 335 (I bought it for him--he really does not care if I were to trade it out) and thinks it would bring $4200-$4500 in its current state (I paid $6200 plus tax two years ago). He priced me a 757 with a light kit at $7900 plus tax and a 797 at $10,100 plus tax. He says the 757 is a great mowing machine and the 797 with a 6' deck is a monster. Obviously, it would be nice to ride around on a 6', 29 hp machine mowing at 10 mph, but that is excessive. It also would be too big to put on my dad's trailer, but not mine. The 757 seems nice and has a 60" deck. I could potentially leave it at my dad's and get it when I need it, but that is a drive. I could also buy a 2072RFM for my tractor and forget doing it for 1800-2000. What does the group think of these prices; do we think it is worth it to consider? The reason I mention trading Dad's tractor is that he might wish to use the ZTR, and as he gets older I will either have to hire out or do his lawns for him more often, so I want something fast that does a good job.
John M