At Home In The Woods

[Obed]

We needed to replace a burned out can light bulb over the fireplace. 60W bulbs are much less expensive than lower wattage bulbs (45W, 30W, etc.). However, two 60W bulbs are too bright for the fireplace. In consequence, my wife decided to buy the cheaper 60W bulbs and replace the standard light switch with a dimmer switch.



Although I banned my wife from doing electrical work several years ago, I still find her attempting to wire something every so often. She hooked up the wires to the new dimmer switch but then found that there was not enough free room in the 3-gang box for the larger dimmer switch. Thus, I got to finish the job. I had to move around some of the wires in the box to free up space. My experience with wiring switches and outlets has been that hooking up the wires is the easy part. Getting all the wires to fit in the box is the hard part.

 

[Obed]

Obed...the commercial grade ones I have seen...new start at about $5K and go up to about $15K....I don't know about you but I mow my grass with a 20HP Murray Lawn tractor with a 48 inch deck I bought at HD on sale for $999.00 in about 2000...it runs and cuts fine after 12 yrs...I have replaced blades periodically and one belt, other than maintenance...oil, grease , filters etc..it has been great....Just Sayin' ....each to his own...

Bob,

A friend of mine has been drooling over a $12K zero turn mower. He has a 5 acre lawn to mow. I have to say that the appeal of some of the ztr mowers for me is their low-to-the-ground profile which gives them more stability on slopes. However, $12K for a mower would be overkill for my yard.

In fact, if I had any sense, I would follow my FIL's example and mow my grass with a non-self-propelled push mower to get some exercise. That philosophy has worked well for him; he's in his mid-70s and still plays basketball 3 times a week. It's funny how we will circle the parking lot in order to find a spot close to the grocery store, wait for elevators, mow the grass with a riding mower, ride the tractor to the mailbox, split firewood with a motorized log-splitter, and then pay for a gym membership.

Obed

 

[Tororider]

Zero turns are expensive new. As always check craigslist. I find the zero turns easier to work on than some of the smaller mowers precisely because they have a larger engine. Better yet, buy a commercial walk behind. Get the benefit of the exercise while not wasting time cutting grass. Easy to work on, and much cheaper, new less than $3k depending on model. I prefer models with the T bar handles, I have never liked pistol grips on walk behinds, they seem counter intuitive to me.

 

[Obed]

Outside: cold and wet
Inside: warm, dry, and happy!

 

[radioman]

gee obed -- are you sure you would be putting yourself at a risk with a belly mower on your slopes? having a mmm mounted gives you lower COG which is useful. adding liquid ballast also lowers the COG of tractor. I think its more of the operator then the machine being used for mowing on slopes -- no offense though.

 

[Diamondpilot]

So just how much will a commercial grade zero turn mower cost?
Obed

A entry level Ferris or Scag like we use is $6000 if you shop around.

Its a lot of money but in 10 years it will still be worth nearly that. My neighbor is a Commercial mower and has owned them all. The Ferris is hands down the best but Scag and Exxmark were good also.

They are like compact tractors and just seem to hold value.

Chris

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

A ZTR on damp slopes is not a good combination. Many threads about this.

 

[Obed]

Merry Christmas!

I hope everybody has a great day celebrating Christ's birth.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Merry Christmas to you and yours. I've probably said it before, and I'll say it again, but you've moved from a trailer to the Taj mahal. Beautiful Pic.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Merry Christmas to you. Thanks for sharing your project with us.

Chris