3 acreas mower

[Gary Fowler]

Maybe so. The back 2.5 acres is very rough. Can't mow at a higher speed unless you wear a kidney belt. Picked up a Ford 3000 & a 5ft bush hog to take care of the majority of it and will use the Kubota around the house.

I cant mow full tilt with my mower on much of my yard either. Where you gain is mowing around obstacles like trees, flower beds, shrubs etc. Of course 11MPH top cutting speed works too when you can use it which isn't often in my yard but even a little bit helps cut the time down.

 

[powerscol]

Do you have any equipment rental places around you. Most rotate their mowers out every season or so. You could rent several and try them out and buy at the end of the season. I have gotten some great deals on Agg implements that way and my rental place has compact tractors with belly mowers, PTO finish mowers for the same tractors, push mowers and zero turns - just to fit everyone's needs.

PS I used to mow my 3 acres with an old Sears 18 HP Garden Tractor, manual trans with belly mower with a 44" deck. I now have a Sears GT (made by Huskavarna) 24 hp 54" deck mower to do the same. The older mower did better, but the new sears may not be set up correctly.

Hope this helps

 

[RjCorazza]

Given that reliability is important, consider a commercial zero turn. I gave up with cheap mowers and got a Kubota diesel zero turn for my 6 acres. Problem free for the past 1400 hours. The diesel is pricey, but plenty of commercial options in gas mowers. I know it's easy to spend someone else's money, but really you can't beat the reliability of commercial equipment.

 

[chim]

Had 2-1/4 aces for 25 years and it took between 1-1/4 and 1-1/2 hours with 3 different 5 foot decks - one belly and 2 RFM's. A few years ago we added adjacent land and and now mow 3-1/2 acres. Went with a 6' RFM then. Takes about the same amount of time to do the whole thing with the 6 footer as it did to do the smaller area with 5 footers.

 

[RoyJackson]

Definitely a zero-turn mower! And, as others wrote, go for a commercial machine.
I have a Deere Z920 and I love it! Just remember to drop that ROPS when mowing under trees with low branches!
I'd love to have a diesel ZTR...just not in the plans right now.

 

[KYKub]

I was in a similar situation and never regretted getting an older (900 hours) Kubota G1900. Diesel, 4-wheel steering, 60" deck, power to spare and moves faster than I need. As a matter of fact, I picked up a second one and just sold it recently for $1,225. It was older and had seen a bit more wear, but it ran like a top and I'm sure the new owner will get years of service from it. Watch CL and you can pick up a nice G1900 or G1800 (same mower except 1900 has one more HP) for $2k or so. I basically paid what I would have for a higher end box store model and bought a used really nice machine that will outlast any big box store model.

Good luck.

 

[man00]

I use a Badboy Oulaw and a Kubota T1670 that I paid around $600 for couple year ago. The Kubota mows great just no match for the badboy

 

[2ndhalf]

I was in a similar situation and never regretted getting an older (900 hours) Kubota G1900. Diesel, 4-wheel steering, 60" deck, power to spare and moves faster than I need. As a matter of fact, I picked up a second one and just sold it recently for $1,225. It was older and had seen a bit more wear, but it ran like a top and I'm sure the new owner will get years of service from it. Watch CL and you can pick up a nice G1900 or G1800 (same mower except 1900 has one more HP) for $2k or so. I basically paid what I would have for a higher end box store model and bought a used really nice machine that will outlast any big box store model.

Good luck.

I too had a Kubota G1900, paid about 2k for it. I liked it a lot. I think they are the best kept secret among garden tractor values. 3.5 acres would take a while with a GT but it is a diesel motor you could but 5,000 hours on and it would handle it fine for years, as you say.

 

[buickanddeere]

We do that much with an old thrashed JD LX188.
If purchasing a new Deere, go with the X310 or higher as the transmission is much beefier than the economy tractors below it.
No matter what the brand. A lawn tractor with a light weight, low cost K46 transaxle in best avoided.

 

[2ndhalf]

We do that much with an old thrashed JD LX188.
If purchasing a new Deere, go with the X310 or higher as the transmission is much beefier than the economy tractors below it.
No matter what the brand. A lawn tractor with a light weight, low cost K46 transaxle in best avoided.

We mowed about 2.3 acres with a JD 170 38" 14hp kawasaki for 9 years. I estimated about 1000 hours on it with no issues. It still ran great when I sold it for $600 (had a little slop in the steering but ran great, no issues). You can mow larger yards on a GT, it will just take longer. I agree larger framed and better transmission is much better on large yards.