Advice on new mower

logfarmer · Aug 24, 2010

Hi All,
We are looking to buy a new or different mower for our property. We have about 3/4 acre of lawn that is somewhat smooth and maybe another 1 and 1/2 acre of field we are mowing as a lawn even though is is pretty rough with a lot of pocket gopher mounds and craters from the dogs digging after the gophers. We have a John Deere 214 garden tractor with a 47" deck and a Kubota BX22 with a 60" finish belly mower.
The Kubota and the John Deere do a fine job on the lawn that is smooth but when we get out to the rough part of the lawn it is especially hard on the Kubota since it is a 5 foot deck with the suspension points of the deck spaced 16" apart there is a lot of leverage on the five foot deck when you go over a bump or a hole. The JD is better on the rough stuff but does not cut very wide. So that is the lawn, and not too much of a problem.
The issue comes when we want to cut more of the fields we have around the houses. Our local Kubota dealer says that the biggest feild mower we can put behind the BX 22 is a 4 foot which we allready have with the JD 214 so getting a field mower for the BX 22 would not help anything.
My 92 year old Father in law wants to buy a bigger mower that is more comfortable which will cut more ground at a time than 4 ft. The JD 214 rides too rough for him so we have looked at some zero turn mowers which he likes but I understand they are not too comfortable and bounce a lot.
We also have about another 10 or 20 acres of plain field we may want to mow just to keep the weeds down on this old homestead we bought
There is a brand new 2008 John Deere 997 with a 72" deck at a dealer here which they want about $13,500 for it looks like it will do the job but how comfortable would it be in a rough field.
Thought aboiut buying a bigger tractor and a wider bush hog but that would be way more than $13,500 so probably wont do that.
Thanks,
Martin

Jim Thompson · Aug 24, 2010

Ask for a test drive. You may be pleasantly surprised. He should willing to deal on a left over 2008 that's almost three years old. Bet he would take less than $13,500. Dealers usually will quote high initially so they can show more for your old mower if you decide to trade it. He can't eat it and it's approaching its third birthday - not good.

Jim

doall · Aug 25, 2010

I have a JD 737 and love it, but smooth it "aint". Try a Ferris if there is a dealer near by. Unreal how smooth they are especially with the suspension seat and the 4 wheel independent suspension. If I was in the market for a new one I would have to think hard about the Ferris. I do love my JD though. Just no where near smooth.

jcmseven · Aug 26, 2010

Aside from the field you mow it sounds rarely if at all, you really do not have enough grass to justify the 997, though I would tell you that would be my personal choice among what you mention. The diesel 997 JD ZTR is a pretty smooth mower just because it weighs so much. It also has a bit larger circumference tires which helps make it a bit more smooth also. The Ferris mowers I have heard ride very well. I do know that professional guys in this area steer away from them due to service issues but who knows whether that is a real concern or not, or whether such issues might have been corrected of late (if they were ever a real concern). I have a new 950 ZTR JD, which costs less than the 2008 997 you site, and it rides pretty smooth and mows really well. The newest gas powered JD ZTR's mow better than my previous 757 by a mile and do ride better--not perfect on the rough though. In the JD line, the line with which I am most familiar, also note that the gas powered X series machines are known for riding very smoothly and really are efficient mowing machines. They would easily handle your duties and would offer better rough world performance. They also are a standard tractor design which would enhance their potential flexibility to do other things. It would take you a while to mow 10-20 acres with one, but if this is a quarterly thing you do, being out there for six-eight hours may not be a big deal, and if the grass is heavy even a ZTR is not going to move that fast in that case.

John M

logfarmer · Aug 31, 2010

We went to look at the JD dealer in Spokane and test drove the 997 on their back lot which is about like our fields as far a rough goes, it was way too rough and bouncy. It was hard to even stay on the seat at a slow speed, so we looked at the X300R which is the one my Father in Law wants since it dumps from the seat. Then I got to looking on the internet about the X500 and X700 series it looks like they may be more suited to what he want to do. There are aftermarket bagging systems avalable for them for $900 or $1400 that can be dumped from the seat and you dont have to buy the x300R to get the dump from seat feature.
Martin