Buying Advice Am I nuts? Thinking of leaving ZTR for SCUT?

[xring100]

My personal advice yes your "Nuts" keep the zero turn, my experience with my cub rzt 52" is that it cuts my lawn almost twice as fast as my parents Ingersoll 48" i had to use it for a couple months will a new deck was on back order because the original design was garbage and broke within 3 months.
The zero turn is hands down the winner when it comes to mowing as it was purpose built for that task.

If money is the constraint keep borrowing your dads until you can afford your own. I would probably look at a b series over the BX
No offense to any BX or any scut owners of similar size but it just seems like a jack of all trades master of none. Limited loader capacity, no ground clearance, limited 3pt, low hydraulic flow, low power, low weight generally a minus when it comes to tractors. Sure they can work but I've moved 20 tons of crushed concrete with a larger john deere 2025? And it still took for ever.
There are a lot more people here who start really small then go a little bigger , and then go larger again. Very few down size unless their needs change but it does happen

My next door neighbor owns a B2400 he bought new for close to 15 years he mowed with a 60" Landpride RFM. He was out of town and i mowed his 5 acres of grass using my zero turn and cut 1.75 hours off his time. Since 2005 I've been telling him to buy a zero turn and he wouldn't regret it. Well in 2011 he finally listened and bought a hustler. His comment "Dave i should have listened to you years ago and bought a zero turn." He Kept his B2400 for other task.

Keep in mind these are my opinions and I gravitate towards the Tim Allen approach to my purchases.

 

[94BULLITT]

If you keep the ZTR definitely step up to a B series. Some people have said the B series is not a good mower.

 

[Will_C]

I have a ZTR and a B2620 with FEL, and I would not be without either. Mowed with a BX for 9 years and it did a great job, but there is no comparison to the flexibility my 2 machine line up gives me.

Will

 

[aczlan]

Ground clearance on the B series is much greater than the ground clearance on the BX series. B series will run a front snow better better than a BX, but not as good for use with a MMM.

I'll have to disagree. Both the 54 and 60" decks offered on the current B series lineup are suspended decks just like on the BX (see page 3 of http://www.kubota.com/product/B2320/pdf/b_series_spec.pdf ). You will have a little more weight with a B, but our B7500 and BX2660 are pretty close in mowing quality and neither really causes problems to the yard unless turning tightly when in 4wd or driving on soggy grass.
The B has a noticeable advantage in ground speed over the BX.

Aaron Z

 

[94BULLITT]

I'll have to disagree. Both the 54 and 60" decks offered on the current B series lineup are suspended decks just like on the BX (see page 3 of http://www.kubota.com/product/B2320/pdf/b_series_spec.pdf ). You will have a little more weight with a B, but our B7500 and BX2660 are pretty close in mowing quality and neither really causes problems to the yard unless turning tightly when in 4wd or driving on soggy grass.
The B has a noticeable advantage in ground speed over the BX.

Aaron Z

There have been a few complaints recently on the cut quality of the B series decks. One was KCender(IDK if I spelled that right). He had a BX before the B.

 

[coobie]

Hi everyone. I joined a few years back in hopes of finding whether I would be best suited to owning a ZTR or a SCUT. Many of you said I should go SCUT, but I found a good price on a ZTR, and bit the bullet. I own a little over 2 acres in a rural setting (have plenty of fruit trees and just started a garden this year), and have used my dad's JD 990 quite a bit since buying the place 4 years ago (the FEL alone was worth it's wait in gold). I hope to own my own land (more than 2 acres) some day, but for now, I like my setting. Anyways, the ZTR cuts my lawn quickly, and relatively well. It's a rough ride (I'm only 28, so I can handle it), but it's always blowing debris all over me. It's also not good for much else other than for mowing. I was starting to look at an ATV with a plow to help with the driveway in the winter, and I got to thinking that a tractor would help (it's not a huge driveway, but enough where even a FEL would be sufficient).

Anyways, I have a big Kubota dealer not far from me, and I'm considering going to look at a BX series now that they have 0% for 60 months.

Am I nuts?

I'm giving up mowing speed/convenience (mowing around the apply trees will be harder with a SCUT) for monthly payments and possibly more options on the table for around the house? My dad lives in tractor driving distance (they own 90 acres), so I DO have access to his, but it's a pain to borrow on spur of the moment, especially if he has it set up for mowing or plowing, FEL on or off, etc, and it's not what I need it setup for.

Should I do it? Or keep my money and wait?

I think you HIT the nail on head !! I have owned 3 ZTR,s while they have mowed around trees and did that in a timely fashion I bought a John deere X740 lawn tractor.The reason the ZTR,s are limited to mowing.The JD can do it all haul a cart,Mow,snow plow,and so forth.coobie

 

[chim]

When the L3200HST w/ 6' RFM replaced the B7500HST w/ 5' RFM I knew it cut the mowing time here but never timed it with the new setup. Until the new grass is ready to mow, we still only have the 2-1/4 original acres.

With the 5' RFM it took at least 1-1/4 hours. This is also true for the Ford and Cub that were used prior to having the first Kubota. Rounding things off that is at least 38 minutes per acre. The last time I mowed I managed to remember to check the time both before and after mowing. At my age, no small feat. It was 45 minutes on the dot. That's roughly 23 minutes per acre.

Can someone keep a straight face when they tell me a ZTR will run rings around the L3200? No, the L3200 won't turn in circles as small as the ZTR, but I've trimmed right to the solar driveway lights when I didn't feel like hopping off the tractor to pull them. A little mulch around trees and stationary objects eliminates most trimming. And as others have mentioned - a lot can be done with a tractor and a few implements.

 

[TSO]

Can someone keep a straight face when they tell me a ZTR will run rings around the L3200?

Mine would

 

[GManBart]

Can someone keep a straight face when they tell me a ZTR will run rings around the L3200? No, the L3200 won't turn in circles as small as the ZTR, but I've trimmed right to the solar driveway lights when I didn't feel like hopping off the tractor to pull them. A little mulch around trees and stationary objects eliminates most trimming. And as others have mentioned - a lot can be done with a tractor and a few implements.

The other thing is that you can get an RFM that's wider than most ZTRs, and for a lot less money. I use a ZTR around the perimeter of my house, inside one fenced area, and where I have lots of trees, but for the open areas, I blast through them with a 90" cut RFM behind my MF.

 

[MGH PA]

The nice thing about my yard is it's fairly rectangular. With the ZTR, I can zip down to one end, K-turn, and I'm back up the next row. With a BX/B and a MMM, I would not be able to turn as quickly. I would imagine that eats up a lot of time. I just think sometimes it would ride better. Who knows. It's not that I NEED to sell the ZTR, but I had never thought about keeping both. I was looking at Kubota's and New Holland's at the Bloom fair this weekend. They had a BX (can't remember the model) with the MMM and loader hydraulics for $11K and some change. It was nice, but I doubt like many of you had said, would be very ideal for larger work with a FEL.