Buying a used Grasshopper 930D

[Dadnatron]

I知 looking at getting a farm mower for fence, trees, etc. basically everything that I can稚 get well/easily with either my 15 Woods batwing or 7 articulating flail. This is for an 85ac horsefarm with lots of big trees which drop deadwood every rain.

I demoed a Ferris 3200Z this weekend, and it did a pretty good job, but the roughness of the work did press its design limits. I hit a few hidden sticks and didn稚 like the chewing sounds coming from the deck. It ate them up, but I recognized this is NOT intended design. And I don稚 think I壇 be happy with the overall roughness I壇 be consistently putting it through.

I have a rear articulating flail for ditchbanks etc, and it eats the sticks up without the cringe factor. I know it痴 different behind a 100hp tractor, but still, I think given that my needs are primarily rough cut, I think a flail would be better and more agile for my needs.

Secondly, I壇 like to fab/purchase a good fence row mower and I can use the power of GH PTO to run it I believe. There is no option for a midmount.

Given the above, I want the most powerful front mount I can get. But new 930Ds begin around $23k. I致e found a used one for half that with 600hrs. But I really know nothing about them therefore I don稚 know how good of an idea purchasing used would be.

Actually... I just don稚 know what to be looking for with one and what things typically go bad and how to evaluate for them.

Any pointers on how to avoid a lemon would be appreciated.

 

[Dadnatron]

Bump...

I think these screwy text changes occur when people post via mobile. every ',",! etc gets garbled.

But I'm still interested in thoughts about purchasing a used mower, good vs too many hours, what to look for, etc.

 

[Birdhunter1]

I have a 2005 Grasshopper 723 with a 52" deck. The tractor unit is in good shape, aside from two pillow block bearings underneath for the pto shaft and two more belts there isn't much more to maintain than a midmount zero turn. The front deck has a gearbox, a belt and a set of deck casters that a midmount does not have, those front casters and the associated linkage is another set of bushings, bearings, wheels and headaches. The 930 probably has a 96 series deck which is a heavier deck than the 34 series I have on mine, with that I think you get bigger diameter deck caster wheels out front, which is a good things because I think they will handle the uneven terrain, ditches and bumps you will find.
I think the 34 series deck wheels could be taller and wider.

I'm not saying the Grasshopper mowers are a maintenance headache but I am saying there are parts that midmounts don't have or have as many of and Grasshopper tends to have sizes of things that no other manufacturer uses. For example the deck caster wheels, I can find them the same diameter and width but a different bore size, or the correct bore size but not the diameter or width I need which leaves you going back to Grasshopper, on the other hand things are not too hard to work on on these machines.

I've had mine since 2011 and have put about 400 hours on it, I also mounted a 15 gallon sprayer on the rear of it and piped up to the seat to a handheld wand.... my overall time spent spraying and weed eating has dropped dramatically, I really like this setup for mowing along my horse fences and spraying the small strip under the fence I cannot mow.

 

[Dadnatron]

How many hours did your's have when you purchased it? Do you know what sort of hours these machines typically are good for, with regular, real world, maintenance?

 

[Birdhunter1]

Mine had 300 something hours when I got it, it hasn't been a bad mower to keep going and isn't a nightmare to work on just realize there are extra parts that midmount mowers do not have. I've seen them as fleet mowers with a few thousand hours on them and still trucking. The hydros in them and the engines run as long as they would on any other mower.
On a farm a Grasshopper is hard to beat, you will always have something you will need to mow under the edge of.. a fence, a trailer, a swingset, whatever piece of equipment you haven't moved in 6 months and they do ride fairly well over rough ground.