Regarding suspended decks vs ground contact decks:
Simplicity lawn and garden tractors use decks that roll along on wide rollers, and I have one. I bought it used at a very very good price at an auction. It's a 50 inch deck. I just wanted a bargain GT to get started, I was not expecting anything special, even though the Simplicity guys all brag about the cut. Well, they were right. It is amazing. I have a kind of crappy yard, a typical country yard I suppose. Lots of minor imperfections. I have never scalped anything. When I'm done it looks as good as a 21 inch hand mower job. When I compare to similar size suspended decks, they leave more uneven cuts. I also have a compact tractor with a 60 inch King Kutter finish mower that is a ground contact unit. Again, I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the cut. It is excellent. So, I have to say I'm a big fan of ground running decks for quality of cut. Now for durability, that may be another issue altogether, depending on how rough the yard is.
I really don't know about that. The Simplicity guys assure me that their rollers will hold up to a lot of abuse. I assume a Kubota compact tractor ground running deck will hold up.
