Comparing 3 Zero Turn Mowers

[dan daly]

So after a few days of researching online, I got out today and drove around to several places to actually see, touch, and ride some zero turn mowers and ask some questions about them. At the end of my day I have 3 candidates:

1) Ariens Max Zoom w/ 60 in deck. I can get this at home depot for $4500 (they want $5000, and I can use a 10% discount). It's a 10ga deck. 26 HP Kawasaki engine. ZT-3100 transmission, 20 in rear wheels, 10 in front ones.

2) Bad Boy ZT w/ 60 in deck. $5000 at Tractor Supply Warehouse, although feeling out the employee who talked to me, I may be able to haggle with the manager to get a sale done. 7ga deck. 27 Kohler engine. 20 in rear wheels, 13in front ones.

3) Toro Titan MX. Tractor dealership not too far away has the 48in version at $6k and the 54in one at $6.4k. That his asking price. Not sure how much he'd be willing to move. 48 in deck has a 22hp Kawasaki engine/ 24hp Kawasaki for the 54 in model. Better suspension. Bigger wheels- 22 inches in rear, 12 in front. 10 gauge decks.

I stopped to see the mowers in the order I listed them. At home depot the Ariens made all of the other mowers there look like toys. Then I got to tractor supply and the Bad Boy was much more substantial then the Ariens was. Then I got to the tractor dealer and the Toro's were more impressive yet. I've read a fair number of negative comments on the Kohler engine which seems to be the biggest strike against the Bad Boy. I'm looking to mow 8-14 acres, with slopes, and uneven ground. Gentleman at the tractor dealership said the MX titan's are the minimum I should consider, because that workload will destroy a residential machine pretty quickly. He was pretty persuasive and everything he told me jived with what I had already read on my own online, so I think I'll go with the MX5480 Toro. It's more money then I really want to spend right now, but I also need something that will work and realize buying something that won't just because it's cheaper isn't going to save me any money in the long run.

Just wanted to type this out to work through my thought process. If you think I've overlooked something I should be considering please let me know.

 

[trailbuilder]

I am interested to see the replies, I am replacing a Dixon and wanting to go to a 54 inch. We mow 5 -7 acres with slopes and in the fall we mow another 20 acres after the Bueler 60 inch finish mower behind the JD 3210 gets done. I have been the most impressed with the JD 900 series, the 920.

 

[dan daly]

Trailbuilder- is the JD920 a zero turn mower? When I look at the John Deere sight everything I find that's a zero turn is a Z---

The only John Deere mowers I looked at were at Lowes, so it was their very low end stuff and I didn't consider it. I know they make nicer ones, but I'm hesitant to buy JD simply because I know I'm paying a premium for the name.

 

[georgia jeff]

with that much land to mow I would go with the largest deck I could afford.

 

[JDL538]

I would look at ex mark before you buy they are very good tractors and very little problems. One thing about zero turns if you have never used one they are very dangerous going down hills more so if wet.
I cut about 5 ac. the only thing I don't like is they can bounce some, you can cut so fast that I want to just get it done, I guess I should just go a little slower.

 

[NOTV8]

I have a Badboy Lightning 60" (27HP Kawasaki Liquid Cool) and very happy with it. This will be the third year I have it. I used it a lot even pulling the 6'x4' garden trailer with logs in it. I looked and tried some commercial mowers and ended up buying the Badboy after trying it. The only suggestion I can recommend is to try the ZTR whichever you decide to buy. Good luck on your purchase.

 

[Illini22]

Go to lawnsite.com, there under commercial lawn mowing you can read unlimited threads on the difference between the home depot/tractor supply etc models and the commercial mowers. I go there when I need to read up on different products. As far as deck thickness, ask how they got that figure? I'm not saying their lying but when you look at a commercial 7 gauge you'll see the difference.
I have a 2000 48" wright stander commercial mower. It is an absolute beast! The best thing about it is very simple and easy to work on. Nothing is buried. Very few moving parts, fixed deck. To change the cutting height you move the washers above or below the from caster wheels. Since you stand on it, you can see over/around the deck to get very close to things. It is awesome on hills, holds it's line very good. Another thing is you can jump right off the mower if you get on to big of an incline, try doing that on a sit down or tractor. I bought it used, but with a new 23.hp Kawasaki motor on it for $1700.00. I got a rear spare tire and rim, 2 front casters, filters and many other things from the person I bought it from. Oh, and the grass gobbler too ( a metal screened bagger). I would by another one of these mowers in a second! My parents have a 54" xmark. It's a great machine but, there's alot more things to maintain on it. It's a pain to keep clean compared to the wright stander. Way more adjustments because the deck. A whole lot of moving(wear).parts on it.

 

[dex3361]

The thing I noticed when looking at ZTR mowers is that most of the homeowner series units had the unitized hydraulic pump and motor. The commercial mowers had separate hydraulic pumps and wheel motors. The unitized unit on the BAD Boy at Tractor Supply had the same Unitized hydraulic pump and motor as most of the others. You can spot the unitized units they are aluminum and are made by Hydrogear. The may be OK but all of this type didn't have a very wide rear wheel spacing and wider rear wheel spacing seems to be what is need for a ZTR to handle slopes. Just my observations.

 

[aczlan]

IMO, a used (sub 1000 hour) Exmark, Skag, Wright or other COMMERCIAL zeroturn with a 60-72" deck will probbaly outlast most of the residential units and need less maintainance.
I would avoid Huskvarna zeroturns if possible because (in my experience) they aren't as good as Exmark ones.
Look for a welded deck (not formed), separate pumps and wheelmotors, a liquid cooled engine (if possible, they are quieter and will last longer) and a good local dealer.

Aaron Z

 

[dan daly]

From what I've seen even used commercial mowers are out of my price range, which pretty much maxes out at $6500 (well it was less, but it appears that;s what I need to spend to get the minimum of what I need.)

I looked at ex-mark's zero turns on their website. The quest and pioneer models appear to have less to offer than the Toro Titan MX. The Lazer-Z S-series has some better features, but the price jump from the Titan MX, $6500 up to $10,000, is a bit more than I can handle.

 

[om21braz]

IMO, a used (sub 1000 hour) Exmark, Skag, Wright or other COMMERCIAL zeroturn with a 60-72" deck will probbaly outlast most of the residential units and need less maintainance.
I would avoid Huskvarna zeroturns if possible because (in my experience) they aren't as good as Exmark ones.
Look for a welded deck (not formed), separate pumps and wheelmotors, a liquid cooled engine (if possible, they are quieter and will last longer) and a good local dealer.

Aaron Z

+1 Unless you are not prepared to buy from an individual, there are many "bargains" on the used commercial ztr market today. A good used commercial ztr will outlast and require fewer repair dollars than a couple of the lower end units.

 

[MoKelly]

I think your thought process is very good and you are on the right track. There are as many opinions on the best machine as there are machines.

One thing I look for is how easy/simple the periodic maintenance is on the machine ... oil/filter changes, hydro changes, belts replacement, blade access for sharpening ... etc. Easy to access areas make sthe maintenance so much more fun and enjoyable.

Also, a dealer is more useful if you ever have issues. Home Depot will not be much help in this regard.

Good luck.

MoKelly

 

[Brokermike]

after much research I just bought a Toro Titan ZX4820. You might check out the ZX line, same welded deck upgraded hydro units (but not the 3100s in the MX) and no rubber seat suspension. However, 1k less and a great warranty

 

[probolpher]

I am going through the exact same process this week. I started out trying to get a mower that will mow my lawn. I just bought a Kubota B2920 with belly mower and backhoe.

The problem is that I have lots of backhoeing to do and do not want to keep taking the backhoe off to mow the lawn. So I decided to start looking at cheap zero turns to mow the 2 acre lawn and use the tractor to backhoe. When I am done with the backhoeing, I will mow the remaining 10 acres with the tractor. However, after the Toro guy told me how crappy the low end zero turns are he now has me convinced to spend up into the 4-5k range because I can see myself using it more than just mowing the lawn. In addition, I want my 9 year old to help me mow this year and he is too little to use the tractor on the many hills that we have. Our lawn with many shrubs would be perfect for a zero turn.

After reading a bunch of posts, now it looks like most of the stuff is junk unless you end up getting into the 6500 range which is more than I want to spend considering I just spent 27K on a tractor in February. Plus I'm pretty sure my wife will think I am insane.

 

[dan daly]

I went price shopping for the MX5480 today. Ended up getting an agreement form a dealer to sell for $5740 which is about $600 less than MSRP. Of course, I also need the bagging system, the finishing deck kit (required for the bag), weights (required for the hills I'll be doing and recommended for use with the bag anyway), and bumper (required for the weights). All those accessories add up to $800. So that puts me back around $6500 for the whole kit and kaboodle. I've got some stuff to do early in the morning, if I get things done in a timely manner, I'll be able to get over to the dealer and close the deal. If not tomorrow, then Monday, but hopefully tomorrow.

 

[EastTexFrank]

I'm also looking for a zero turn at the moment. We've got a Kubota ZD326 at the farm and I'll probably get another for around the house but today I stopped in by a Country Clipper dealer and took a test drive on the Jazee Pro with 60" deck. It had a Kohler 27 hp Courage Pro engine although it also comes with 22 hp Kawasaki. The thing that I liked about it was that it didn't come with 2 handles, it came with joystick steering on the right hand side. I found that joystick pretty easy to handle and it left your other hand free to fend off low branches, hold your cold drink and the like. It was pretty novel and I was quite impressed with it.

The asking price was $6500 but when we had finished talking he'd come down to $6000. As I said, I'll probably still go with a diesel but if I was in the market for a gas ZTR, the Jazee Pro would be on my list.

 

[Gary Fowler]

My friend has been looking at Dixie Chopper, Bad Boy and now Gravely. He liked the Dixie Chopper but not the price. Now he says that the Gravely seems to have all the wanted features at a much lower price. Check those out before you buy. I dont have any recommendation on any particular brand, just an observation.

 

[om21braz]

My friend has been looking at Dixie Chopper, Bad Boy and now Gravely. He liked the Dixie Chopper but not the price. Now he says that the Gravely seems to have all the wanted features at a much lower price. Check those out before you buy. I dont have any recommendation on any particular brand, just an observation.

IMHO the Gravely looks to be the better engineered and finished machine.

 

[Gizmo2]

I would look at ex mark before you buy they are very good tractors and very little problems. One thing about zero turns if you have never used one they are very dangerous going down hills more so if wet.
I cut about 5 ac. the only thing I don't like is they can bounce some, you can cut so fast that I want to just get it done, I guess I should just go a little slower.

I don't know about dangerous but you will definitely have an experience you won't forget. We mow about 6 acres and some of which is very hilly, change the tires. See post #4 http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/general-lawn-garden/206133-better-tires-zero-turn.html

 

[Redneck in training]

Not all ZTRs are created equal. We have Grasshopper with front mounted 62" deck. It is very stable on any hill you can walk on. We move dam of our pond that is about 40 - 45 deg steep. I can go only downhill because of lack of traction going up. I usually mow diagonally to have less number of runarounds.
We bought it used for $7000 in 2004. We mow about 8 ac and put about 250 hours on the mower per year. The machine itself was quite reliable except the Kohler engine. I had to change the generator that was badly corroded, one valve seat got lose and required head repair, it had oil leak requiring to reseal the engine halves and the last engine issue was faulty ignition module. I also replaced the electric clutch few years back. All repairs together cost about $1000 over past 7 years. The mower has about 2000 hours now.