Country Clipper thoughts?

[EddieWalker]

My Craftsman riding mower has busted a rear axle and Sears has it listed as a discontinued item on their website. I've had it ten years, and it was used when I bought it, so I got my money out of it, but I don't think it's worth putting, or trying to put a new rear end into it. It has all wheel steering, wich makes it more complicated.

I'm thinking about a new mower and something that's fairly decent. I only mow my front yard, which is small, and my fencelines, which is fairly long and growing. The longer I live here, the more mowing I'll have to do with it, but for now, it will only get a few hours a month usage.

The majority of my mowing is done with my finish mower on my tractor, so this is mostly for edges and small areas.

I've read allot of these posts and thought Toro would be a good fit. They have a good name, good dealer support and I didn't find any issues in my searches. My local Toro dealer is also somebody I've had good experiences with my chain saws, so that's a plus too.

The dealer listened to what I was wanting to do and then recomended the Country Clipper with a 42 inch cut for $4,095.

zero-turn mowers from Country Clipper

I've never heard of it and spent some time looking through old threads and surfing online to find out anything that came up. No negatives that I saw, which is always suprising. I really like how it's designed. Everything is real easy to get to and all the moving parts have grease fittings. No sealed bearings!!! It's all steel and appears to be rather heavy duty for a non commercial rated mower.

Any thoughts, suggestions or pointers?

If I spend the money, I'd rather not go through the box stores. Parts and support are important to me and play a big factor in what I'll buy. Sears is just too flakey to mess around with anymore.

Thank you,
Eddie

 

[Gravdigr]

We have a country clipper JaZee pro we use in the cemetery. For residential use they should be fine. We beat the wee outta that thing in the cemetery and it seems to be holding up alright, no worse than any other mower. I really like the joystick control though it is a bit twitchy and takes some getting used to. I also really, really like the way the deck folds up for cleaning and sharpening blades.

My problem is for their commercial mowers they jump from the low end $5,700 jazee pro which is really not enough for what we do to the $8,000 boss which is out of our price range. My next mower in the very near future will be JD 445z with 54" deck and mulch kit I can take it home for $4,800. It looks to be better built than the Jazee models and it uses a separate hydraulic pump and motors for drive rather than the integrated hydrostatic drives. For the $$ it seems to be an all around better machine.

 

[EddieWalker]

Is this the one you are talking about?

John Deere products for homeowners: Features for EZtrak Z445, 48-inch Edge™ Deck

It looks like it has a stamped deck and sealed bearings. I like the idea of being able to grease everything. I like the Kawasaki engine. That would be better then a B&S I'd think.

They list it as a Residential mower. From what I understand, there is Residential, Estate and Commercial grade mowers. I don't need Commercial grade, but would like to be better the Residential due to the amount of land that I have and how some of it is rougher then what most homeowners have to deal with.

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[myyaz33]

You might check to see if you have a good Hustler dealer close. The Fastrak line would compare to the JaZee. 2 years back when I was doing the research for a machine in the 4k price range I looked at both and had decided on the Hustler when an amazing deal on a used Toro Proline came along.

 

[wushaw]

I like that fold up deck feature, my Grasshopper and Hustler does not have that option and in spring when mowing thick bladed stuff it sticks to the deck like crazy, I hate scraping the deck laying on my back in the dirt

 

[EddieWalker]

I've been looking at the classifieds and have seen some commercial mowers for sale less then the Country Clipper. Hustler, Exmark and Grasshopper that have all cought my eye. Hours, abuse and future breakdowns are keeping me from doing anything right away. I'm a little gunshy on buying used, but still might. There is also a Diesel JD 455 ridealong on ebay that kind of has my interest. It's a new item, so the price is pretty low right now. I'm watching it to see where it's heading and if I want to buy it.

In the meantime, I'm mowing my front yard with my old 19 inch electric Torro push mower that I bought in 1995 for my first house with a very small yard. That thing still works great, it's just so darn small!!!!

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[billbill1]

Eddie, I have (I don't use it anymore) a tow behind that has it's own engine. The one I have is 8hp and 44" cut. I towed it behind a Huskey 54" rider and it gave me an 8' cut. The mowers offset or pull straight behind, and can be used on a 4 wheel ATV. They work pretty good and don't cost an arm and a leg-even new. I think mine was $800 several years ago, they sell a 60" model too that I think is $1200. Those prices might be low now but that is what they were a year or 2 ago. Northern Tool, TSC, and Orschliens sell them.

 

[EddieWalker]

Thanks for the idea of a tow behind, but the mower is really for getting into areas that I can't get to with my finish mower on my tractor. My front yard is only 50x50 ft, and my fence line is currently just over 1,000 feet that I mow both sides, the weed eat. I can't get very close to the fence with my tractor for fear of taking out the fence, so I use the ride along.

In time, I'll have allot of other things to mow around, including allot more fence. I wont add anymore to my goals, but thousands of feet of fencing is on my long term list. Then there are the gazebos I want to build as well as future buildings and the list goes on...

I'm going to go look at a few mowers and even another full sized tractor today that I really cant afford, but not buying this tractor might be a bigger mistake then just being broke. We'll see.

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[wushaw]

Something you may want to consider while you are looking since you are mowing so much fence line is the amt. the deck sticks out beyond the tire, the more that hangs out the more it can go under a fence and the less string trimming you have to do.

 

[EddieWalker]

Good point. I'm not sure if those Zero Turn mowers do this or not. My craftsman mower stuck out a fair amount, but more would sure be better.

I mowed about half my front yard yesterday with my electric mower that has always been old reliable. It died on me. Went from running full speed with lots of power to quater speed with nothing, and then totally dead.

I have another craftsman push mower with a gas engine that's been sitting for about five years and I tried to get it started yesterday. I took off the tank, fuel lines and carberator, cleaned them all out and put in fresh fuel. No luck, it will start with starting fluid, but then die again. There's not much to adjust on those carborators, so it must be a seal that's out.

I might just end up backing the finish mower over my yard read slow and easy and see if that will get it done.

I looked at a Hustler mower yesterday that was used and under $2,000 that I didn't care for. It was in fair shape, but it really didn't compare to the Country Clipper that I looke at for brand new and twice as much money.

Eddie

 

[TBDonnelly]

A quick search found this fence line mower. This looks like a deluxe model ($$$), maybe there's other options out there.

Butler Enterprises Specialty Mowers and Agricultural Equipment -- Mow-Around

Don

 

[TBDonnelly]

Another fence line mower...

My fence line mower Fencerunner mows under Fences

Don

 

[TBDonnelly]

One more to look at.....

The Fence Mower: Fence Mowing Made Easy!

Don

 

[milkman]

Saw the BadBoy mower w/60" deck for $4995, at TSC even had one at another TSC marked down to $4495, don't know anything about them, but had a welded deck and B&S engine. Good looking mower for that kind of money.

 

[wushaw]

There are several different Hustler models. Mine is just the 36" that does some small stuff and my roadside ditch, It is a consumer model and will last many years for the amt of mowing I do with it.
I drove a 54" mini Z a friend of mine has and it was simular to my 61" Grasshopper whereas you can feel the quality of a commercial grade mower.

Keep looking Eddie you will find something you like.

 

[JL Sargent]

I have a 48" zero radius joystick controlled Country Clipper mower. It has a Kohler motor. It has been a rock solid performer for us. We have about 200 hrs on the mower I think. Seems very well built with plenty of grease fittings throughout. This one has belts for the hydraulic wheel motors and shaft drive to the deck.

I did have some trouble with the factory fuse holders/fuses. No big deal, I just swapped em out. The disc brake linkage(s) seem to work loose over time so keep an eye on that. Other than those two things, we just change the oil every spring, grease all the fittings, clean the air filter, and mow.

 

[DixieRambler]

I would like to pass on to you my experience with CountryClipper. I purchased a Jazzee II about four years ago. The first time I used it (cutting 3 acres of centipede grass, flat, no rocks) the deck belt came off. I was able to put it back on, however, about the fourth time I used it the belt slung and was chewed up. I had to replace it at $60.00. The following summer, I was able to cut grass several times without the deck belt coming off. But as luck would have it, this was short lived. The belt came off and could not be reused. I took the mower back to my dealer in an effort to get this problem fixed. They called after three days and said it was fixed and ready to pickup. I picked it up, used it two times before the belt came off again. I called to take the mower back to the dealer only to discover they were no longer dealers for CountryClipper. Now I have a $5400 mower, one dealer located two hours from my home, and no place to buy parts! I am unable to use it at this time.

I contacted CountryClipper via email. One week later, a representative from their company called me. He informed me that I was not a registered owner in their database. He said the dealer was supposed to register the mower in my name and evidently it was never done. He also indicated that CountryClipper did have a problem with the pulleys that originally came on the mower. This was why the deck belts would not stay on. He also told me they now have a kit that replaces the old pulleys with a different type. This supposedly corrects the problem. He indicated they might not be able to give me the kit. I told him I would buy the kit. It would be cheaper in the end for me since I would not have to buy 3 to 4 belts per cutting season. The gentleman with CountryClipper told me he would look into the matter and call me back. I never heard back from him. A week later I called him back. He did not remember even talking to me! I refreshed his memory about our conversation and he told me he was sending the kit out to me the following day. He took my mailing address and other info. I finally felt some relief. In a few days I was going to be able to get my $5400 mower working like it was supposed to. Additionally, I felt finally here is a company that will stand behind their product and fix this situation. If my dealer had done what they were required to do, I would already have the kit installed on my mower.

So my advice to you, make sure you buy it from a reputable dealer. The guy I bought mine from had been in business in my community for many years. There was no reason to believe he was anything else!

Lastly, it has been two weeks today since CountryClipper's representative told me he was sending me the kit. I have yet to see it or hear from them. I guess the guy forgot he talked to me again!

Sorry for the long post,

Jim

 

[EddieWalker]

Thank you everyone for your advice. I've been looking at other brands and I'm not as interested in Country Clipper as I was when I first started this thread. In comparison, some things on it are more residential then what I want for maintaining my land.

Eddie

 

[bdeboer]

A couple of thoughts:

Along the lines of having the deck offset for fence rows. I have a around 800feet of fence row and pine trees that get mowed with an old front mount lesco zero turn rider. It is nice to be able run under the pines and fence in spots with the deck (beats weed wacking). I am not sure if a midmount zero turn would be as useful for the fence mowing and under tree mowing.

Have you thought about a commercial walk behind. Something like this:

Better commercial lawn mower lawn tractor zero turn riding lawn mower.

I've run an old John Deere 48" it is more like work than a ride on but the prices aboutn 1/2.

 

[hobie]

Eddie, What did you get? Curious because I got a CC Jazee 1 in JUne.