Buying Advice Diesel mower, 60" deck?

[DK35vince]

I admit, for those just mowing I often do recommend/push zero turns.
For one reason = speed.
My commercial zero turn mower (35 HP w/72" deck) will out mow my 35 HP tractor w/84" RFM. And not just by a little bit, by a lot.
The OP is mowing a 7 acre lawn (that's a lot of mowing) , personally I'd want at least a 72" deck.

 

[chim]

,

It痴 really nothing like politics or religion. It痴 pretty well agreed on that with limitations a ZT is the best mower there is. A 72 diesel ZT isn稚 cheap and its not versatile but it値l flat cut grass.

Yeaayass Brother. Tell it to the unclean masses

On a serious note, I enjoy using tractors. If I only mowed grass, maybe it would be different. Or maybe not. One BIL has a Ferris and another had a ZT. Drove both and neither appealed to me. Although it goes against something my Grandad told me - never pick a tool that is supposed to perform more than one function, I like the versatility of it.

The same tractor that pulls. A 90 inch RFM in Summer is wearing an 8 foot power angle snow plow on an SSQA plate for the next few months. The loader will pick a ton. HD brush forks, landscape rake and other implements are easy on and off.

It is not the slowest mower either. I was kind of rushing one evening and cut our 3-1/2 acres in under an hour.

 

[rademamj1]

about 3 years ago i went from a 345 deere lawn tractor with a 48" deck to a gravely pro-turn with a 60" deck. it easily cut my mowing time in half - probably really shaved a little more than half of it off, and i was mowing 4+ acres of lawn with a lot of it around trees and buildings. i was struggling to justify a $10k or worse commercial zero turn, and eventually i found a 5 year old with only 225 hours for $5k. after buying it, i realize it would have been worth the $10k to have done it years before when i think about how many hours of my life i wasted on a rider.

Same experience. I purchased a used commercial Gravely Proturn 460 for $4500, with the 35hp Kawaski engine, and I was mowing 4x faster than I previously mowed. It was incredible and completely changed my views of ZTR. I tried for many months to get a used Kubota Diesel ZD326 and always sold before I called, so i went with Gravely. These are mowing machines.

 

[coobie]

I have both JD X740 diesel and Kubota Diesel ZTR.If you want to mow fast ZTR hands down.If your ground is Bumpy go within Ferris ZTR with independent ride suspension ..

 

[dodge man]

If you are looking cheap, I’d look for a used BX Kubota or 1 series JD with no loader. They are common used and no loader seems to hurt the value.

 

[MCHam]

Thank you, everyone- this was my first time posting to this forum and am very impressed with the number of helpful and insightful posts. Seems like a great group of folks.

 

[RjCorazza]

I mow 6 acres of my own and 25-30 acres of customers lawns with (2) diesel zero turns. ZD1211 72" and a ZD326 60" are both great mowers, and they do ok on slopes up to 15-20 degrees with care. 20 degrees may be pushing it, especially with the stock turf tires I use.
With care the 72" does fine on undulating terrain, slopes, ditches, etc...
If you do go the ZT route be sure to read up on slope mowing, as there are some significant differences in operation.

 

[Xfaxman]

Thank you, everyone- this was my first time posting to this forum and am very impressed with the number of helpful and insightful posts. Seems like a great group of folks.

This is what I use because I need 4WD, a Toro 328D with the 72 inch recycler deck: