Does anyone have "zero turn regret"?

[Dredwolf]

Lots of good info in this thread, good to hear the honest long term opinions on the equipment instead of nothing but "anything made by X is terrible..." stuff. I have gotten so much info, I am revisiting my top three choices again to try and make sure I spend my money well. For example, stopping by the local JD dealer, looks like Tuff Torque has some "residential heavy duty" hydros, and there are some stamped decks that are heavily reinforced. More to think about.

 

[warment]

Nice pics BukitCase! My opinion exactly. I should have bit the bullet and threw out $10k or so for a well built model. Oh well...my RZT54 is mowing well at the current moment and I have several other mowers/tractors to use if need be.

 

[warment]

BukitCase...I just noticed you had the same deck problem ad near the side discharge. My rightmost lower deck bar/connector broke as well. I installed a thick bar on the bottom like you did. The fix has worked well, but is **** close to the right most blade on mine.

 

[BukitCase]

If you're talking about the brace ACROSS the discharge opening, I radiused that with the plasma and circle guide, same as the latest bandaid - on the latest one I radiused first, then trimmed away anything that stuck back into the deck more than about an inch - Did this with the new piece MOUNTED on the deck (just 2 bolts during this, then unbolt, dress up, paint, bolt back on, transfer punch for the rest of the holes, off again, drill the rest of the holes, back on with new bolts/nylocks.

If you mean the short, offset area I just used some scrap, same criteria, and kept rotating the blades to check for clearance. Once that rolled lip gets worn through, bye-bye whatever stiffness the deck has

I may eventually re-radius the discharge brace, think it may be a bit too close to the blade - not for actually hitting, just for better lift... Steve

 

[warment]

Yep...the one near the discharge chute. My fix was not radiused. Your fix is much nicer than mine. I will NEVER buy another mower/tractor with a stamped deck. Fabricated for me from this point forward.

 

[Soldier415]

Funny this thread popped up. Been thinking I need to upgrade to a zero turn. Just started looking around and the amount of info out there is insane. I do have slopes on one section of the lawn, and havent heard good things about zero turns and slopes

 

[frugalangler]

I absolutely have no regrets about buying a ZTR mower! Well, maybe one, I didn't do it soon enough. We bought the first one (actually, our second), a Hustler Fastrack-Z, because the wife does most of the mowing and was struggling with steering the JD 260 series we had. She took to the ZTR quickly, and now I don't ever have to mow - I can do other chores that she can't.

I actually owned one before the Hustler, we inherited a broken down Dixon with the cone&disc transmission that I dissembled every part on it, replaced any thing worn like chains, sprockets, bolts, nuts, and basically refurbished it, it even got some fresh paint. That thing was a mowing monster for what it was, a 30" single spindle and it had a 13HP B&S L-head that wouldn't quit. Only reason we got rid of it was we upgraded to a larger 42" one, these live at our country property and the Hustler does the chores at our main residence. Yea, I know, you scoff at only a 30" or 42" deck, but when you are weaving in between 40 or more trees on less than an acre of mow-able grass, anything bigger is just a nuisance. Size does matter, actually RIGHT SIZE is what matters!

 

[BukitCase]

"I will NEVER buy another mower/tractor with a stamped deck. Fabricated for me from this point forward."

If I LIVE long enough, my deck may LOOK fabricated :laughing: Oh and thanks for the compliments, I was partly just lookin' for a reason to play with the plasma

Actually, the more I mess with the Cub deck the better grafting on my 60" Swisher fabbed deck looks...

soldier415, there are slopes and then there are SLOPES - some options, depending on which you have - if you MUST go side-hill, go slow (as in, CRAWL) - and only drive the DOWNHILL tire, the tendency to "crab" will take care of the upper one - I have one area that's approaching 45 degrees (NOT percent) that I mow that way - if I go too fast, I'll end up at the bottom of it by the end of the pass...

If you have level areas below, you can mow up/down - I have areas like that, zip down, slow down, turn around, power UP, do a quick 180 (it is a ZERO turn, after all) - repeat - it's actually kinda fun - hint - you may wanna lean FORWARD going up fairly steep hills; pretty much ALL ZTR's tend to be "butt-heavy"...

I read a few days ago that some switch to more aggressive rear tires and it helps on sidehill - no personal experience on THAT so far, but my rears ARE gettin' a bit "under-whelming", so maybe soon... Steve

 

[Gary Fowler]

My regret is that I wasted money on my first ZTR buying a residential box store brand. My entry level commercial grade Ferris is super fast, tough and has the 3400 Hydrogear transmission for long service life. It has about everything one needs in a zero turn- chain hung deck, foot lever to raise and lower (no electronics to wear out), Kawasaki engine that just sips fuel, heavy fabricated deck, large tires and as someone said they wanted a pivoting front axle with coil over shocks front and rear for a smooth ride.
The only con I have found is the way the anti-scalping wheels are attached with just one point and a bolt which is easily bent. I remedied that by adding a second attachment bracket to each wheel and putting in a thru bolt on the wheel. It is much stronger now and more like the heavy commercial units.

 

[BukitCase]

Just discovered this today; as soon as I can find a legit buyer for one of my kidneys, I'll dump the Cub for this -
Raptor(R) Flip-Up | Hustler Turf Zero-Turn Mowers - Residential
I'm not super fond of Kohler engines, but that thing sure addresses a bunch of OTHER things I could live with - check out the 2 videos... Steve