Buying Advice Need Advice On How To & What To Mow This With

[Tractorable]

Dang man, can't believe you were mowing that place with a D160!

Personally, I'd be looking at something like a B series Kubota with turf tires and a rear finish mower. But since you're not on board with that idea, my second recommendation would be either a John Deere X590 with the K72 transmission or a lightly used X700 series garden tractor. You can get a 48" deck on the X590, not sure about the X700 series.

Husqvarna is building a garden tractor now with the K72 that costs significantly less than the Deere's. You might want to look into it.

 

[tcreeley]

Look at this site: Ventrac + hills 20-30 degrees.

Ventrac Slope Mowing

 

[DuckSlayer1017]

Look at this site: Ventrac + hills 20-30 degrees.

Ventrac Slope Mowing

I may be wrong but Ventrac doesn't have a dealer network for service. That may or may not be an issue for the op. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. Sweet machines thought.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

New member. First post. Hoping I'm in the right forum. If not, my apologies, let me know and I'll move thread.

Moved back to the family property in 2003 and built our dream home. Beautiful views, but that comes at a price. Hills!!! Almost the entire property is sloped. What I should have is a compact tractor. I don't need one though. I'm done with improvements for the most part and just really need a mower. plus, I don't like the cut quality of a full tractor and they are too big for a lot of what I mow.

Just after moving here, I bought a 2003 John Deere 145. That worked really well, but all I was mowing was the top of the property that is relatively flat. As soon as I was done with the house (2008), I started mowing the entire 2 acres. That's when my John Deere started breaking regularly. It's just too much work for a lawn tractor. In addition to breaking down, it's extremely difficult to mow in the winter. The wheels slip and it won't climb the hill. I can side-hill, but that adds a degree of danger I'm not comfortable with all the time. Especially in the winter.

After 7 years, the repairs to the tractor were more than it was worth, so I returned to John Deere, showed them what I was mowing and they were amazed that it lasted as long as it did. The tractors they were recommending were $10k plus. I wasn't willing to spend that to mow a field and I'm still not. I bought the newer, more powerful D160 thinking that the old one lasted 11 years and if all I have to do is invest a few thousand every 11 years, so be it.

D160 runs great, handles great and mows much better than my old 145. I solved the problem of slipping by adding some Terra Grip tire chains. Worked AWESOME. I was in heaven. About 2 months ago, I noticed that it was getting really slow climbing the hills and my first thought was the tranny is shot because of the Terra Grips. I removed them for summer mowing and it has gotten worse with every mow until it just stopped climbing all together. Pedal to the metal and it just sits there.

Took it to John Deere, they said it wasn't the tranny and charged me $580 to replace the belt and all the pulleys. Thought I had dodged a bullet. First mow .... same problem. Has to be the tranny. I've looked around and found that I can rebuild the K46 for a reasonable amount of money. Through this site, I found the upgrade kit. Rather than mess with it, what I'd prefer is to get something a bit more suitable for what I'm mowing.

There's a picture below of the biggest part. Not the toughest, but the largest hill I have to mow. It's pretty steep. I have the seat switch jumped so that I can lean when side hilling. In 14 years, I've never even come close to tipping, though, it is always a possibility. What I'd like is some recommendations and/or validation to some of the tractors I'm considering.

I know a Zero Turn won't work because of the hills, but I'm curious if the ZTR's with steering wheels will work???? Below are some of the tractor's I'm considering:

Z-FORCE SX 48 KW - CubCadet - Z-Force(R) SX 48 KW

PRO Z 148S EFI - CubCadet - PRO Z 148S EFI

TimeCutter SWX5050 - https://www.torodealer.com/en-US/Pages/ProductDetails.aspx?pid=TimeCutter-SWX5050-74798(Toro)

I've heard bad things about Cub Cadet reliability. The pro Z is at the very top of my price range. I just mow. I'm not spending $7k on just a mower. I've considered a standing model, but those can get expensive as well. Plus ... you can't hold a beer while mowing on a standing model.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

View attachment 512974

View attachment 512975

I have a way to save you the Bucks...... I'll trade you my flat dry 5 acres that you only have to cut 2x a year for your place !!

 

[dodge man]

Not sure why the CUT has scalping problems, mine doesn't. Sounds silly but I made my yard fit the 60" deck on my tractor.

I know John Deere and Kubota both make 4 wheel drive lawn mowers. That might fit the bill for you.

 

[MossRoad]

I may be wrong but Ventrac doesn't have a dealer network for service. That may or may not be an issue for the op. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. Sweet machines thought.

Ventrac has a large dealer network....

PowerTrac is factory direct, no dealers.

 

[mile9c1]

Sorry I know nothing about the zero turns but have you looked at the Kubota GR2020? It's pretty interesting with 4wd and "glide steer", and you should be able to find a new one around $7,000 with a 48" deck: http://www.kubota.com/product/GR20/GR20.aspx

Those look good to me, but if they can't handle the hills, I would look for an X700 Deere (or whatever the previous version was too). They are built like tanks and I think you'd like the all-wheel steering option.

 

[MetroHick]

I can't recommend a mower but I have to ask what kind of grass that is and if you water it. It's far nicer than my lawn.

It's not even grass. It's just weeds. Looks great in the pic, but if you get up close, not so much. That hillside is my leach field, so it grows year round. I do not and have never watered it. The pics are from spring.

 

[gdk22984]

Looks like you've kind of answered your own question. If Z-turn is a no go, SCUT is a no go, cheap lawn tractors won't cut it due to terrain, your only other option is a pro/commercial lawn tractor. Around 6-8K range unless you want to shop used.

 

[aczlan]

That should be mowable with either a commercial zero turn with good tires, a commercial walk behind with a ride on velky, or a front deck zero turn.
I am partial to eXmark, but most any commercial machine should do the trick.

Aaron Z