New Zero Turn

Gary Fowler · Aug 21, 2013

After a bit of internet searching for reviews, I bit the bullet this afternoon and bought a Ferris IS 700 with Kawasaki engine from my local New Holland dealer. Ended up negotiating a price of $6200 and got him to throw in a new set of replacement blades. I guess not much room for dealing as he only came off $300 from what I found as advertised pricing elsewhere.
My decision on the Ferris was due entirely to the suspension system that is a Ferris exclusive. It is the new model replacing the 1500 series according to websites I visited. What was weird is that the smaller deck (48") had a 27 HP B&S engine while the 52" model that I bought with the Kawasaki engine was listed as 23 HP. He would have sold me the 48" for $5000 cash. I hope the Kawasaki engine and 4" more deck is worth the $1200+10% tax which is our local sales tax.
Now I have to divest myself of my other 2 mowers, anyone want a slightly used 26HP Craftsman 6000 ZTS with 52" deck or a much older JD 332 diesel with 54" deck.
I did feel a little guilty about buying the third mower so I went on down to the Honda dealer and bought my wife a new 2013, 2 WD CR-V EX-L model for $500 over dealer cost(a bit over $27K). We looked at the Pilots but decided that the CR-V is the best size for us and it gets about 5 MPG more in fuel efficiency. We decided that the Honda was what we wanted due to there being 4 in the family (3 CRV's and one Pilot)and all with good quality. Don't have any idea at the present on what to do with her 2003 Olds Bravada AWD with only 99K miles on it.

I now have to move a lot of stuff around so I can park 3 vehicles, 2 golf carts, 3 lawnmowers and a Kubota RTV 900. I have a bit of room in my boat shed for the lawnmowers but the RTV is going to be a bit of a walk to get it. It is too tall to park under my patio with the golf carts but I have an idea I will work on to see how it come thru. This is going to really cramp my shop activities till I can get rid of some stuff.

Sysop · Aug 21, 2013

Tractor Supply has garage in a box units that are great for temporary housing of such hardware. Just a thought.

Gary Fowler · Aug 22, 2013

It may come to that, but I am hoping that I get some response off Craigslist when I have time to post the items and some lucky person will have some money to take things off my hands. I have a lot of stuff that I no longer use, some of it just used a few times, like the big garden cart that I bought with my ZTR and used twice then bought the Kubota RTV and never used the cart again. I am hoping that I can move some of the smaller stuff around in my shop (30x30) and make room for the wife's old car out there. I prefer to use my house garage to keep my RTV in because we use it multiple times per day and don't want to walk all the way to the shop each time to get it.

murphy1244 · Aug 22, 2013

Your going to love that Ferris, Simplicity has the same system

Gary Fowler · Aug 22, 2013

I am leaving in a few minutes to go pick it up. Salesman gave me the wrong book for the engine yesterday so I have to get one for the Kawasaki engine. Anyone have a general idea of how much more the Kawa engines cost than B&S? The 1200 bucks difference I paid included a 52" mower over the 48" with the B&S. I haven't had any issues with my B&S engine on my Craftsman mower but general opinion is that the Kawasaki engine is superior to any of the Briggs or Kohler engines at least on internet reviews. Anyone here have an opinion they would like to share with me? Did I waste my money on the Kawa?

Gary Fowler · Aug 22, 2013

murphy1244 said:
Your going to love that Ferris, Simplicity has the same system

I didn't know that. I thought only Ferris had a suspension system. I haven't looked for a Simplicity dealer around here but there must be one. My next door neighbor was expounding the quality of them a few months back and how simple the transmissions on the tractor type were.

DmansPadge · Aug 22, 2013

They are essentially the same mowers. Simplicity and Ferris are both made by their parent company, Briggs and Stratton, best I can remember.

KNOWITALL · Aug 22, 2013

I sell a couple different brands of high end ZT's....The Kawasaki is ALWAYS worth the money.

Gary Fowler · Aug 22, 2013

I got it home after lunch and it was so hot that I was soaked in sweat by the time I got it off the trailer. I decided to give it a going over while I waited for it to cool down a bit, greased the front wheels and swivels, oiled all the other joints, then put a new pump on my 15 gal. spray rig. Around 3 pm I couldn't wait anymore and decided that I needed to check it out, dang the heat. I was just going to mow a bit to set the deck height but ended up mowing the whole back yard which was the only thing that really needed cutting. Finished that in record time while hitting those lot spot bumps with ease rather than a back breaking jolt like on my Craftsman. The steering is rather stiff ( much harder to move than my Craftsman) but upon examination, I didn't see any friction clutch adjustment so I just sprayed it down with silicone spray which didn't help any at all. This mower goes much faster than my craftsman also. I then went over to my brother in laws place and cut a spot that he had not been able to cut with his mower for months because it was too wet. The 23 HP Kawasaki engine blazed thru that tall grass like it was 3" tall rather than 18". He had a ditch that hadn't been cut in a lot time and I was cutting across it as it seemed to be fairly dry. I finally baptized it in the mud when I made one crossing too many and I high centered the rear end as it spun down in mud. I didn't feel too bad about getting it stuck as I wasn't far from where my BIL stuck his NH when trying to bush hog across the same ditch. I walked home, watched a movie while I cooled off a lot and then took my tractor over and hooked a strap on the rear bumper guard and pulled it out. My BIL then took it for a spin and finished mowing the rest of the deep grass while I cleaned out the ditch so it would drain better and leveled a bunch of ruts from last time we were in there with tractors when it was too wet. Put .6 hours on it this afternoon. Cant wait for the grass to grow now.