New Zero Turn

GManBart · Aug 23, 2013

I can store that RTV for you!

Gary Fowler · Aug 23, 2013

The RTV is one of the most used things I have. Now the wife says she is going to continue to drive her Oldsmobile Bravada (at least for a while). She will be heading to Houston Monday for the funeral so I will take this opportunity to rearrange my shop to keep her old SUV in it. I think I can get it in and still have room for my work table at the end if not, I guess it will be a short walk to the shop each time we want to use the RTV.

Gary Fowler · Aug 23, 2013

Midniteoyl said:
SM was issued in 2004 and is the latest. It reduced the amount of ZDDP. 'S' does not mean 'synthetic', though synthetic would be ok to use. The Mobil 1 is an excellent choice.

I didn't see any reference in the book to synthetic but the dealer mechanic said to only use synthetic oil other . I use Rotella T6 in all my other stuff including my truck.

Gary Fowler · Aug 23, 2013

DmansPadge said:
The Mobil 1 is a great choice. The S classification is for 'spark' or 'service' meaning a gasoline engine. The C is for 'compression' or 'commercial' meaning diesel. Some oils cover both classes. The M is just the latest class and will cover previous letters. I personally would change the filter too at the 8 hour mark. Enjoy your new ride!

I did buy a spare when I picked up the mower ($8.75) I think I have to find an exchange from what NH sells. It looks like the one on my Craftsman B&S engine for about $4.

lilranch2001 · Aug 23, 2013

I have had my 25 hp Kaw in my eXmark for 11 years, 700 hours, (I know not many) but all I do is change the oil every year and on the 3rd set of plugs.
Runs great, and starts every time

hawkeye08 · Aug 23, 2013

Went to the website, had a look, closest dealer is ~215miles.. nice units it seems, give us an update after you use it some more..

Gary Fowler · Aug 23, 2013

For the .6 hours I used it, I put it thru the worst I had. My back yard has a steep hill that my JD 332 wont climb at all and I had to put bar lug tires on my Craftsman to climb it. The Ferris went right up without a problem. Mowing on a slanted hill running parallel to the hill , it tracked straight, where the Craftsman sometimes wouldn't hold even with full reverse on one handle and full forward on the other, 3 months growth of grass, went thru without a clog or slow down with plenty of power to spare.
As for the suspension system, it compares to riding a old mule drawn buckboard with my Craftsman and a Rolls Royce with the Ferris. The suspension system smoothed all but the deepest pothole down to barely felt and even the deep holes weren't the back bone jarring like on my Craftsman or even the JD 332. Any mower without a suspension is missing the boat for rider comfort. I looked at some$12,000 machines that still had no rider comfort added not even a suspension seat. I wont ever own anything else with a ridged suspension.

murphy1244 · Aug 23, 2013

Gary, You now own the Best Zero turn made. Bar none. Mobil 1 is the oil to use.

hawkeye08 · Aug 23, 2013

Gary Fowler said:
For the .6 hours I used it, I put it thru the worst I had. My back yard has a steep hill that my JD 332 wont climb at all and I had to put bar lug tires on my Craftsman to climb it. The Ferris went right up without a problem. Mowing on a slanted hill running parallel to the hill , it tracked straight, where the Craftsman sometimes wouldn't hold even with full reverse on one handle and full forward on the other, 3 months growth of grass, went thru without a clog or slow down with plenty of power to spare.
As for the suspension system, it compares to riding a old mule drawn buckboard with my Craftsman and a Rolls Royce with the Ferris. The suspension system smoothed all but the deepest pothole down to barely felt and even the deep holes weren't the back bone jarring like on my Craftsman or even the JD 332. Any mower without a suspension is missing the boat for rider comfort. I looked at some$12,000 machines that still had no rider comfort added not even a suspension seat. I wont ever own anything else with a ridged suspension.

Good to know, thanks for sharing. My daughter and son-in-law live near where the dealer is so next time we visit them, I will have to remember to check them out. I might call them and see what they have here at the end of the season, perhaps get a good deal.

GManBart · Aug 23, 2013

I convinced a coworker to look at Ferris, he bought one, and I'm very envious!

murphy1244 · Aug 23, 2013

hawkeye08 said:
Good to know, thanks for sharing. My daughter and son-in-law live near where the dealer is so next time we visit them, I will have to remember to check them out. I might call them and see what they have here at the end of the season, perhaps get a good deal.

Ferris is not a cheap machine and rarely do they have a Sale on them.

Gary Fowler · Aug 24, 2013

My dealer wouldn't discount much either on the 52" with Kawasaki engine ($200 off his "sale" price). His list was $6800 although I found a dealer on line listing for $6499 which was what he said they had marked it down to for fall clearance. He did come to $6200 cash+sales tax. He was at $6500 with the finance option and said he had to contribute toward the 0% financing so cash is king.

jenkinsph · Aug 24, 2013

Gary,
Nice looking place you have there. Enjoy the new mower, looks like a good one.

Gary Fowler · Aug 24, 2013

Thanks. I sure hope and THINK it will last me a lifetime of mowing (15 years and I will be 80 so not likely to be mowing then). The older I get the smaller the yard is likely going to get. Right now I am mowing about 5 acres of my 11.2 acres. Rest has grass eaters munching away on it. Last year during the drought, we put up electric fence and let cows graze on all but about 1 acre of the yard, it benefited the cows and saved gas and time mowing. They do stop up the yard which is one reason it is so rough now other that the trenches for the sprinkler which I keep saying I will fill in next winter (its been 2 and going on 3 winters and still haven't filled them all in but I am getting a little at a time).

Gary Fowler · Aug 27, 2013

I thought I would update a bit of info on the Ferris mower with the 23 HP Kawasaki engine. It is a beast of an engine and the machines top speed is about 9 MPH so it is much faster than the Craftsman although there is few places that I can run it that fast because of the rough ground. The suspension system is great and really smooth's things out but there is a limit to what it can do. My biggest and best surprise was when I filled it up at 3.0 hours. I had mowed about 3/4 my yard and some of my brother in laws the day I got it and put on 2.0 hours. I started mowing late yesterday and got most of it mowed again and finished this morning @3.2 hours and it held a little over 3.5 gallons and I filled it past the bottom of the neck which is where I stopped at the station when I topped it off originally. It looks like I will be burning about 1 gallon or so per hour and cutting my mowing time from 4 hours to 1.2 hours and doing it in fair comfort. A cab and AC would be nice to have on a mower.

Midniteoyl · Aug 27, 2013

Ya.. my 27hp Kohler powered Gizmo machine does right at 1.1gph.. and it has dual 4.5gal tanks. At 170hrs its pretty well broken in. I suspect your Kaw will do a little better once it gets 50-100 hours on it.

Gary Fowler · Aug 27, 2013

It takes me 5 gallons of gas to mow my yard with my Craftsman 26 HP Briggs &Stratton engine with same size deck. Of course it goes a bit slower and takes over three times as long also.

djdicetn · Aug 28, 2013

Gary Fowler said:
I thought I would update a bit of info on the Ferris mower with the 23 HP Kawasaki engine. It is a beast of an engine and the machines top speed is about 9 MPH so it is much faster than the Craftsman although there is few places that I can run it that fast because of the rough ground. The suspension system is great and really smooth's things out but there is a limit to what it can do. My biggest and best surprise was when I filled it up at 3.0 hours. I had mowed about 3/4 my yard and some of my brother in laws the day I got it and put on 2.0 hours. I started mowing late yesterday and got most of it mowed again and finished this morning @3.2 hours and it held a little over 3.5 gallons and I filled it past the bottom of the neck which is where I stopped at the station when I topped it off originally. It looks like I will be burning about 1 gallon or so per hour and cutting my mowing time from 4 hours to 1.2 hours and doing it in fair comfort. A cab and AC would be nice to have on a mower.

Which Kawa series engine does that Ferris have on it??? My Gravely has a FX691V(22hp/726cc) and I too am averaging at right about 1 gal/hr(maybe a "little better", as I am tracking gas usage by times I mow on a tankful and I can mow my 1.5-2.0 acre lot in a little over 45 minutes). So on a 4.5 gal tank I am mowing my yard 4.5 times(my old Craftsman lawn tractor with a 24hp Briggs & Stratton Intek took between 2-3 gals per mow:0(
Also, are you burning non-ethanol gasoline in that Ferris??? If it is available(yeah, I know it's very expensive compared to the commonly available ethanol gas), I would "HIGHLY" recommend that you consider running the mid-grade non-ethanol in that Kawasaki(I even use 1 ounce StaBil per 5 gals gas, just for extra insurance against fuel-related problems). Your ZTR will thank you for spending the extra money to take care of it's engine and fuel lines and believe me.....you will see even better "gas mileage" than on the ethanol gas. As long as I can find it, there will never be any ethanol gas in ANY of my lawn equipment!!!! That stuff will absolutely ruin a small engine!!

P.S.
I can validate what you found out about paying cash.....I offered my Gravely dealer about $400 less than his best price for cash out-the-door which saved me that $400 plus the sales tax and he "jumped on my offer" without hesitating a minute. I think the dealer ends up paying an average of $300-$400 to get you the 0% financing and they usually build that into their "best price".

Gary Fowler · Sep 4, 2013

Just for giggles I took my 2 year old Craftsman mower out to mow a bit with it and let me tell you, it is rougher than I remembered it. My Ferris has spoiled me rotten with the smooth ride. The Ferris isn't like an air ride on a hovercraft but it makes the small holes just disappear and when I hit a deep rut or sunken ditch it is a softer bump not a bone crunching jolt. I can comfortably mow at over 6 MPH which is about top end on the old Craftsman and sometimes even get it up to max speed of 9.8 on my straight aways. That is flying with a mower. I had a section of about 1/4 acre that I hadn't mown in 2 weeks or mow and it was pretty smooth so I had to check out the power. The Bahia grass was about 8" high and I could power thru it at max speed and never stall the mower.