Rear finish mower vs dedicated lawn tractor

[rangerfredbob]

Believe me, I'm with ya and have contemplated it, about to pull the trigger and ended up getting the old one going or found a good deal on a used one... it might sound like a lot of fuss but that's over 5 years, I go to roughly 3 auctions a year, that I go to anyway to help my brother not just for myself. Plus I like to tinker, I'm getting pickier on the projects I'll take on and getting better at spotting projects worth my time.

 

[mikester]

I would wonder what it all adds up to with time, fuel to get to and from auctions, time to fix and swap parts not to mention the inconvenience factor?

The thought of your post with the details left out would have me spending on the best NEW mower I could find just to avoid the wasted time and frustration!

Here here...+1

New vs used could be its own thread. If you plan on using the equipment for its/your lifetime you arent saving much buying and repairing someone elses problems. I just want the lawn mowed - quickly and without wasting time doing mechanical repairs.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Ride is always important, anyone will take a smooth easy ride over a rough one. Your less worn out from the experience. Also beg to differ on the ride, yes the small tires on the 1025R are a rougher ride than the big fat tires on my full size utility tractor using the RFM, Hog or flail but the small tires on the scut are still smoother than the ride of the ZT's I have been on. And no, none of them had air ride seats, but then I don't know any people who will drop the extra cash on a mower for air ride unless it is a someone using it to make their living.

No tractor has any mechanical apparatus to smooth the ride, it depends only on the tire flex and they can get pretty rough. Most zero turns are the same way so the bigger the tires, the smoother they ride.
Only the Ferris (maybe Simplicity also but that is the same mfg.) has a shock system and coil springs to take out much of the bumps. Some of the other brands may have some rubber grommets under the frame, but that does little to soften the ride. The only thing that can soften those is an air suspension seat which some of the $10K priced ones come with.
I will put my Ferris ride up against any tractor or other brand of zero turn for smoothest ride.

 

[BoylermanCT]

When we moved to our 14 acres, I started with 3 acres of lawn and a 2 acre field in the backyard. Bought a decent Craftsman lawn tractor and it took my 2.5 hours to mow everything. Then I began mowing the field weekly and it took me 4+ hours of mowing each week. When the Craftsman hit 500 hours in 5 years, I realized I was spending way too much time mowing. So I bought a Hustler Raptor SD zero turn for $3809 new and it was a whole new ballgame. Mowing time went down to 2 hours. After 3 years I traded the SD for a demo Hustler X-One zero turn. The X-One is very fast and at full speed mows 6 acres an hour. Mowing is now under 90 minutes. Would have been a lot cheaper to have bought the X-One from the beginning, but I didn’t want to spend that much money! Lesson learned.

 

[rangerfredbob]

Just as a note since I ran my finish mower the other night, running my mower in 3rd high is just over 6mph, I didn't time myself but it went by pretty quick...

 

[metalbender]

ZT over a lawn tractor any day, either one over the tractor for mowing. Bush hog and flail are exceptions of course, but total different application. Little irregularities with a ZT turn into major bumps in the tractor.

 

[chim]

We all have our preferences for a variety of reasons. Mowing represents probably 80 percent of my seat time. I really enjoy playing in the snow when we get it. The FEL is a really handy tool, and various other attachments would be hard to do without. I love having a machine that can be used for different tasks.

Lawn tractors wouldn't work for me. I had one with a cute homebrew cart that would haul a little more than a wheelbarrow. Whoopie.

Two BIL's have nice mowing machines. One is a large Ferris and I'm not sure what the other was, but it seemed to be a commercial-sized unit. They were kinda fun to test drive, but neither did much to excite me.

After building here in the early 90's and having a little over two acres to mow back then, the lawn tractor quickly went away. First was a tractor with a belly mower. Next 4 were tractors and RFM's that gotten progressively larger. The most recent is an L4240HSTC with a 91" RFM. It's my favorite so far. Turns shorter than my L3200 and leaves less marking than anything else I've had. Quieter and more comfy than the others. Mowing has become more enjoyable and rather therapeutic. The yard is now up to about 3-1/2 acres. With good lights I mow whenever it fits the schedule. Last night that meant wrapping it up at just past 10:00PM.

 

[Summerlin]

We all have our preferences for a variety of reasons. Mowing represents probably 80 percent of my seat time. I really enjoy playing in the snow when we get it. The FEL is a really handy tool, and various other attachments would be hard to do without. I love having a machine that can be used for different tasks.

Lawn tractors wouldn't work for me. I had one with a cute homebrew cart that would haul a little more than a wheelbarrow. Whoopie.

Two BIL's have nice mowing machines. One is a large Ferris and I'm not sure what the other was, but it seemed to be a commercial-sized unit. They were kinda fun to test drive, but neither did much to excite me.

After building here in the early 90's and having a little over two acres to mow back then, the lawn tractor quickly went away. First was a tractor with a belly mower. Next 4 were tractors and RFM's that gotten progressively larger. The most recent is an L4240HSTC with a 91" RFM. It's my favorite so far. Turns shorter than my L3200 and leaves less marking than anything else I've had. Quieter and more comfy than the others. Mowing has become more enjoyable and rather therapeutic. The yard is now up to about 3-1/2 acres. With good lights I mow whenever it fits the schedule. Last night that meant wrapping it up at just past 10:00PM.

How much load does the mower put on the tractor?

Im going to be getting a Kioti CK4010SE paired with an 84” finish mower. Sales rep says it’ll pull the mower fine. I haven’t had a chance to demo it yet to see.

I mow slowly anyway. I’ve been know to creep along on my ZTR to make sure I get the cleanest cut I can. I don’t like to rush my mowing.

 

[metalbender]

Yup, the tractor is the Swiss army tool. Excels at some things, mediocre at others. Fel, blower, blade, land plane, the list goes on. The area has to be pretty smooth to mow with a tractor. Getting around trees is a different matter. The ZT will zip around obstacles with ease, leaving a regular riding mower behind. With all the trees around the property here, I'd be having many issues with my Massey 1742 trying to get the grass cut. If I had vast smooth areas, might change my opinion.

 

[chim]

How much load does the mower put on the tractor?

Im going to be getting a Kioti CK4010SE paired with an 84 finish mower. Sales rep says it値l pull the mower fine. I haven稚 had a chance to demo it yet to see.

I mow slowly anyway. I致e been know to creep along on my ZTR to make sure I get the cleanest cut I can. I don稚 like to rush my mowing.

The RFM is a Caroni. It weighs in at 710 pounds, about 100 more than my LandPride 6 footer. The tractor handles it easily. Unlike all previous setups, I never need to use 4WD (or raise the RFM to get weight on the rear wheels to back up) on sloped areas even if there's dew on the grass. My BIL has an L4740HSTC and a Woods RD990X that he uses for most of his place (and the big Ferris I mentioned earlier). The Woods weighs over 1,300 pounds and with 5 more horses than I have, he never mentioned not having enough power.

Most of our place is fairly level. In the shot below, the area behind the yellow line where the house is located is probably 10-12' higher than near the creek. There's a bank (no mow) that runs from the rocks in front of the house to just right of the driveway. From there to the right side of the property is a slope that I mow. The steepest part is at the property line. On the left side of the house is a bank that runs from gentle at the lower property line to quite steep at the rocks in front of the house (need to be careful walking if wet).

The Kubota has the HST II trans (3 ranges with Hi & Lo in each). With the two following exceptions, it's 3rd range Hi for everything. For the steepest area just left of the rocks, it's mid range Hi. At the right end of the yellow line, from the property line and about 50' left of it the tractor is happy in 3rd range if I tap it into Lo.