Riding tractor/mower for 4-5 acres

[southerniltractor]

Folks,

Thanks much for your thoughts. I'm now rethinking the ZTR versus tractor configuration again. I just walked the property again and I think a ZTR will get about 96 percent of it and my old JD130 can get the remaining steep slopes. That said, my Kioti dealer also sells Bad Boy zero turns, so he's bringing one up for me to try when he delivers my DK40se.

The idea of pulling a finish mower with the Kioti is compelling, but we've got a bunch of trees to nagivate around so I'm again thinking ZTR or tractor...leading toward ZTR.

The tenant who rented this property has a large Husky riding mower (54 inch deck). It's pretty new(66 hrs) , but already it has things starting to break on it. I'm not going to buy a new rider. They are shiney, but the frames are tiny compared to the engines and they just don't seem robust enough to make it more than a few years on my lawn.

Anyone have any experience with Bad Boy ZTR? They are built like tanks, but I've never used one.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[MikeA57]

Mike,
I've not used a BB either (did get to run a JD 925A a few weeks ago, what a BEAST!!!) but my next door neighbor works for the Memphis Airport and they run Exmarks, Scags, John Deere, Kubota and others out there. The Bad Boy rep came by the airport a couple of months ago and offloaded a couple of Bad Boys and my neighbor said they are some very strong, good cutting machines. He did say that if you were to run the JD and the Bad Boy on one of their extreme slopes out there you would probably pick the JD, but he never felt like the BB was going to flip, it was more that "if" one was going to slide on the slope it would be the BB; the JDs, and Scags all stick like glue to the hills. I've been eyeing a BB myself and would love to try one out as I've got 3.2 acres; half of which is lawn and the other half field grass that can get pretty high before I get out there to get it tamed. The price is certainly right compared to the Scags, Kubotas, and JDs!

 

[bobm6996]

Have not ever been on a BB, but I did purchase a Scag Tiger 48" 26 hp last year to mow my 4 acres and I love it. I do have a couple slopes that are pretty steep (maybe 30 degrees) and the Scag sticks really well. It feels a bit scarey when mowing it, but it has never lost traction. Very heavy built, mows at 10 mph, mower deck is solid and really is a pleasure to get on and spend time mowing. Cut my mowing time in half easily. I definitely would go with a ZTR versus a finish mower on a tractor, the ZTR is so much easier to mow in tight places and you don't spend the entire time mowing looking behind you (unless you get a belly mount), easier to mow under trees than on a tractor. Good luck on you decision.

 

[MoKelly]

I purchased a Bad Boy Outlaw in February for this mowing season. It is a beast and so far so good. However, I only have 35 hours on the machine as we have been in a prolonged drought and the grass has gone dormant. So, very little mowing since May. When I was mowing it cut very well, very fast and the seat was very nice.

Good luck.

MoKelly

 

[Soundguy]

4-5ac?

that's tractor teritory. my neighbor has worn out 2 jd riders since I've been living htere mowing 3ac at a time. that's alot to ask of a consumer rider mower.

and the price of a commercial mower gets you into a tractor with hog..

 

[southerniltractor]

Folks,

I ended up buying a 2001 Simplicity Landlord garden tractor with a 54 inch mowing deck. It is built like a tank and while it wasn't cheap, it was still much less than the "throw-away" higher-end Craftsman and other "big box" store mowers. The Simplicity has a servicable hydro (filter and drain/fill capability) and a newly rebuilt Briggs Vanguard. Purchased from my long-established mower dealer in town. He sold it new to the original owner who had it serviced yearly at the dealer's facility. Original owner neglected to get it serviced this spring and didn't check engine oil....Boom! Tractor has power steering and mower deck. I hope is serves me well.

Soundguy, I've got a small tractor and bush hog for the rough stuff. I sometimes wonder what I was thinking buying this place...so much to maintain!

Thanks,
Mike

 

[Soundguy]

He sold it new to the original owner who had it serviced yearly at the dealer's facility. Original owner neglected to get it serviced this spring and didn't check engine oil....Boom!

weird.. it misses 1 service and blows up??

I know I've run equipment that have missed.. uh.. decades of service..


good luck on it.. and um.. make sure you keep it serviced. those vanguard must be real picky..unlike other brigs which are very UN-picky...

 

[southerniltractor]

And those Vanguards are super expensive! I'm pretty picky, so it will be very well maintained and serviced from now on. I believe the previous owner ran it out of oil. The dealer built a "new" vanguard and installed it as the block was ruined on the original motor.

 

[Soundguy]

it sounds like the engine had problems if it missed 1 service and ran out of oil.

it was either drinking it or leakingit.. both at a high rate..

 

[Franko]

Guys - great thread - I have been wrestling with this exact issue - how to maintain my 3-4 acres of country 'grass' here in Pennsylvania. I originally planned on pulling a bush hog behind my Kubota B7800 and it more or less did the job, but the lawn was not pretty to look at afterwards. But the worst was trying to turn around at the bottom of the hills and most everywhere else on my sloped land. The darn tractor always felt like it wanted to flip over and after a few close calls, I only went up and down the slope, but that meant backing up on each alternate strip and that was horrible. I thought about getting an attachment for my Kubota RTV900 because it is SO much more stable on our slopes, but the difficulty getting into many spots caused by towing the mower made me pause. And then my wife wanted to help and convinced me to get her a 54 inch Craftsman rider, and that turned out to be really, really stable on the hills. (BTW - she only used the mower one time - it lost all traction on the steeper areas with her light weight!). It was also very maneuverable and fun to ride around, so I just took it over. But three problems surfaced - I don't cut often and those wiry stems that come up from some vegetation are very hard to cut unless you go real slow. I don't have the patience for that! I want to run it fast and get er done! I sharpened the blades thinking that was the problem but it had minimal effect. I think the blades load up and just don't cut those stems. A second problem is the frame. It started to crack after 3 years of wild riding and I had to reinforce it with a piece of flat steel stock. So far, the fix has been working but I see a new mower in my future in a year or less. The hydro trans seems indestructible. I can't believe that the thing is still working after forcing it up our slopes 99% of the time full throttle. The third problem is that 54 inch deck. Sounds like a lot, but again, with a little overlap, it ends up taking too long.

What do you guys think will get my lawn cut fast, and get those tough stalks cut down, and be really stable on slopes? Is a zero-turn the answer? I wish I could get a really tough version of that Craftsman rider, that covered about 5 or 6 feet in a pass, and had enough horsepower to take down the weeds, but I doubt such a thing exists.

Frank