Buying Advice Tractor vs zero turn

[johncanfield]

I sold my old Gravely ZTR (46" deck) and bought a Deere Z945M with a 60" deck. The Deere is twice as fast as the old Gravely and cuts two times as good.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I figured this would be the general consensus. I agree with everyone痴 points. I appreciate the feedback. My current zero turn is a bit undersized for my needs. Maybe I値l just look to upgrade a hair on the zero turn.

I use the 770 for the 3 pt capability for the garden patch. Front end loaders are hard to find for these and are expensive.

Time wise I cant see a need for a 60" deck on a zero turn for 1 acre. I mow 6.5 acres with my Ferris 52" deck in about 4 hours and I have a boat load of trees and bushes to go around. Travel speed is 9.9 MPH if the lawn is smooth enough to travel that speed. I dont have problem cutting steep slopes with my Ferris as long as it is dry. If it is wet grass or wet ground, it will slide sideways a bit from the tires slipping. My box store Craftsman wouldn't hold on even a 10 degree slope and just drift down hill with full reverse on the uphill side. Weight of the mower and size of the tires makes for it to hold on a slope.
Unless your mower is worn out, I would stick with what you have. I wouldnt go wider than 52 since cost increases dramatically on the 60" compared to 52-54" decks.

The only bad issue with zero turn is steering on wet ground especially on a slope as you likely already know with your 42" deck mower.

 

[chim]

Time wise I cant see a need for a 60" deck on a zero turn for 1 acre. I mow 6.5 acres with my Ferris 52" deck in about 4 hours and I have a boat load of trees and bushes.............................

Maybe I'm in the minority here. Mower decks for tractors are still made and sold, so there must be a few others with similar feelings. I tried a couple ZT's and didn't care for them any more than the MMM we had on our first tractor had.

It takes me under 1-1/2 hours to do our 3-1/2 acres with the L4240 equipped with a 90" RFM. Using the 52" ZT in the example above would take over 2 hours. In many discussions there are claims the "I can mow in half the time with my ZT" or something similar. We may only have a half a boatload of trees, and the deck is 38" wider. We do have some trees, sheds, house, creek and a bridge. Picture below.

I enjoy having a piece of equipment that isn't a one trick pony. The FEL will pick a ton, it has an 8' snow plow, hang whatever on the three point and can handle anything that needs done.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

All zero turn mowers are NOT one trick pony's, my Grasshopper has a "easy to put on" sno-blower that really kicks azz!!

There are other attachments for it too...

SR

 

[Molalla1]

Maybe I'm in the minority here. Mower decks for tractors are still made and sold, so there must be a few others with similar feelings. I tried a couple ZT's and didn't care for them any more than the MMM we had on our first tractor had.

It takes me under 1-1/2 hours to do our 3-1/2 acres with the L4240 equipped with a 90" RFM. Using the 52" ZT in the example above would take over 2 hours. In many discussions there are claims the "I can mow in half the time with my ZT" or something similar. We may only have a half a boatload of trees, and the deck is 38" wider. We do have some trees, sheds, house, creek and a bridge. Picture below.

I enjoy having a piece of equipment that isn't a one trick pony. The FEL will pick a ton, it has an 8' snow plow, hang whatever on the three point and can handle anything that needs done.

chim, I have several tractors, excavator and mowers . . . the Z-turns rule when in this instance, flat land . . . there is no comparison . . . fast they are.

 

[DK35vince]

It takes me under 1-1/2 hours to do our 3-1/2 acres with the L4240 equipped with a 90" RFM. Using the 52" ZT in the example above would take over 2 hours. In many discussions there are claims the "I can mow in half the time with my ZT" or something similar. We may only have a half a boatload of trees, and the deck is 38" wider. We do have some trees, sheds, house, creek and a bridge. Picture below.

I can tell you our zero turn (Hustler Super Z with 35 HP and 72" deck) will mow circles my 35 HP tractor with 84" RFM.
It will mow my 8 acre lawn with dozens of trees in just over 2 hours.

 

[Hay Dude]

The more obstacles you have to mow around, the more time you will save using a ZTR. If you get a good suspension or air seat, a ZTR is tolerable on slightly rough ground.

Check out my $20 seat suspension upgrade thread. I dont have an air seat and I mow bumpy ground and the rubber plugs I installed on my seat mounts made a big difference.

 

[dragoneggs]

Check out my $20 seat suspension upgrade thread. I dont have an air seat and I mow bumpy ground and the rubber plugs I installed on my seat mounts made a big difference.

Please post a link.

 

[Hay Dude]

https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/customization/423296-25-zero-turn-seat-mod.html

LMK if this link works

 

[shooterdon]

You have a whole acre of grass. Nothing less than a $7000 ZT at the bare minimum. You want transmissions that can be serviced after 25 or 40 years of use. Those big box ZT's for $3500 only last about 400 hours before they are junk. You will wear one out in 25 years.