Zero turn thoughts on common models

[Sawyer Rob]

Sure someone has already mentioned Grasshopper but if not here it is: Grasshopper Mower

I DO love my Grasshopper, it's been a great cutting machine!

SR

 

[Bullwinkle123]

I have a Kubota Z724 with a 54 inch deck, they make them with larger decks too.
Built like a tank, top speed 11.2 mph. Seat very comfy. 11.2 mph on a mower feels very fast. Anyway, just another brand to consider. Mine was about $9k, can't remember if that was with taxes or not.

 

[BigBlue1]

Sure someone has already mentioned Grasshopper but if not here it is: Grasshopper Mower

I appreciate the alternative suggestions, but the brands I listed are the ones around me I'm considering. Unless there is something significant that sets apart this one or the others mentioned I'm not going to broaden my search. This is not a 'start from scratch' search for all possible options. Thanks though. I just don't want the thread to diverge that way.

Rob

 

[tradosaurus]

I saw the Toro 6000 series on your list.
Toro 6000
Have you read the reviews on this one? I don't know how accurate the claim is on parts availability.
Toro HD 2000
This is the one I've had (not the Myride version) for 3 yrs but only have 100 hrs on it. My only regret is not getting the MyRide version.

 

[RSKY]

Let us know what you get once you buy. Lots of good brands out there. Pick the features you want, pick a good dealer, and have fun.

Gonna eat some breakfast and as soon as the dew dries up I'm gonna crank the Bad Boy and mow three yards for the first time this year. Somewhere between six and seven acres with about five miles separating them. My wife made her sad face last night when I told her my plans. She enjoys mowing on our ZTR as much or more than I do. But she has other things she must do this morning. If I time everything right she can meet me at her father's house and use his old Cub Cadet ZTR to help me finish the last yard.

RSKY

 

[MoKelly]

If you have a Hustler dealer near you, check them out. They built the first zero turn 50+ years ago. They are all made in USA (Kansas) and my experience is they provide excellent service and warranty work. My 60" X-One will mow 6 acres an hour, if you can mow at full speed. I have an air ride seat and front suspension, so I can mow fast, but still not full speed. I mow 5 acres and went from 5 hours with my lawn tractor to 90 minutes with the zero turn.

I second the Hustler recommendation. Mine is great and easy to service - both oil changes and hydro changes.

MoKelly

 

[ideaman]

I have a Toro Titan 60 inch Myride. Full suspension and you don't feel the bumps. Commercial quality and only $6K. Mow about 4 acres per week. Perfect for home owner with large yards. Love it! And the price!

-Matt

 

[RancherGuy]

... I have a JD x758 with 60" deck that works well ... I have almost 7 acres ... I'm looking for a commercial quality unit ... I want at least a 60" deck ... My yard is mostly flat ... I'm pondering a 72" deck.

Rob,
I don't know about the other machines, but I can tell you about my experiences. 'kthompson' has some good points about suspension.

I bought a JD X749 w/ 60". Sold it after a while - wasn't using it and hated the deck. For more than 10 years I have used, well, actually my wife has used, a JD 997. Bought used w/ 69 hours and now has 1200 more. We cannot tell you how pleased we have been with it. Extremely good and reliable design. Pretty bullet proof. We are mowing a 6.5 acre area around the house, but my wife likes to run up and down the very long driveway w/ ditches, so it may be more realistic to say 8 acres. Then she likes to rake the clippings to give to the cows. That's her idea, NOT mine.

Pro:
72" nearly indestructible deck.
Great deck flow.
Diesel engine goes and goes and endures overheating all the time when light dry grass clogs the radiator.
Plenty of power. Can cut some pretty heavy stuff. Sometimes I have to tell the wife that it is not a pasture mower.
After 1200 hours the ability to finely control motion and detail is still there.
The deck flow is great. On the contrary the X749 was horrible.

Cons:
The radiator clogs up when grass cuttings are dry and light.
Tires are 4 ply, so they puncture easily if mow something like barbed wire. I keep a handy supply of Slime. I ended up replacing the front tires with more plies and that helped those a lot. Back tires are still OEM with plugs and Slime.
In ditches, it is easy to have the deck edge dig into the side of the ditch, but this is the result of such as wide deck.
The deck is so wide that it is sensitive to the rear tire pressures. I have to keep them no more than 0.5 psi of each other. I keep pressure at 12.0 so ride is not too bumpy because there is no suspension.

Over the years, other than scheduled or normal maintenance, I have (1) replaced both front tires, (2) replaced bearings for front tires, (3) replaced deck spindle bearings, removed and cleaned out fuel tank to get rid of debris. That's about it. Oh, and I have disabled the seat safety switch so the engine does not cut off if operator should shift or stand up. We also keep the roll bar down to keep from removing tree limbs. I am using "predator" blades to try to chop/mulch the grass a bit more than just cutting. Because soft ant mounds can be part of mowing, the deck can clog w/ mud and grass, so I have built drive-up ramps to tip the mower back to be able to thoroughly pressure-wash deck underside. That also helps to keep deck rusting down.

 

[Waco Branson]

First Priority is to be close to your dealer or competent service that you can trust. You already know that every one of those are nice machines. Sooner or later you'll need service.

Personally, I really like our Bad Boy -- just below commercial grade.

 

[PuffyC]

Thought I'd chime in since I've been there already. I mow over 7 acres each week for 6 months out of the year with a Deere Z540R and it has been nothing short of amazing. It has the 54" HC deck and going bigger might save you a bit of time but maneuverability will start to become an issue. I'm not sure I'd want one any wider. At half the price of some of their commercial models, I'd definitely go this route again. And don't tell Mr. Deere but I've put this thing through all kinds of he11 it was never designed to do and it just keeps going without failure. I've bush hogged abandoned pasture that was 2 feet tall, cut fence rows, pulled a harrow maintaining about a thousand feet of gravel road, dragged logs and other stuff around the woods, etc. I don't have a tractor - yet - so it does it all. It's only 5 years old but considering what I've done with it, if it died tomorrow I wouldn't be surprised nor dissatisfied at the longevity yet it still runs and looks like new, not counting the front roller I ripped clean off hitting a stump or the tree branch that ripped a giant gash in the seat back (luckily I ducked just in time). I took it to the dealership last year for the first time just so they could give it a going over, adjust the valves and put on new belts, I do the rest myself. Based on their assessment and my experience so far, I fully expect to get another 10+ years of brutal use out of it before all the pasture ruts, gopher mounds, bush hogging and overloading finally take their toll, and for the $5,000 I paid new I consider it an absolute bargain.