Zero turn vs. 4X4 tractor for mowing

[Joe Batt]

...
2. I honestly don't understand any concerns with "steep". ...

Depends what is at the bottom of the hill. I mow with a ZTR on hills where the bottom is smooth and grassy. I have slid down a hill in the rough that caused the ZTR to roll over when it hit a rut at the bottom of the hill. I also have a hill with a vinyl fence at the bottom. I removed a section, so that once I start sliding I can aim for the hole to avoid wedging into the fence. I have another ditch with a woven wire fence at the bottom. I just don't mow that anymore. I tore up too much equipment sliding into it.

 

[Bingo150]

Check out the Bradley Mowers 61" stand-on. I have had the 52" for four years and LOVE it! Stand-ons are so much easier to get on/off, better visibility ahead, lighter, easier to work on and you can walk behind it/push if traction gets bad. I only mow 2 acres with tons trees, off camber slopes and pond edge work... 2hrs.

 

[WinterDeere]

Depends what is at the bottom of the hill. I mow with a ZTR on hills where the bottom is smooth and grassy. I have slid down a hill in the rough that caused the ZTR to roll over when it hit a rut at the bottom of the hill. I also have a hill with a vinyl fence at the bottom. I removed a section, so that once I start sliding I can aim for the hole to avoid wedging into the fence. I have another ditch with a woven wire fence at the bottom. I just don't mow that anymore. I tore up too much equipment sliding into it.

Good points. We all tend to come at these problems with the built-in assumptions from our own experience. The bottoms of my three hills are: 1) flat grassy area, 2) flat grassy area, and 3) flat grassy area.

There are some trees interspersed along the slope of two of the hills, but usually easily avoidable. I've only hit one tree due to hill slide in 15 years of mowing, and will admit it was 100% my fault, quick and careless turns on wet grass after a beer-heavy Saturday lunch. Thankfully I caught it with a heavy cast front wheel caster, so no damage was done to the mower, and very minimal to the tree.

 

[2manyrocks]

I think the biggest challenge is 7 acres of irregular land mowing every weekend or every other weekend is a lot of mowing. Sore from sitting and sore from working the HST. I get it. If it were 3 acres…but 7.

 

[dodge man]

I don’t own a zero turn but have used them. When I see these claimed mowing speeds they must be mowing something as smooth a a concrete runway. If I smoothed my yard it wouldn’t last after a couple of years of the moles in it and I actively trap the moles. I have a few smooth areas I can floor the hst pedal which is roughly 4 mph but most I’m going slower.

 

[WinterDeere]

When I see these claimed mowing speeds they must be mowing something as smooth a a concrete runway. If I smoothed my yard it wouldn’t last after a couple of years of the moles in it and I actively trap the moles. I have a few smooth areas I can floor the hst pedal which is roughly 4 mph but most I’m going slower.

Not as bad as you'd think. My yard is lumpy, from tree roots, frequent CUT traffic, moles, all the usual stuff. But the ZTR can bounce over those ruts at full speed, catching air in-between, without damage. As already said above, I can't do much more than 3-4 mph over my lumpy yard with my CUT, but I run the ZTR flat-out 2.5 hours at a time when mowing.

Yeah, it gives you a serious core workout, and you need to treat it like swimming (don't ride for at least 30 minutes after eating). Don't let your wife ride the thing, or her t1ts'll be in her lap after two seasons. But it gets the job done faster than anything else I've tried.

After a few mowings, you learn the few spots you need to slow down, for me that's crossing the paved driveway in a few spots and certain surfaced tree roots. But 95% of the time those joysticks are slammed forward against the hard stops.

 

[2manyrocks]

The obvious solution is to hire winterdeere to do your mowing.

 

[Paul McILwain]

On my 5 acres I use both a jd 345 and a Husqvarna r322t 4wd articulating both with 48 inch decks. The jd is a little faster with it’s kawi vtwin liquid engine but the husky with the vtwin Briggs is better around trees and soft hilly area’s. It seems I use the husq most of the time, easyier getting off and on with my 83 year old legs

 

[2manyrocks]

Unfortunately the husqvarna 322 is discontinued in the US from what I can tell. The nearest articulating mower similar to it I can think of would be the Power trac pt425. T8 Class