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

 

[ETD66SS]

I've seen a lot of different types of mowers in this thread, more than I ever knew existed!

 

[Gem99ultra]

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

Paul, I love your Husq R322T! I have a R155, 15hp 42" cut, that I've used for well over 2500 hours/23 years, cutting everything from 2 acres and more. Knowing that Husq no longer sells that mower in the US makes me sad. Let me know if you decide to "get rid" of yours Here's a pic of mine:

Admittingly, I do take better care of it than I do of my Kubota ZT.

 

[EddieWalker]

Got mine running yesterday and mowed the yards, then went up to the road and found part of a tire that got caught up in my blades. Fortunately I have a Mower Picker Upper, and I was able to lift the rear wheels and pull it to my house. It's also a great Mower Unstucker for when I mow to close to the pond!!!!

 

[Mtsoxfan]

With bar tires my Grasshopper zero turn would have easily mowed this hill. It was broke down and I borrowed my brother’s zero turn with worthless turf tires and it was sliding worse than a snow board. I have no idea why worthless turf tires are always the default option from the factory. View attachment 3487292

I mow on turf tires on hills this steep, or close to it, hard to tell steepness in pictures. I know it is a steep walk. I do not mow wet grass, maybe the difference...

 

[dlundblad]

How about a 5 or 6’ 3 point finish mower for the Ford and perhaps a zero turn?

 

[Lena]

For the past ~10 years I have been using my Ford 1620 HST 4x4 with 60" 914 deck to mow about 7 acres. I'm at the point now where I don't look forward to mowing due to many mower deck breakdowns (tractor is great) along with the the time required to mow all 7 acres. It basically kills one whole day of my weekend. I think the top speed of the 1620 in MED gear (fastest I can go due to blade speed and cutting) is something like 1.5 mph.

I have been hesitant to get a zero turn due to the fact I have a decent strech of mowing along ditches & pond banks (~1200ft of pond banks, ~ 1000ft of ditches), where sometimes it can be a bit wet. I have never gotten my 1620 stuck to the point I needed another piece of equipment to pull it out. The rest of the mowing is very flat.

I have been looking at thie Ferris mower: Ferris 5902073

I assume my cutting time will decrease, but it also seems like I am going to not be able to cut some areas, especially on the steep ditches?

You want to keep in mind how the ride is. is the tractor comfortable? Neighbor has a z turn. says he will not buy another because of the rough ride. Just something you want to consider since you are mowing 7 acres.

 

[truraboy]

I agree with @scootr, I am changing my finishing mower for a Teagle offset flail on my JD4310. Got fed up with it getting blocked, difficult turning in trees and similar amount of pasture to maintain.

 

[OzarkChris]

After reading through most of these posts, I think my 2 cents might make some sense.

I have a Bad Boy ZT Elite 60" I use it for the areas that aren't wet on about 7 acres. As others have mentioned already, ZTs really, really do Not like anything slippery, e.g., wet ground. Anything soft (from not being dry) at the very least will tear up your yard when you turn.

I believe that the best of both worlds would be to have to be one of the following: A) A tractor (my choice would be with a cab) with a bush/brush hog and a finish mower - if necessary. This combo would probably meet most of your needs. The tractor probably won't get stuck, to bad, and ground probably won't get much more torn up than being on a ZT in the wet areas. Plus, the tractor will be able to traverse much steeper banks than the ZT without starving the engine of lubrication. With the high center of gravity on a cab tractor, you might have a higher likelihood of tipping or rolling over.

B) Same setup as A but with the addition of an offset mower or flail for your banks. Same positives as above, but with the added safety of the mower/flail going into the ditch instead of the tractor.

C) Same tractor as above but without the finish mower, Plus a ZT (brand of your choice). I like the 54-60" versions because they fit through most double gates. The 6 footers (72s) may not depending on the gate manufacturer. Use the tractor and bush/brush hog to keep the grass, weeds, tree limbs, etc down, then about once a month to six weeks break out the ZT and mow everything you comfortably can. Use the tractor for those parts you don't feel comfortable with.

<He turns around and quietly unfolds his soapbox then stands on it>

I see many posts here saying to rent your land out to farmers, grow hay, etc, etc. I am NOT saying that is a terrible idea, BUT unless those posts know your property, I wouldn't listen too much. For example, if your properties 7 acres that you mow are anything like 5-7 acres I have in a meadow most farmers I know would probably laugh at trying to make it "hay worthy" (I have enough other acreage to bail what I need for my critters). My meadow has many, many rocks - they grow extremely well in this area. This area is also inundated with broomsedge, good for erosion, not so great for a hay field. Finally, I'm 2-3 miles away from the closest cow farmer- wooded areas in between. The cost for them to come over to cut, ted and bail 7 acres and get crappy hay wouldn't be worth it.

<He carefully steps off the soapbox, folds it back up and stores it until the next time it is needed>

Okay, that's my 2-20 cents worth - sorry it ended up being so long!

 

[Notforhire]

OP. Take a look at this thread Zero Turn mower for moderate slopes?
It covers some of the issues you are having.

 

[tradosaurus]

This forum needs a frequently asked question section.
I see this topic about ever few months; zero turn vs tractor.

 

[tradosaurus]

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.

You are tempting fate if this could be a common occurrence. I think I either wouldn't mow that section or use a hand mower.