Mower recommendations?

[Vikes79]

On that Toro, you wouldn't wear it out in your lifetime. It should be good for twice that many hours! The engine may outlast everything else. But it looks to be in good shape, I would check the deck for rust top & bottom and grab each blade to check for play in spindles. Kinda like wheel bearing or ball joint play in a car . It should hold a bank better and ride better overall than the hustler

I like the idea of a diesel mower as I’ll have a diesel tractor with loader as well. This way my fuel barrel would get used a bit more vs than just for the tractor.

 

[JTW]

I like the idea of a diesel mower as I’ll have a diesel tractor with loader as well. This way my fuel barrel would get used a bit more vs than just for the tractor.

Kubota ZD man!

 

[jwfirebird]

no suspention and only bigish tires on the most expensive one means you cant actually go the speed they could, if you have any bumps or anything, you wont know till you mow it a couple times what will be best. commercial used would be the only zt I would buy, the garden tractor is a better value. that is why I bought mine they come the tough metal and big tires you don't get in the same price zt

 

[Mudder]

Got a like new 52 inch Hustler Raptor for $1600, someone had brought it back to Lowes for a thrown belt as noted in service ticket. Cutting 4 acres and when it dies, would replace with one with bigger tires. Brother likes his big Gravely commercial unit but $$$. Get the most heavy duty transmission/pump you can afford, thats the heart of it. I’m sold on zero turns, reduced my seat time by 1/3 compared to garden tractor, and its fun to drive.

 

[jwfirebird]

if you have the right garden tractor and pull behind its the fastest, you are mowing ten feet at 5+mph, which is all most of the zt do at 50 to 60inch, but you have to check them all out its a lot of differences, my original mtd would only go about half as fast and at 46inches it would be quite a bit slower than a zt. quite an array of differnet things to look at if you have a wet yard with a ton of trees then the commercial zt with big upgraded tires would be good, I have a lot of open area kept that way on purpose and its half the time of one with 50-60 inch cut with the added pull behind, and you can just take it off in the other tight areas

 

[Vikes79]

Kubota ZD man!

Kubota ZD 28

Thoughts?

 

[jwfirebird]

probably real good on fuel with a 28 diesel, and 72 is still pretty big, probably depend how good of shape its in

 

[Mudder]

Neighbor has a Kubota tractor and their zero turn and regrets the ZT, says its too loud. That said, I always wear an earmuff radio when cutting. Don’t know which model, but its an older machine. Love my Kubota B7800 tractor, 15 years and no issues.

 

[jwfirebird]

tractors are too loud too, wouldnt make my mind up either way, you can always get a muffler from something else, don't think it would be much. I would be more worried about the state of the hydro's, money for that kind of stuff if its bad

 

[Mopower58]

Neighbor has a Kubota tractor and their zero turn and regrets the ZT, says its too loud. That said, I always wear an earmuff radio when cutting.

He sounds sensitive if his ZT is too loud.

 

[Vikes79]

He sounds sensitive if his ZT is too loud.

What mower isn’t loud?

I guess if the guts of the muffler were gone it would sound terrible.

 

[Smitty335]

if you have the right garden tractor and pull behind its the fastest, you are mowing ten feet at 5+mph, which is all most of the zt do at 50 to 60inch, but you have to check them all out its a lot of differences, my original mtd would only go about half as fast and at 46inches it would be quite a bit slower than a zt. quite an array of differnet things to look at if you have a wet yard with a ton of trees then the commercial zt with big upgraded tires would be good, I have a lot of open area kept that way on purpose and its half the time of one with 50-60 inch cut with the added pull behind, and you can just take it off in the other tight areas

Yep! 51 Ford w/ 60 inch finish mower in tow, it's a light tractor that doesn't tear the grass up, running turf tires on the rear, works great!

 

[JTW]

Kubota ZD 28

Thoughts?

You can do better.. I bought my newer version of the ZD line for 7k and it had 300 hours. Mine is a zd323

 

[WhiteLightning]

I've had my gravely zero turn for 12 years. Replaced 2 belts 1 battery 1 ignition switch and 1 solenoid.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

 

[L2R]

Possibly the most important thing (no one has mentioned here- and that is hard to believe!!) is that it is pretty damn hard to drink beer while driving a zero turn.

 

[Bradley-Thornton]

Raptor SD is/was for the $ the best on the market 3 1/2 years ago when I bought mine.

The big thing on zero turns is the hydro unit. Your lower priced a sealed so when they go you a spend a ton to fix or just scrap it.

The SD is the lowest priced zero turn with a unsealed unit.

Also has the highest turning RPMs on the blades on the market. (The down side to this is it does pull up a little more dust)

Raptor® SD | Hustler Zero-Turn Riding Mowers - Residential

 

[Vikes79]

Yes there will be some road ditch and off angle mowing.

The previous owner offered up their 10 year old cub cadet 48” mower for $500. That in combination with another tired 48” Husqvarna rider that I got for free from my family farm should enough to get me through this year. The wife / kids and I will double team it for the time being that I can become more familiar with what we really need.

We won’t close till the end of this month. Probably will only have two months to mow, maybe a bit more.

This way I can keep my eye out for some end of season deals.

Finally took possession of our new place last week.

$500 lawn mower went about 300 yards before the spindle on the mower decided it was done permanently. Oh yeah and the deck is pretty crooked as well. No parts to be found locally and can’t wait the week to get them.

I have to start traveling again and don’t have time to fix it and need something the wife can run without issue as well.

Went down to Lowe’s and came home with this.

It’s a ariens apex 60 with the 24 hp Kawasaki motor in it.

Had a 10% moving coupon and got it for $4500.

It’s definitely a stout machine. I know the spindles could be better but I couldn’t find many negative reviews on the machine.

It sure mows grass at one heck of a clip. I was able to mow the entire place in 3 hours compared to the neighbor kid whom used to do it in 4.5 hours on the broke down cub cadet 48”.

I was impressed. Hopefully it will last a long time for me.

 

[Mopower58]

Finally took possession of our new place last week.

$500 lawn mower went about 300 yards before the spindle on the mower decided it was done permanently. Oh yeah and the deck is pretty crooked as well. No parts to be found locally and can’t wait the week to get them.

I have to start traveling again and don’t have time to fix it and need something the wife can run without issue as well.

Went down to Lowe’s and came home with this.

View attachment 146546

It’s a ariens apex 60 with the 24 hp Kawasaki motor in it.

Had a 10% moving coupon and got it for $4500.

It’s definitely a stout machine. I know the spindles could be better but I couldn’t find many negative reviews on the machine.

It sure mows grass at one heck of a clip. I was able to mow the entire place in 3 hours compared to the neighbor kid whom used to do it in 4.5 hours on the broke down cub cadet 48”.

I was impressed. Hopefully it will last a long time for me.

Congrats.