WonkoTheSane said:The hydro in my 149 is still going strong and I'd like to get something that's serviceable for 44 years again :)
I'm not sure I would count on that happening again!
WonkoTheSane said:The hydro in my 149 is still going strong and I'd like to get something that's serviceable for 44 years again :)
I'm not sure I would count on that happening again!
Another time saver; buy three sets of the best blades available and a nice table or stand grinder. Sharpen only the angled side and not razor sharp or they won't last long. Change them as often as you are willing. I like every week but I hit rocks and other debris. Sharp blades also cut faster and cleaner. Dull blades also makes it harder on the motor.
The new zero turn Hustler mowers have a feature that lets you raise the front of the mower deck 90 degrees to clean it and change the blades. Now that I know that such a system exists, I would kill for that option.
I’ve had a Hustler commercial walk behind since about 1994 and it’s been awesome.
Probably much more than you need but look at a Ferris.
The SCAG is a good strong mower. The Ferris is better. But since you only cutting 3 acres it probably does not matter.
We used a 72" Scag Turf Tiger at the church I attended ( and cut the grass ). We had volunteers cut 42 acres every week. You read that correctly, 42 acres. The Scag took 19-20 hours a week to cut the grass. After 8 years the Scag was starting to become problematic. Chasing charging and ignition problems. The church decided to get another mower to use in addition to using the Scag as a back up. I found the 72" Ferris for $2K more than a new Scag. Our cutting time went from the 19-20 hours a week to 13 hours a week. The biggest different was the suspension - 4 wheel independent - allowed the operators go faster on the Ferris than on the Scag. The Scag will beat you up and there is no way I would want to have to get on one again....ever.
In reply to 68TR250 :
Now that is interesting! A suspension would be *really* nice.
WonkoTheSane said:Thanks for the link, VCH. Based on what I'm seeing, though, a tractor that will spin a 60" deck is going to be a LOT more expensive than a ZTR. My friend has one on his kubota, and I think that the tractor, cutting deck and front bucket was somewhere in the 16k range. That's about 3 times what my max budget would be.
If I'm going to haul anything too large, I have my truck.
Yes, but he got...a BUCKET. That's huge. Trust me- I bought my compact utility tractor 4 years ago, and having that bucket is like going from using your hands to claw through dirt to buying your first shovel. I love it.
We live on a bit over 3 acres, of which I mow about 2. The rest is either forest, garden, or covered by buildings. For the mowing bit I have a late 90's Simplicity 18 horse garden tractor with a 48" deck. It mows nicely and rides nice due to it weighing something like 800 pounds (that and I keep the tires inflated to like 5 psi in the back). Power steering, etc. Takes me about 3 hours to mow everything, but I also usually let it grow to about 6" tall before I cut it so I have to go slow. There's also a lot to trim around. I've thought about buying a ZTR just because of the obstacles I have to mow around, but can't really justify the $$$$. Plus, our land is uneven and has a few modest hills.
volvoclearinghouse said:Yes, but he got...a BUCKET. That's huge. Trust me- I bought my compact utility tractor 4 years ago, and having that bucket is like going from using your hands to claw through dirt to buying your first shovel. I love it.
We live on a bit over 3 acres, of which I mow about 2. The rest is either forest, garden, or covered by buildings. For the mowing bit I have a late 90's Simplicity 18 horse garden tractor with a 48" deck. It mows nicely and rides nice due to it weighing something like 800 pounds (that and I keep the tires inflated to like 5 psi in the back). Power steering, etc. Takes me about 3 hours to mow everything, but I also usually let it grow to about 6" tall before I cut it so I have to go slow. There's also a lot to trim around. I've thought about buying a ZTR just because of the obstacles I have to mow around, but can't really justify the $$$$. Plus, our land is uneven and has a few modest hills.
Yeah, it would be nice, but I don't have any projects that justify upping my price from 5k-ish new to 16kish. I don't have time to do any landscaping projects or anything for the forseeable future, either since I have 5 young kids, two of which are 9 month old twins. The biggest reason I want to do this is because I really want to cut my mowing time down from 3-3.5 hours, which takes me 3 weeks to find time to do, to 1ish hour which I should be able to do every other week or so. I really can't afford the time to keep working on things for an hour before I mow, either, which means I want newish. A 3-5 year old tractor with a cutting deck and bucket are practically the same as a new one.
SpitfireBill - The ExMark that I was looking at yesterday looked completely servicable. Maybe I'm being too optimistic, but I think I can keep something like that alive for a good long time.
Woody - I like! I'll have to see if there's any around here to check out! Thanks for letting me know!
68TR250 - I can't find a price list, but the only used ferris looks very used and still way over my budget. I'm guessing that isn't going to work for me, as luxury as it sounds :)
In reply to WonkoTheSane :
Understood. Yeah, even with 2 kids (4 years, 20 months) time is at a premium. What I do is break up the lawn into sections, and do the front bit one time, then the middle bit, then the back bit. I can usually find 45 minutes to an hour to sneak away and bang out pieces of the lawn. I also swapped the crappy stock headlights on my tractor to LED bulbs, which makes mowing after dark a real possibility now. I am careful to shut the mower off before 10PM, so I don't disturb sleeping neighbors. But that time between when the oldest goes to bed and 10 o'clock is prime time to get stuff done. I'm sure you could mount some lights to whatever mower you plan on getting.
volvoclearinghouse said:In reply to WonkoTheSane :
Understood. Yeah, even with 2 kids (4 years, 20 months) time is at a premium. What I do is break up the lawn into sections, and do the front bit one time, then the middle bit, then the back bit. I can usually find 45 minutes to an hour to sneak away and bang out pieces of the lawn. I also swapped the crappy stock headlights on my tractor to LED bulbs, which makes mowing after dark a real possibility now. I am careful to shut the mower off before 10PM, so I don't disturb sleeping neighbors. But that time between when the oldest goes to bed and 10 o'clock is prime time to get stuff done. I'm sure you could mount some lights to whatever mower you plan on getting.
That's the plan :) After dinner is probably when I'll do most of it. I'm banking on new mowers being quieter than my old cub, which is open exhaust at this point (it technically still has a muffler...).
That's how I've done my lawn, too, but the reality of the situation is that between work, school obligations, rain and mechanicals, I've been working on mowing my lawn for the last month, and now the first covered areas need hit again. And I have a few hours of work to do on the mower to before I can get to it.
I've spent a few hours that past couple of days perusing ZTR mowers on the CL. There are way more brands that I was aware of.
So, for a bit of closure, here's what I'm thinking:
Based on dealers in the area/price wise, I think I'm pretty set on the Exmark Radius RAE708GEM52300 for $5,600. It looks like a pretty solid unit with a lot of niceities on the interaction. Fully welded frame, super thick cutting deck and looks pretty serviceable. They have a trailer jack mounting point in the front for more serious service, but I can always just lift it using the 2 post lift as well.
The closest competition I could find was the Gravely ZT HD which would end up about $500 less after rebates, but doesn't have roll over protection or a hitch/mounting point. I think the ROPS will be important since I want my kids to be doing it in a few years. Buying both of those (standard on the Exmark) would bring the prices closer to parallel. Looks like if I finance through Exmark, I can get $400 off, so $5200+tax all in.
Looks like a good choice.
I was just on the website and noticed they have a rear- discharge option. To me, I would kill for this. It seems like I'm always mowing next to something that I don't want to be spraying with clippings, and inevitably the tractor's pointing in the wrong direction.
volvoclearinghouse said:Looks like a good choice.
I was just on the website and noticed they have a rear- discharge option. To me, I would kill for this. It seems like I'm always mowing next to something that I don't want to be spraying with clippings, and inevitable the tractor's pointing in the wrong direction.
Would you mind linking me to that? I can't find it. I was interested in their operator controlled discharge block, so you can temporarily shut it down around cars and such. Either that, or a mulch kit.
In reply to WonkoTheSane :
https://www.exmark.com/products/mowers/rear-discharge
The problem with mulching mowers is they don't work well on grass that's too tall. Which means you have to mow frequently. They also require more power to Cuisinart the grass clippings up.
IIRC old Graveley's had rear discharge. I don't know why more riding mowers haven't gone this way (obviously it would be an issue with walk-behinds!)
Thanks! I'll have to ask how many clams that'll cost.. It'd be nice, but for my property it's not a requirement at all.
volvoclearinghouse said:In reply to WonkoTheSane :
https://www.exmark.com/products/mowers/rear-discharge
The problem with mulching mowers is they don't work well on grass that's too tall. Which means you have to mow frequently. They also require more power to Cuisinart the grass clippings up.
IIRC old Graveley's had rear discharge. I don't know why more riding mowers haven't gone this way (obviously it would be an issue with walk-behinds!)
Yeah, my old Wheel Horse had it, too. I think a lot of people like baggers these days.
Bummer that Exmark doesn't offer rear discharge on their smaller decks. I have some tight spots on my lawn, so 48" is as big as I want to go.
Yeah, I've had a mulching setup that I fabricobbled myself for the cub. It worked fairly okay until kids, life, and maintenance forced the mowings to be more than 1 month apart.. Then it didn't work that well.
Bummer that Exmark doesn't offer rear discharge on their smaller decks. I have some tight spots on my lawn, so 48" is as big as I want to go.
They used to have a 48" rear bagger. Man, that was such a clean mower. For the Lazer we had a side discharge mulcher bagger that bagged in the rear. It was used in the fall mostly. Did a great job but was about 3 grand.
I had a Lazer mulch kit that I used but it was for weekly mowing on fine lawns.
In reply to WonkoTheSane :
Ferris Mowers web site> https://www.ferrismowers.com/na/en_us/test-ride.html
You probably have to cut and paste. Still don't have the pasting links stuff down. A 48" Ferris goes for $5599 @ SLE Equipment.
The unit you're looking at has an air cooled engine. There are tons of them out there, and some with crazy high hours but in general they usually have about half the life of a liquid cooled engine. It's worth knowing.
Also, while researching my mower purchase I did a lot of reading on Lawnsite. The posters there are usually professionals and have a pretty good idea about what works on mowers and which ones are junk. I remember a general high regard for Exmark, but got the impression that they didn't cut all that well in tall or wet grass compared to the Scag Velocity deck or the Deere 7 Iron. If you're not mowing frequently, or always in the dry, then it might be an issue for you and require you to slow down, and that somewhat defeats the purpose of buying this thing. YMMV, but before you drop a couple of challenge cars on a mower I'd do a fair bit of reading over there and make sure that you're getting what you want for your hard earned money.
The fold up deck thing pictured above is awesome. I would almost consider modding mine to do that. All it takes is a cutting torch, right?
Thoughts on accessories. If you are going to finance this thing, push them down to $5k. It's only another $200 and at the end of the season they'll be happy to do it. Then, just as you are about to sign the paperwork, make them throw in the mulching kit for free. Worked for me. I basically got the mower, the mulching kit, and a Stihl trimmer for a little under the original asking price of the mower. Alternately, tell them you'll buy at $5200 but they'll need to throw in the (probably expensive) BAGGING kit for free. Add-ons and accessories is a great place to deal.
I've thought about adding lights to mine but in prime mowing season it's light here till 9:30 PM. Not really worth the return.
Thanks for the link to the Ferris, 68TR250. Looks like the closest dealer is about an hour away, which is a deal breaker since I can't pick up parts or get service during the week. And based on the dealers' hours, I would have trouble getting to them on Saturday, as well. It looks like that's the closest Hustler dealer as well.
STM317 - I don't think I have the budget to get up to a water cooled one, and as far as mowing goes I have the equivalent of "all highway miles!" since I've got an hour or so (hopefully) of flatish grass in New England, so it shouldn't ever be too terribly hot. I probably won't be mowing if it's 100° outside :) Thanks for the link to the lawnsite, though! Lots of people seem to be having good luck with any of them in this price range, so I guess it comes down to your ergonomics and bells and whistles, eh?
UltraClyde - Unfortunately, on this model they're not really willing to deal :( I confirmed with another dealer much further away that this is just the price for this unit. Apparently there's a lot more margin on the model up or down from it, and the end-of-season thing isn't helpful since next season all of these things are going up by $2-300 due to tarriffs (not just exmark, everyone that I talked to mentioned this was the last batch at this price), so I don't think I'll be getting an awesome deal :( I'd love to wait and play the game, but I don't have time.
In reply to WonkoTheSane :
If I lived where you live and was shopping for a mower this week, I would head directly for The Big E, where you will likely find every lawn mower known to man, on display and available at a discount.
For what it's worth, I went with the Cub Cadet purely for the steering wheel zero turn and I'll buy another before I go back to the arms for steering. I don't recommend the 60" deck, though; it's so wide that a small bump at the wheels translates to a noticeable difference in cut height out at the ends of the deck.
One brand, I think it was hustler, uses trailer wheel hubs for the blade spindles. That means 1" shafts and bearings you can buy anywhere in any quality level you want to pony up for. There's a lot of the right kind of thought in that decision, and I like it.
Truly commercial units now have an engine with a pump attached and hydraulic motors for the wheels and blades. That's the kind that lasts forever. If you are looking at units with a belt from the motor to a housing at each wheel the best you can do is make sure there's a drain plug and a filter, then pick the engine you like best.
WonkoTheSane said:STM317 - I don't think I have the budget to get up to a water cooled one, and as far as mowing goes I have the equivalent of "all highway miles!" since I've got an hour or so (hopefully) of flatish grass in New England, so it shouldn't ever be too terribly hot. I probably won't be mowing if it's 100° outside :) Thanks for the link to the lawnsite, though! Lots of people seem to be having good luck with any of them in this price range, so I guess it comes down to your ergonomics and bells and whistles, eh?
If buying new is preferred, then you're probably right. But you can definitely get lightly used units in your budget that are liquid cooled. At least here in the Midwest.
The most important thing is that you understand what you're buying and you're comfortable with it. If a new/air cooled unit sits better with you than used/liquid cooled, then mow away. Do what lets you sleep at night.
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