ZeroTurn's

[Timd32]

I have an 2006 Cub (MTD) 1554 it's a 3 blade 54" nice Kohler engine. Just put a battery on it first time since I had it in 2013. Has spin on filter, 2 Cyl, nice air filter. Always been a good mower.

It's does a great job, deck is starting to show its age a little. I can fix it up and maybe get it cutting a little better. Will need tires and some odds and ends soon.

But end of season is coming and what little stock folks have have seen some good deals on ZeroTurns.

Main goal is to save time mowing if possible and of course get cut for my crab grass of a yard.

Never driven one, but of course all the pros use them and the stand on deals. They appear faster and have a good cut.

Have about 3ac to cut takes about 1.5 hours on the best day. (Trimming excluded)

Anyone have them, pros cons. Would probably go light commerical then a homeowner version only because it should out last most of the now a days home owners line, and I have 3 pretty good local dealers to shop and they have good service if ever needed.

I ran the numbers vs having a lawn service and I'm still ahead by a few K since 2013, if I figure my labor I could even rake in .17 cents per hours.

Any thoughts?

 

[BSeyler]

My wife and her mom mow about three acres between them with a zero turn. It’s mostly flat ground and they love it. However, I’ve talked to people who have tried to mow an incline on a pond dam. Consensus is they are not so good for that. They will try to take you for a swim.

Theirs is a John Deere. My son has a Ferris and it looks good to me. He mows about five acres with it, but uses his tractor at the pond.

 

[Larry Willard]

I looked at a couple, but was told unless you have flat land it could be a problem. My neighbor had a demo John Deere that slid down a slight embankment and overturned in a small creek. He did buy one but it was the biggest JD available and he stays out of the ditch and embankment.

 

[BigPapa]

We have a Ferris. Our property is certainly not flat, lots of hills, terraces, and a pond. I’ve never been in a situation where I couldn’t control where I was going. The only time it’s even close is if it’s wet and muddy and you really don’t need to be mowing under those conditions anyway. I’ll put it this way, I’ve not been stuck or slid NEARLY as much on the Ferris as I have on the traditional Ford, Jacobsen, and Craftsman lawn tractors I’ve owned.

 

[Timd32]

I forgot about that hill part, I have a pretty nice brush mow behind for the hills.

It's one of the newer DR, pretty much a beast, there is a Blue and White color brand that is nicer someone posted but never saw them around here at the local places.

https://www.turbodieselregister.com/threads/dr-pro-max34.269286/

It's pretty flat for the most part nothing horrible, which is why I picked up the DR. The hills I have are really rough and sketchy for a mower. And it's all prehistoric weeds around here too much for a mower when only done twice a season on those parts.

This is the hill I try to hit it twice a year with the brush mower. I only do like 4 passes with the riding mower towards the top part. I can see that might be an issue when wet. I have a nice little 2 blade Honda walk behind that I use by the house around and kids toys the 1554 does not have a bagger option or mulching blade option. Most 2 blades have those options seems the MTD 3 blade decks don't have that.

 

[Timd32]

This took 50 min with the DR. Can usually do just this hill all in about an hour, take a quick break half way, and get mower in and out of garage.

It's a pretty good work out with that machine still.

It has a Briggs commerical, I have a feeling that Briggs stopped making these even though it's a 2019.

 

[Timd32]

I've actually not heard of Ferris will see if they are around here.

 

[mwilson]

I have a middle of the road Residential / Commercial Husqvarna MZT 52 I bought 5 years ago brand new.
Trouble free as far as anything that might have been the mowers fault.
The main thing I was looking for was the fabricated mower deck instead of a stamped steel POS..
Mine has a Briggs 26hp, the full on commercial versions have a Kawasaki I think.
We do about 4 acres here and then another 1 1 /2 acre lot just up the road.
It does like it’s gasoline, takes between 4 to 5 gallons for the whole project depending on how tall the grass is. Never bogs even in wet grass. Stays right on the pin.
Parts are readily available, wife got too close to the edge of a ditch and dropped the rear wheel over the edge. Mower deck dropped onto the only rock around and it bent a blade and spindle. Easy and low cost to make the repair. Worst part was reassuring the wife that it wasn’t destroyed…she loves that thing more than me….
We had to try a few different blades before we were satisfied with the end result.
If you feel it start to spin in soft or wet ground you have just about 1 second to either full reverse or power through. Once it drops you are done and will need a tow. These are heavy machines…
Slopes are a little sketchy at an angle until you figure out how to approach..
One thing that we will seek at replacement time is a suspension seat, these things mow fast but will beat you to death if you don’t have a perfectly manicured lawn in places.
All I can think of for now, but only 1 coffee deep so far…

 

[mwilson]

We mow this in both directions with no worries other than that little section by the trees. Strong pucker factor the first few times until we figured it out. 45° angle downhill is the solution..Picture is deceiving as that bank is fairly steep.

 

[mwilson]

Before I forget, two modes of operation..very important.

1) Roll bar up, seat belt on.

2) Roll bar down, no seat belt.

Right in the owners manual.

 

[mwilson]

Went and found my spare set of blades as I couldn’t remember the brand we liked…

Oregon Gator G5 blades..

 

[Topzide]

@Timd32 , Used to work at a lawn and garden shop. ZT will save you time! Can go from mowing to trimming without have to use push mower due to maneuverability! Yes, slopes can be a no go but can be doable pending on the slope. Up and down is the safest way and kits available to put some weight on front end. 2 types of ZT's, sit on and stand up versions. The stand up versions handle hill a bi better due to all the weight being centered along with the small foot print. Another thing to consider would be a hydro walk behind with a sulky. Just as quick as ZT and you can disconnect the sulky for the hills if needed. Something to chew on. I would tell buyers you could get home from work and mow yard before the storms hit and not waste your weekend! Most my customers told me they could cut there mowing time in half after learning the machine and yard. Good luck with choosing and I'd be happy to help any way I can.

 

[NIsaacs]

I recommend whatever you get, that it comes with a ROPS. I fabricated a hitch on the rear of my mower so I could hang some tractor weights, the hitch is the only thing that kept it from going all the way over, with me under it. But I need supervised

I think Swisher has good equipment but spendy. I have one of the tow behind brush cutters, it has been a good one.

https://www.swisherinc.com/categori...de-front-mount-zero-turn-rider-z3166cpka.html

 

[GCroyle]

Not an owner but I did spend about 30 hrs on a Husky PZ54 with a Kawasaki.

A learning curve for the joy sticks but I finally got that down pretty good. But the big one is rough ride. It does have some kind of spring seat frame. The front wheels are direct extensions off of the frame with solid tires.

Why don't they make a pivot axle like on std garden tractors? Anybody got comments on that, good/bad?

The ground I mowed has rough spots in it either from no grass low spots to no finish grading and that made for a bouncy ride. A noticeable I'm glad that's it for today kinda ride. It does eat some grass though.

 

[BigPapa]

You two complaining about rough ground need to check out the Ferris.

https://www.ferrismowers.com/na/en_us/why-ferris/suspension-technology.html

 

[BSeyler]

My son’s Ferris has four wheel suspension and he loves the mower. Our John Deere has a spring loaded seat - seems more like an ejection seat to me.

 

[GCroyle]

Scott,

Never seen or heard of a Ferris until today. That Husky I was hired labor not management.

But just for grins and giggles this is MY old mower. My Dad bought it from the original owner when it was less than 2 yrs old. engine has never been out of the frame, rear tires have never been off of the chassis, axle has never been opened up. I did have to put a new carb on it a few yrs ago, the throttle shaft got loose and wiggled in the casting after countless hours of mowing etc. The seat is a replacement and mounts on a large spring C mount. It's simple and it works.

1965'ish IH Cub Cadet 100. Kohler K241AS 10hp cast iron with AL head, Delco Remy starter generator and voltage regulator. It had about 30 yrs service in Ohio at Mom and Dad's including just under an acre of mowing, leaf chopping and sweeping, snow plow work, pulling the logs that I cut up for firewood even very light grading of loose dirt.

It's had 4 generations at the wheel and it got used last weekend. It's in semi retirement but still active.

When it fires up it's like hearing a 12V, 4 cycle musical therapy.

Gary

 

[BSeyler]

In high school, I worked at a feed and implement store. IH was one of our lines. We sold several Cub Cadets and my granddad bought one. Amazing little machine! It had a whole host of implements available. Pretty rare item theses days! Heavy and tough.

 

[Jim W]

My older son with all of the toy's has an eXmark zero turn mower. He cuts about 2 1/2 of his 5 acres with the eXmark. He also has a Club cadet tractor with a 42" deck for the brush in the woods on his property. The other two acres has been turned over to hay, which a local farm harvest the hay twice a season.

He tried out several different zero turns that his friends own first and he decided on the eXmark has his choice. There is a one problem to be aware of, one you really can't tow or push anything with a zero turn mowers. Such as a spreader, sprayer or any other lawn tool plus a snow blade. That is why he kept the Club Cadet lawn tractor plus operating the tractor in the woods to keep the brush down.

 

[GCroyle]

And I did watch a Ferris video looks impressive.

I ain't doing nothing special right now, how about a true story just for grins about that snazzy commercial Husky I was using.

Owners pointed out that it was leaking, somewhere. It had light oil spray all over it, under the bottom of the seat, both hydro's, battery, rear frame I mean all over a lite but ever present oil spray.

Finally the Lady of the farm asked if I would care to look at it before it went into "the shop" sure, can do.

Well, me and Mr. Farm were looking it over and one hydro blower fan was dry and the other was film city with scum. It looked like the highest working source of the spray, the fan somehow was guilty. Naw, said Mr. Farm, that's not the source.

OK I go mow.

Days later we look again and this time I pulled the fan shroud off on my side and Mr. Farm finally pulls his shroud off on the sprayed up side.

Me, what's that! As I pointed to a loop over two blades that felt like a soft o-ring. No clue never been here but it looks wrong.

Off comes the plastic fan blade. What the heck it's all wrapped around the fan shaft, look it has colors in it and is that copper wire???????????

Mr. Farm unwraps his lost under the seat Bose headset cable. So that's where that went!

I ran it over 11 hrs after that unwrapping cable from the shaft and no more oil film or spray on the fan, under the seat or anywhere else.

To me the cable wound itself around the shaft, jammed into and opened up the top lip seal (assumption as no further teardown followed) and leaky leaky. Mr. Farm couldn't see how that was possible.

Stay tuned.

Gary