Lawn mower opinions?

[catscratch]

Any zero turn takes two hands to drive. You'll have to grab quick sips on the straight runs when you can hold both handles with one hand.

I found a zero turn that works off of joystick control just like a Case skidsteer. I would love to mow one handed! Anyone know anything about the Country Clipper brand? The flip up deck would be nice too, I'm always sharpening blades that nick rocks that peak up here and there.

Kawasaki engines seem to be the ticket. They come up several times on this thread so I'll add that to my list of features.

Does anyone know anything about Hustler's Flex forks. Advertised to make a smoother ride but I'm suspect of moving parts, more to wear out.

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[Jeff H]

Not to throw a wrench into your plans but what would it cost to have someone mow for you ? Are you too rural for that type of service ? Seems like the ROI on a zero turn is quite high plus maintenance cost and hours spent.
Just my .02

 

[George]

I started my tenure in Iowa with a 21" toro pulled out of retirement and quickly upgraded. Dixon, now extinct, 60", 25 horse Koehler. The 25 horse Kaw engine is definitely the ticket. I paid 8g for it and it is still a good machine. I cut every thing on my farm with it, clover, grass, rye, weeds. I very seldom pulled out my 7' bush hog. Point being, they are great machines to have. I was able to get the deck up 6" high which worked great for trimming clover and alfalfa.



G

 

[catscratch]

Not to throw a wrench into your plans but what would it cost to have someone mow for you ? Are you too rural for that type of service ? Seems like the ROI on a zero turn is quite high plus maintenance cost and hours spent.
Just my .02

Don't know what it would cost to get a service to do it. Probably 1.5hr drive time (round trip) combined with the size of my yard would tie up a crew for half a day.

Doesn't matter anyway. I like to take care of my property myself. I wouldn't be comfortable or happy with someone else doing it for me. I just need to make sure I explore all the options as I'll probably have this machine a long time.

Here is the one it's replacing sitting where she died (she quit while spreading gypsum). I've fixed her a thousand times but I think we've both have had enough.

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[catscratch]

I started my tenure in Iowa with a 21" toro pulled out of retirement and quickly upgraded. Dixon, now extinct, 60", 25 horse Koehler. The 25 horse Kaw engine is definitely the ticket. I paid 8g for it and it is still a good machine. I cut every thing on my farm with it, clover, grass, rye, weeds. I very seldom pulled out my 7' bush hog. Point being, they are great machines to have. I was able to get the deck up 6" high which worked great for trimming clover and alfalfa.

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G

That would be awesome! Something that can mow the yard, but also has the guts and height to mow clover and do throw-n-mow.

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[T-Max]

I run a Hustler 54 SD. The SD's are supposed to be heavier duty. A guy also told me that you can service the transmissions on an SD, but the regular ones are sealed. I have not confirmed that... Last fall i spread my food plot seed and then mowed everything down while pulling a cultipacker. Couldn't even tell it was pulling anything. Mine has been great. I am sure others are great as well, but I wouldn't trade mine for anything.

 

[farmer]

Would take a serious professional to drink a beer and operate a zero turn. Every time I try I either wind up with spilled beer or more on me than goes in my mouth.
Those kubota diesel mowers are indestructible but pricy. Friend of mine who landscape for a living is running an exmark and uses that for small food plot work too.

 

[momark]

If you're serious about drinking the beer they do make zero turns with conventional steering.

 

[catscratch]

If you're serious about drinking the beer they do make zero turns with conventional steering.

Well, I kind of put the beer thing in jokingly but the fact is I usually do have 1 or 2 while I'm mowing... and with my old mower it was a huge pain to steer while holding one. So I guess it is kind of important.

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[Lewi B]

Picked up a 4 year old used Lightly for commercial Exmark 60 inch deck 3 years ago. It had almost a thousand hours when I bought it. Kawasaki engine and owned by a firefighter. He gave me a spiral notebook of all the maintenance done for the time that he had used it. Always synthetic. Have put almost 500 hours on it and it still runs as if brand new. Once a year greasing and an oil change every a hundred hours and cleaning off with an air hose after each use is all I have done. I did replace the rear tires as they were getting hard and not as grippy and that was a good move. I paid exactly half of retail for a new machine at the time. Could not be more pleased with the machine I purchased. Would be very easy to add a trailer hitch but I have plenty of other options for that. Good used machines are out there and fairly inexpensive but take your time to find a good one. Took me almost a month and I drove 350 miles round trip to pick up but I live in the middle of nowhere so we always have to drive to get stuff. Hope you find a good mower

 

[Lewi B]

PS if I'm not doing real small intricate areas it's very easy to mow one-handed to allow for guzzling at the time

 

[dogghr]

Well, I kind of put the beer thing in jokingly but the fact is I usually do have 1 or 2 while I'm mowing... and with my old mower it was a huge pain to steer while holding one. So I guess it is kind of important.

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Best way to drink a couple and mow is have your wife do the mowing and you watch from porch drinking your milk and giving her instructions. Let me know when/if you are going to do that as I want to watch! Man up.

 

[T-Max]

Best way to drink a couple and mow is have your wife do the mowing and you watch from porch drinking your milk and giving her instructions. Let me know when/if you are going to do that as I want to watch! Man up.

I'll bring the popcorn......

 

[j-bird]

Being the cheapskate that I am.....I refuse to fork out the cash for a zero turn. I just looked at my local Rural King store.....Husqvarna 24 hp tractor in 54" deck is $2,000.....same brand 24hp 54" deck zero turn type is $2800. To me $800 is nothing to sneeze at.....that's a 40% increase in price to do less stuff.....in my opinion. Now if your mowing a lot of ground and time is very valuable to you, then the additional speed you may get with a zero turn may be worth it. However, I know you got boys around the house, so their time is even less valuable than yours....so if they take a 1/2 longer to get the job done....is it a big deal? I also am not going to spend any more money than I have to in order to accomplish a task I really don't like doing. All I know is that I have been using a cub-cadet lawn tractor for several years now and it was used for roughly a decade before I got it and I just replaced the clutch in it a year ago or so for like $50. Other than that....it does what I ask of it. For most other jobs I use my JD790.....I have used it as a lawn mower, but mamma ain't happy when I do. But in October, I got better things to be doing than mowing the damn yard!

 

[Bowhunter]

If your time isn't worth much than I'd get a tractor mower. If your time is precious like mine is, then you'd be crazy to not get some type of zero turn.

I mow three different yards ranging from 2 to 8 acres in size. My grandmother has 8 acres and it takes me an hour and 45 minutes to mow the entire thing. Before I had a zero turn, I used a 72" tow behind finishing mower behind my Kubota and it took me roughly 6 hours to finish. Without a zero turn I'd be on a mower at least three full days a week. Now I can usually mow everything in one day and have time to spend with the family. I think it's worth the extra money of a zero turn to save time so you can do other things that you enjoy. Just my $0.02.

I have a commercial Cub Cadet Recon 60 and would highly recommend it to anyone.

 

[g squared 23]

If your time isn't worth much than I'd get a tractor mower. If your time is precious like mine is, then you'd be crazy to not get some type of zero turn.

I mow three different yards ranging from 2 to 8 acres in size. My grandmother has 8 acres and it takes me an hour and 45 minutes to mow the entire thing. Before I had a zero turn, I used a 72" tow behind finishing mower behind my Kubota and it took me roughly 6 hours to finish. Without a zero turn I'd be on a mower at least three full days a week. Now I can usually mow everything in one day and have time to spend with the family. I think it's worth the extra money of a zero turn to save time so you can do other things that you enjoy. Just my $0.02.

I have a commercial Cub Cadet Recon 60 and would highly recommend it to anyone.

If your time is so precious, why spend it mowing 8 acres in the first place? Plant some shrubs or NWSG or anything. I don't understand the need to keep everything looking like a golf course. Let it grow bro.


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[Bowhunter]

If your time is so precious, why spend it mowing 8 acres in the first place? Plant some shrubs or NWSG or anything. I don't understand the need to keep everything looking like a golf course. Let it grow bro.


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Because if I don't mow it my 87 year old grandmother will kill herself trying to mow it. She won't let it grow up because my grandfather loved his lawn.

 

[j-bird]

Because if I don't mow it my 87 year old grandmother will kill herself trying to mow it. She won't let it grow up because my grandfather loved his lawn.

I totally understand that sentiment. Un-mowed or "un-kept" areas are a sign of poor ownership as far as some of the older generation is concerned. I have an area that was once a pasture and I have tried and tried to get my wife to allow me to plant something....anything. Even wild flowers so it would be "pretty".....and she still wants it mowed. Her grandparents (farmers) where the same way. If it's not a ag field or a pasture or woods.....it better be mowed and taken care of! My wife gripes about my CRP buffer strips but only tolerates them because they are away from the house. I have tried time and time again to explain to her the "pretty" to people tends to not be "pretty" to wildlife and that I'm only wasting time and money and possible wildlife habitat by mowing the small fescue pasture. She doesn't care.

 

[Drycreek]

If you're serious about drinking the beer they do make zero turns with conventional steering.

Or if you're serious about not mowing mama's geraniums, you could save the beer until you get through. I recommend taking the first one like a capsule, and the others the conventional way.....

 

[Drycreek]

Because if I don't mow it my 87 year old grandmother will kill herself trying to mow it. She won't let it grow up because my grandfather loved his lawn.

I'm a little like that myself, in fact your grandmother ain't that much older than me. I have to make myself not mow the perimeters of my two properties when I know there could be fawns bedded down in them thar weeds.