? zero turn for two acres

[Tractorcedric]

So I have an old cub cadet and a LX 178 John Deere. Just thinking of getting a zero turn because the yard has many trees and other obstuctions. Also would like to keep the barnyard mowed. Now I mow around the buildings with the cadet and then mow the main part with a 6 foot finish mower on my 550 Oliver. So I still have to back into places. You see them at Home Depot. Are the JD ones at HD the same as the ones at the JD dealer. Witch ones are the easiest to get on and off of. The three I use are getting hard to get on and off of. I see Toro has a front entrance on some models. What is the best engine to look for?

 

[RESLLS]

Honda or Kawasaki for gas engine, diesel idk. Look for front suspension, most don't have it but it makes a big difference in the ride. If you have a hilly yard, stick with what you have. I have a 40 ft rise in 150 feet for my whole front yard. Straight up or across if it's dry is no problem. Down hill even if dry you have no control. They do cut at a fast pace. I cut about 1.5 acres. When I use the zt it takes about 45 minutes off my cutting time.

 

[bweb]

So I have an old cub cadet and a LX 178 John Deere. Just thinking of getting a zero turn because the yard has many trees and other obstuctions. Also would like to keep the barnyard mowed. Now I mow around the buildings with the cadet and then mow the main part with a 6 foot finish mower on my 550 Oliver. So I still have to back into places. You see them at Home Depot. Are the JD ones at HD the same as the ones at the JD dealer. Witch ones are the easiest to get on and off of. The three I use are getting hard to get on and off of. I see Toro has a front entrance on some models. What is the best engine to look for?

I had a Cub 184 at the farm with a 5 foot cut and went with a Husqvarna with a 52 inch cut. Goes a lot faster with the zero turn. Also have a lot of trees to go around. There are some repair shops that won't work on the box store ones. If you have any hills you might want to go with a more commercial series with the bigger hydros, they will help hold you on the hills when you mow sideways.

 

[dcarp]

So I have an old cub cadet and a LX 178 John Deere. Just thinking of getting a zero turn because the yard has many trees and other obstuctions. Also would like to keep the barnyard mowed. Now I mow around the buildings with the cadet and then mow the main part with a 6 foot finish mower on my 550 Oliver. So I still have to back into places. You see them at Home Depot. Are the JD ones at HD the same as the ones at the JD dealer. Witch ones are the easiest to get on and off of. The three I use are getting hard to get on and off of. I see Toro has a front entrance on some models. What is the best engine to look for?

A zero turn will reduce your mowing time considerably. Mine went from 1 hr 45 min to just over 1 hour. Difference in mowers from big box stores and the ones at JD dealer is like the difference between a Chevrolet and a Mercedes. But of course, so is the price.

 

[kencombs]

So I have an old cub cadet and a LX 178 John Deere. Just thinking of getting a zero turn because the yard has many trees and other obstuctions. Also would like to keep the barnyard mowed. Now I mow around the buildings with the cadet and then mow the main part with a 6 foot finish mower on my 550 Oliver. So I still have to back into places. You see them at Home Depot. Are the JD ones at HD the same as the ones at the JD dealer. Witch ones are the easiest to get on and off of. The three I use are getting hard to get on and off of. I see Toro has a front entrance on some models. What is the best engine to look for?

I can't speak to all of them, but I'm happy with my Hustler Fastrac. Kawasaki, 60" cut. I chose that series due to the Hydrostats, heaviest duty without moving up to models with separate pumps and motors. And fully serviceable, oil etc.

All JD mowers with the same name/model info are the same no matter who sells them. Locally at least, JDs sold by Lowes are serviced by the local dealer. You must register your machine with JD, using the Lowes receipt info.

 

[HFJ]

What is the best engine to look for?

not a Briggs, that's for sure. people are telling me, with a pretty good margin, that Kawi makes the best small engines today.

i took a gamble instead and bought myself an 80 volt Ryobi. time will tell if i made a good call.

 

[RobCons]

I have 3 zero turn mowers, a 44 inch, 48 inch, and 60 inch. Toro ZMaster, Kubota ZG222, and JD Z530M. All with Kawasaki engines. I use them on different yards depending on yard size and access. Once you try one you wont go back.

 

[Bob Bancroft]

So I have an old cub cadet and a LX 178 John Deere. Just thinking of getting a zero turn because the yard has many trees and other obstuctions. Also would like to keep the barnyard mowed. Now I mow around the buildings with the cadet and then mow the main part with a 6 foot finish mower on my 550 Oliver. So I still have to back into places. You see them at Home Depot. Are the JD ones at HD the same as the ones at the JD dealer. Witch ones are the easiest to get on and off of. The three I use are getting hard to get on and off of. I see Toro has a front entrance on some models. What is the best engine to look for?

I have a Ferris, and a good friend is the Ferris dealer. He has sold $1,000,000 worth a year for several years. Ferris is owned by Briggs and Stratton. He has no more issues with B&S than he does with Kawasaki.
He will work on machines sold by the big box stores, but he tells the owner right off that they are at the bottom of the schedule. And he is buried with work.
Anyone I know who has a JD likes it. This includes an old dedicated IH guy.

 

[Goose]

The house yard we mow is about 2 acres. We went from a 24hp conventional garden tractor with a 54 inch cut to a Toro zero turn with a 21.5hp Kawasaki engine and a 50 inch cut and it just about cut our mowing time in half.

 

[Dingo3]

I bought mine back in the late 90s when the only ones you saw were commercial units. I bought an Encore 60” commercial with the 22HP Kaw.
It cut my mowing time in half and has been very good to me. I think I paid about 4 Gs back then but I bet they are closer to 10 now.
Edit: I just looked one up….over 12 Gs now. WOW

 

[Welding man]

We mow 4.5 acres every week. We have a BAD BOY with 750 hours on it. Soon will be 7 years old. Oil, Filters and Blades is all that has ever been done to it. Every piece of outdoor equipment that I own including my welder and air compressor and wood splitter has a Kohler engine. I have never had anything but bad luck out of a Briggs. Never have owned a Kawasaki. I understand they are very good. We have rebuilt a few Hondas and some Kohlers. I have worked on Exmarks, Gravleys and a few others. It kindly depends on how much money you want to spend.

 

[brentb]

Dixie chopper

 

[dcarp]

I can't speak to all of them, but I'm happy with my Hustler Fastrac. Kawasaki, 60" cut. I chose that series due to the Hydrostats, heaviest duty without moving up to models with separate pumps and motors. And fully serviceable, oil etc.

All JD mowers with the same name/model info are the same no matter who sells them. Locally at least, JDs sold by Lowes are serviced by the local dealer. You must register your machine with JD, using the Lowes receipt info.

All the JD mowers are made by JD, but the big box stores sell mostly the z300-z500 series. Any JD mower in the z700-z900 series are head and shoulders better than the 3-5 series.

 

[rustred]

So I have an old cub cadet and a LX 178 John Deere. Just thinking of getting a zero turn because the yard has many trees and other obstuctions. Also would like to keep the barnyard mowed. Now I mow around the buildings with the cadet and then mow the main part with a 6 foot finish mower on my 550 Oliver. So I still have to back into places. You see them at Home Depot. Are the JD ones at HD the same as the ones at the JD dealer. Witch ones are the easiest to get on and off of. The three I use are getting hard to get on and off of. I see Toro has a front entrance on some models. What is the best engine to look for?

Don’t fool around with them tonka toys. Get a kobota diesel zero turn. 2 acres is a lot of cutting. I don’t think half these guys know how big 2 acres is, if that is indeed what u have to cut. They are expensive !

 

[zuhnc]

My SO mows our 2-3 acres, with a lot of trees, in a couple of hours. Gravely 60XL with the Kohler 24HP engine. About $4,000 two years ago. Going on 250 hours with no issues, other than the rocks in the yard (Missouri, can't get rid of them!) One set of blades, so far. I have mowed the 5 acre horse pasture with it, with grass 8-10 inches high. A little slower, but got the job done (8N with 5 foot Bush Hog (tm) was out of commission).

If you are really gung-ho to get a zero turn, check out the electric Stihl's, at around $26,000. Blurb sheet says they will mow 20 acres of regular grass on one charge. zuhnc

 

[Russ from MN]

We bought a JD form HD, but the JD dealer delivered it. it's not the best machine, but it was cheap. Been bulletproof for 11 years now, with a 22 hp Briggs that runs perfect. It's too bad the front axle doesn't articulate, but most don't. It would follow a rough lawn better.

 

[kencombs]

Don’t fool around with them tonka toys. Get a kobota diesel zero turn. 2 acres is a lot of cutting. I don’t think half these guys know how big 2 acres is, if that is indeed what u have to cut. They are expensive !

I mow my 2.83 acres about every 5 days in wetter months, and my daughter's 3/4 acre at least weekly. With the Hustler mentioned earlier. About 300 hours with no real issues, just an idler pulley bearing failure on the deck. Those 'lubed for life' bearings are really lubed for the life of the grease. That one didn't look as if the bearing factory had put any in it.

Diesel is nice, I have a 455 JD with a 60" deck that's only used for lifting with the little loader or pushing and pulling since I got the zero turn. But the premium for diesel over gas in comparable chassis is just to steep to payback, IMHO.

My brother in law just replaced a Grasshopper that was at least 30 years old, a little over 1600 hours before the Kohler command wore out. But this Grasshopper was commercial grade and in todays money, about 16k. Diesel version over 20k.

 

[Fixingfarmer]

We mow approximately 2 acres of the 4 we have. Grandpa mows about 8 that's all he does in the summer it seems like with a 72 inch Kawasaki powered Deere. Ive never driven it into something it couldn't handle and ive gone into some fairly good sized brush but it is a commercial model with 7 iron deck. I don't like the side discharge it would be fine if you kept up with it able to mow every 4 days when it needed it, picked up grass, or just didn't care. Thats the only downside. It did also need a new oil pan last winter as the old one the bolts that hold it to the Frame had stripped out the aluminum pan and the engine was just sitting on the frame and along for the ride. It is a second owner machine however I suppose that's what to expect. Getting on and off he has an extra handle right in the middle that sticks up about 3 feet so he can hold on to something.

We are in about the same boat as you. I have a 72 inch mower for the rear of my B had a woods but went back to the rear mount to get rid of that long belt that kept causing fits but lost the tighter turning ability. We are looking for one my wife can drive to go around flower beds and trees while I do the open areas.

I know for sure 46 inches is too small we had a craftsman that we used for a few years and that took about 3 hours it wasn't worth it. I loved the mulching deck however you could cheat and mow if it was a bit wet. The briggs was fine. Not fast but you could get done if you needed to and let the grass get a bit too long without creating windrows. Also liked it because you don't care about wind as much.

What ive been looking at is the husquevarna/deere/cub cadet 56 inch or 54 zero turn with mulching deck. There are a few Kohler options that are interesting but most have been Kawasaki. I was also going to get her to try her dads mower which is a newer small cub cadet and just see how she likes it. She has mixed feelings on the Deere but I think she would grow to like it especially a smaller one its not the easiest to learn for someone not used to the zero turn it has quite a bit of power to the wheels.

If you need a suspension I know the people who have toros love them. I got a fairly ridiculous quote from a dealer once and gave up on that pretty quick but if you have the money why not I suppose beats destroying your back that's expensive too.

 

[bc]

Been very happy with the 54 inch cub cadet ZT1 from TSC with Kohler engine. The bigger the deck, the more it sticks out the side which makes it easier to go around things such as trees and poles.

Went to every mower seller and again at the state fair. Sat in all of them and operated the controls to raise and lower the decks. Cub had the most comfortable seat and easiest to operate the deck since the wife does most of the mowing. It had a heavy frame which also went over and behind the engine to protect it and place to tie on to if needed to pull something. Looked at the JD's below 6 grand and the all had lightweight square tubing frames about 2 inch or so. Cub had a much heavier frame and the seat had so much more padding than the others. Also I compared rear tire size and the Cub had 24 inchers while the others had 20 or 22 inchers. Bigger tires helps with rough areas and wet spots.

Try them all out. Take a pen and paper and write across all the characteristics of a mower mentioned here and then grade them all as check them out. Sat in a couple that almost gave me a rear end ache after 30 seconds. You have to find one that fits the rear end of the driver. Forget about those old molded seats they have on the garden tractor. Then you might find the wife and kids volunteering to mow the lawn.

 

[db4600]

Don’t fool around with them tonka toys. Get a kobota diesel zero turn. 2 acres is a lot of cutting. I don’t think half these guys know how big 2 acres is, if that is indeed what u have to cut. They are expensive !

2 acres is exactly 8 rood.