Have to mow another property next door. Will probably put my mower seat time up to 4-5 hours/wk. Not liking the idea. Opinions on pull behinds? A quick search brings up swisher and dr. Any other Mfg'rs I should be looking at. A tractor is out of the question due to landscaping. I have a Cub 1554 with 54" cut to pull behind now and a 4 wheeler if the mower goes down. Definitely expecting to have to ad tire chains to the mower. Ideas and opinions welcome.
Pull behinds are "OK" for flat, wide-open spaces, especially if you can offset them and use your deck on your mower too. Other than that, meh... We tried one pulling behind the ZTR on a large field, but it couldn't keep up with the ZTR's cutting speed so we sent it down the road. I don't think there are too many people making them.
After more searching , that's what I'm finding. How is the cut in a turn . When using the mower deck also do they track well when they are offset or does it leave a strip you have to go back and get ?
I honestly don't remember turning because we only used it 2-3 times before saying to heck with this. Its hard to match a good ZTR for speed unless you have a wide area finish mower behind a tractor...or a golf course style rig. MM could probably comment better on that as he has golf course experience and I don't. How much total ground are you looking at? A good ZTR can do 3 acres per hour on a yard...5 on a wide open space.
It's probably around 3 acres. My mower is pretty new and I don't really want to trade up. Remote food plots are becoming a BIG thing around here and EVERYONE has a 4 wheeler. I think a used pull behind would have better resale interest when I'm done with it than a ZTR.
You should have some adjustment with the offset arm set-up so you can get it close. Might depend if you're turning left or right too, as to whether it will leave a spot because of tracking. You'll figure it out as you mow. The grin you get with the wider swath over rides any negatives anyway...
Then when you realize your mower now has the maneuvering capability of a trans-ocean freighter, the grin will quickly disappear.
Nothing covers ground like a ZTR (not even close!) and as long as you stay away from consumer/homeowner models, the resale is not a problem. Golf course style WAM's (Wide Area Mower) are good for covering 20-30 acres in a couple hours but it really needs to be fairly open ground and they are very expensive to run compared to a ZTR. Repairing one gets expensive FAST. A 48" ZTR will cut circles around a tractor running a 54" or even a 60" deck unless mowing a perfectly clear field. Start adding trees and landscaping, and a ZTR just gets even faster. A good used front-mount mower is an option too, unmatched durability, versatile in all seasons too, but much less common these days and still not quite as fast as a ZTR.
Sell what u got and get a ZTR. The 3 hours or more less on a mower a week are worth with or get a small used tractor and finish mower and trim with yours. I mow my farm yard a few times a summer. Use my tractor pulling a 72" finish and then round trees and house etc with rider. ZTR would beat me but I dont have one I have what I have. Another thing if you have a food plot 90% of folks use a tractor on them and won't want your youll behind to cut with their atv. Lots of wear dragging g a mower around too with one. And if they have a tractor they will either disk it in or more with a Bush hog.
This is a temporary situation. Throwing $5000+ at it is not the answer (ZTR). I have a tractor and 80" hog that does a decent job finish mowing when its dry but it tears chit up when its wet and takes 5 acres to turn it around. Clems ,, yur watching to much hunting channel. The big time hunters with TV shows use tractors. Hillbilly hunters use 4 wheelers and go a mile off the road through big timber with no roads where tractors don't go. I have what I have too. Not gonna spend phat coin on this.
This mower has been listed for 30 days now and it's still on there. Might get a better deal on it. http://rochester.craigslist.org/grd/4437014289.html
For the same money as a new pull behind you could probably find a good low hour commercial grade zero turn... Or even less if you don't mind high hours. And Sell it when your done for less of a depreciation hit then a new anything. Of course once you use it you'll never want to sell it.
I dont know how many hunting shows I watch now a days...use to watch a good bit. I use to be a pretty serious hunter hunting between 3-7 days a week. I know a few hunters as into it as me. Not one I know of or heard or uses ATVs to plant pole or now. Maybe regional differences, soil types maybe?? I dunno. I do know I have used a plot master. Have one at work. It caused the polaris 500 we have at work to constantly overheat and it barely would break through the red clay around here. And ended up with a terrible plot. And I think they paid as much for it as Ihave in my 25hp tractor, bBush hog, box blade, atv seed spreader, and disk harrow!!
I have a Craftsman garden tractor and a Cub Cadet ZRT-50 ZTR mower. I mow about an acre between two yards and I easily cut the mowing time in 1/2. As far as commercial vs homeowner, I don't see the resale being tough for either. They both have their price points. About the only negatives I've found with ZTR is they don't sidehill well.
I say the same thing if this is a year thing buy a used ZTR at a decent price use it and sell it for what u paid next spring..even if you loose a few hundred to $500 on the deal I think the time saved would be worth the trade off...your talking an awful lot of seat time. Even down here in the deep south I rarely mow once a week if I can get by ...unless its raining a lot.
The thing about pull behinds is the two different types: finish mowers and brush/trail mowers. The finish mower is not going to make it in the woods on a food plot and will have a very limited resale market.
