Spend my money - ZTR or walk behind

After going to start up my Craftsman bottom of the barrel last night, and of course it not starting for the 7th season in a row... my wife told me to go buy something new.

I'll get it running again, and sell it for a hundred bucks and change. Looks to be starter and possibly a bad switch. I've replaced nearly everything on that machine except those.


Maybe half + acre of mowing, tractor plus push mower takes me just over an hour with a 42" deck. Plenty of obstacles but mostly flat aside from the random tree root.

I think a ZTR would make me still require a push to get the harder spots. I am leaning walk behind since I can go down to 1 machine and mowing area isn't really worth the ZTR. I have the Kubota for real tractor work, so I don't need to pull trailers or anything.

My only concern is dealing with leaves. We get plenty. On the double bagger, in October, I am dumping 15 times and that is mulched first.


Any thoughts? Anyone have experience with Gravely?

 

I should shut up because you asked for anyone with experience with this, However!!!! Get the machine that does it best for you within your budget. I wouldn't be thinking about what would work on your best day, but what about when you are tired or have a lot of work to do. Those walk behinds can suck the energy right out of you. If you are hurting for one reason or other, you might put the work off and then it gets worse than ever to deal with. Grass grows and leaves fall with no regard to how you are feeling or what you schedule is.
The home owner up the road from me has the walk behind. He spends at least 4 hours cutting his lawn once or twice a week. He is exceptionally neat about his yard. In his 40's and now with his first infant.

 

Are you talking commercial grade walk behind? My old Toro Proline was a nice machine.

 

Pro grade or bust.

 

I've never bagged with a walk-behind, but I have about 30K miles walking behind a Toro. For what you describe (< 1 acre) a ZTR would be way overkill...not that there's anything wrong with that. I would imagine bagging would be a lot easier with a ZTR.

With that being said, I guess I have no opinion. Probably would be happy either way. Just buy the best machine you can afford, keep it clean and full of clean fluid, and it will last forever.

Hydro walk-behinds are nice, but if your yard is flat you could do without the hydro and save a few bucks.

 

I have a 36" exmark and a sulky with a bagger. I mow roughly the same as you and it does everything I ask of it. It does have a learning curve!

 

I've had to use my neighbor's ZTR on multiple occassions (see aforementioned multiple breakdowns per year with Crapsman)... it's fast, in about 35 minutes I can do what takes me an hour. It just seems way overkill and a much pricier solution.

I've never operated a walk behind with that style of hand controls... so I'm sure I'll be on the low end of the curve for a few mows. I'll walk for a while before I venture down the sulky path!

 

I never was a fan of the sulky.

 

I have been very happy with my Gravely HD 60. Well built machine, good bang for the buck. Overkill for you, but they have smaller decks. A friend has a 48" for his halfish acre lot in town.

I'd buy another in a second.

 

The Gravelys had good years and bad years. The ones we used were good for the walk behinds. I like ZTRs and they are fast. I have a walk-behind and never use the sulky. I agree with the above posts... Go commercial grade. I worked lawncare before and won't own anything else. I had to use a home grade ZTR before - horrible, slow and constantly breaking. You should be able to get more mower, better quality, for a decent price in a walk-behind. I suggest a 48" deck with a 20+ hp motor. Kohler engines were ok, Kawasaki were better, and I have heard great thinks about Honda.

 

Try a ZTR mower on your property and see how much trim mowing you have to do. I have a commercial grade Toro 21" mower that seldom sees any use since I bought my Z.
For a half acre, a 42" Z is all you'll need if it will work for you.

 

I have, trimming is minimal except where my neighbor's mower is too wide (48") to even venture.

I actually scoped out a 36" Gravely walk behind, the "gear" drive one, which they had on the lot. I must say it looks awesome, but after watching the demo "drive"... I can see the learning curve and I flat out wasn't excited.

Then for about $1k less he showed me a 42" Hustler "Raptor" ZTR. It looked decent and for $2800 it still had a 21?hp Kawasaki. These are not commercial grade of course and I have done zero research on them.

I drove away thinking right now I need to get the Crapsman going to get more time to think. After seeing the physical size of the WB, it didn't appear much more nimble than the ZRT. Decisions...

 

Commercial walk behind. 36 or 48 is all you need. A riding ztr is super overkill for a half acre. Velke is a must imo. For a homeowner a belt or gear drive is just fine.
Your cut time will be about 15 minutes once you get the hang of it.

Exmark or toro would be my brand recommendation.

Bagging....Yea screw that with a walk behind. Too small to mess with imo.
A ztr bagger is about 2k $ imo that's too much coin.
Get some gator blades and mulch em up.

 

Do you live in an area where they allow pets? A pair of goats would do the job just fine and come fall fill the freezer too.

 

I've always wanted a goat.... but they need fences and shots and stuff.

 

If I had one, it would only be for the goat milk and potential of getting goat cheese.

 

That's what I'm thinking.

 

Have you considered a stand on mower?

 

Nope.... should I? I'd really prefer to keep this under $5k and those are usually up there in cost.

 

I didn't realize they were more expensive. Back when I was in the market a couple years ago I just looked at used ones, and they seemed priced similarly to ZTR's at the time.