Zero Turn Mower Recommendations

From my father:
"If it takes you any more than 15 minutes to mow your lawn - no matter the size - you have the wrong mower" !!!

 

I was going to buy a Zero Turn a year ago and went with a tractor instead for the versatility. If I was going to to get a ZT though, I was leaning heavy on the Bad Boy's!

 

Yikes, is that a par 3 Dex?

 

Speaking of beer, that is one of the worst things about a ZTR, your hands are almost always needed so there's little time to drink. And if your lawn isn't perfectly smooth, putting a beer in a cupholder will turn it into froth. My last mower was a front deck diesel Kubota. It was super heavy, so I wasn't bounced around. And the controls was a steering wheel and foot pedals. I could always have one hand free to drink and/or have a cigar. With my ZTR, I've pretty much given up on having a drink while I mow unless its a mixed non-carbonated drink that won't get shook up. And occasionally I'll still have a cigar, but it's still sometimes more trouble that it's worth.

 

Beer helmet.

 

A plus with my Gravely is that the ends of the handles are close enough to one hand for brief tasks like that.

Somebody told me the Kawasaki engines are rated for over twice the service life as BS and Kohler engines. Don't know exactly what that means. It wasn't a sales pitch, either.

 

You don't have to be over 45 to appreciate a Ferris. You just have to have a lawn that is less smooth than a pool table.

I mow 10 acres using a Ferris 3100Z with a Michigan suspension seat. Including horse pastures. It's overkill for a couple of acres but it's not cool when your cutting speed is strictly limited by the abuse dished out to the rider. I used a Kubota 60" for a while with my Ferris was in the shop and the ride was ugly and really slowed me down. I know I'm an extreme example but demo a couple first.

 

I have the same motor and deck size in a regular riding mower with the hydrostatic trans. Awesome motor and deck...transmission is slow and gutless. I'm sure the zero turns are better. I will say it has been 100% trouble free for close to 20years.

 

If you spend enough time on the lawnsite forums you'll learn that every engine is a lemon. Or a hero.

In all seriousness, the engine brands had a number of winners and losers. Figure out what model of engine it is and do your reliability research on that. One size larger or smaller can be a whole different game.

That said the Kawi water cooled engines have a decent reputation. The bigger air cooled Kawi's are a mixed bag.

 

60" exmark kawi.
3000 hours used commercially, like it's designed to be. Paid $2500 for it. I'll replace everything as it needs for the next 20 years or 500 hours at most.
Around here xmark is king.

As was stated above, the large commercial outfits purchase new every 2 seasons and trade in. Those units are ridden hard for short times....good units with warrenty . Find a good dealer either way or a good mechanic.

 

We have 4 of the Gravelys in our family. No complaints!

If you have lots of trees to mow under, consider the height of the operator's seat. Some like the Bad Boys have the seat higher in relation to the ground & for me this ruled them out.

While I love my ZTR, if you have steep hills/ditches you want to mow parallel to, a basic lawn tractor will be easier to to steer with.

Ferris does make a good mower but was about twice what my Gravely 60" HD was for the same size. (Sister has one.)

If you will be mowing in wet/marshy conditions very much, consider a traction tire instead of a turf tire. Most tire stores will give you a good trade in value if you go straight from the mower shop to their store. Tried to convince my brother he would be happier with traction tires but he wouldn't listen. That fall he bought some.

I only put around 100 hours a year on my mower. Switching from a 42" cut lawn tractor to a 60" ZTR cut my mowing time from 13 hours to less than 4 hours.

 

Good point about the wet ground. A ZTR will get stuck on muddy grass faster than you can blink. Also re-iterating the point about slopes - ZTR's aren't good with steeper slopes.

 

I have a 1998 Gravely promaster 200 60" deck 20 horse kohler command from a inlaw.He brought it over one day and dropped it off in my driveway would not take anything said he owed it to me needed alot of work didn't run.I put alot into toget it runnin its a life saver been very reliable built like a tank heavy gauge.

 

You can mow some pretty steep slope with a ZTR and planning things out ahead of time. Just keep the nose pointed uphill and don't get yourself in a situation where you will need to back up.

Mine isn't bothered by wet conditions..but it's no 4WD tractor either.

 

Dexter you are Da Man, cool mower.

You really get what you pay for in mowers.

Great lawn too. Do you do your own chemical applications and fertilizing? That grass did not grow by accident.