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Zero Turn Mowers

6K views 16 replies 12 participants last post by  Grampa Bud 
#1 ·
Let's here it people. What do you have? What do you want?

I have never had any type of riding mower but last year my push Toro died on me and it is time to step it up. I am leaning toward a John Deere 48" mower. I have a shed with a 5' wide door opening so I cannot get a larger cutting deck. I am trying to decide if I should by the mower from the local JD dealer or Lowes. Lows has a better price but I have heard the JD dealers have better service. Does anyone have any tips or advice? Maybe another brand I should take a look at?
 
#2 ·
YOU asked for my 2¢ worth, so her it is: I have 1.3 acres of cut-table grass/yard at my house. When I moved here I had a John Deere, rear engine rider which was two years old and lasted about two more years. I went out and looked at almost everything I could think of, every brand I could find, to make up my mind what to buy next. I bought a ZTR (zero-turn radius) and have never looked back. Mine has a 42" deck, 16 hp motor and so far, knock on wood, not had to do any repairs to it. I changed the oil, oil filter, air filter, and spark plug each spring, keep it clean and lubed, and away I go. NOW--IF one buys a John Deere, a Toro, a Cub Cadet, or whatever here at either the Lowe's or Home Depot store--they are in for trouble. We do have a large John Deere dealership here which will not work on these mowers bought at the apron stores. Now will the Toro dealership work on the Toro's nor the Cub Cadet dealership work on the Cub Cadet's. Both of the apron stores tell the customers to bring them back in, they will ship them out somewhere for repair, and they will be back in 2-3 weeks. NO joke here.
 
#4 ·
54" John Deere Zero Turn

Last summer my husband switched from a regular riding mower (a Husqvarna, but he'd had other, different brand riders before) to a John Deere 54" Zero Turn mower. He'd always liked the regular riders just fine, but he ABSOLUTELY LOVES the zero turn. He bought his at the local dealer, not the big box store because he had heard the same things about service. I think the price was maybe $50-$100 more than at the big box store.

We live in south Louisiana where the grass needs mowing even in the winter, though not quite as frequent as in the summer. He has approx. 1 acre to mow and the zero turn has cut his time almost in half. He also says that it's so much easier to handle that he's not tired at all when he's done. I hear, probably once a week, how much he loves that zero turn.

I don't know much about the specs, but I do know the deck is larger than the next door neighbors (also a John Deere zero turn) and the comment was made that ours cuts closer around objects because the 54" mowing deck extends beyone the tires where the neighbors does not.

I'm sure there's much more to say about it but please understand I've never even sat on the mower. And even if I wanted to, I don't think I could get to it faster than my husband.

Hope this helps.
mpellerin
 
#7 ·
I used to do a side-line lawn mowing service with my sons. We ran all John Deeres.

If you're going to get a John Deere, get it from the local dealer. Get the right salesman & he'll match the price of Lowes or Home Depot. *The local dealers will work on the mowers bought at the box stores, but said mowers will be serviced after all the others. Also, if you buy from a local dealer, they'll probably give you a "loaner" while they're doing warranty work on your mower. That was my experience.


Regarding John Deere quality... Well, you'll get what you pay for. They have entry-level residential mowers, as well as better commercial-grade mowers.
 
#10 ·
^^^ Cool. Actually we're long-since out of the lawn mowing business - something for which I am very thankful!

Right now I'm just tootling along on an L120. It's plenty of mower for our 1-acre place.


Actually, of all the mowers we went through, I think my favorite was the old F525. We absolutely ran the snot out of that beast and it would NOT quit. I sold it to a friend of mine, and he's still mowing with it.
 
#11 · (Edited)
Any mower with a briggs and stratton engine is a fine choice.

Cub cadet just released a ZTR with a steering wheel (no lap bars).

I'm still riding my grandfathers 1982 John Deere with 36" deck.

Turn raduis sucks, but I put a new carb (2008) on it and it starts up every single time.

I have the original reciept and Pops paid $2100 for this sucker in 1982!!!
 
#16 ·
One question, one comment.

How does the zero turn models preform on inclines/angle? eg birms, ditchbanks?

The Briggs and Stratton engine would be my last choice, I would highly recommend a Kawasaki, we have a 9hp over 20 years old, lots of hours and I believe the engine will be the last thing to go on that mower.
 
#17 ·
Interesting stuff on them there ZTR's. I thought about moving up to one, but here in northern Illinois we have to plan on equipment that is functional 12 monthes of the year. I used to mow an acre and a half with a 22" self-propelled, Briggs wonder, every week from the middle of May til Thanksgiving back in the early 70's. Then the Toro 2 cycle "eggbeater" came out to do the drive (80' long x 20' wide all winter. I finally scraped together enough cash to buy a lawn tractor after looking at every concievable tractor with key start, a minimum 36" belly mower, attach points for other implements front and rear, and the availability of things like dozer blades, snow throwers, rototillers and so on. I bought an Ariens/Simplicity 12 H.P. with a 36" deck and a 48" dozer blade in 77-78. In 1980 I could afford the 36" snow thrower and picked that up for this tractor. Like the man says, "You get what you pay for." The dozer blade sits rust free in my garage loft. I still mow an acre and a half with the tractor on the same schedule, but have added an 18" x 48" stone filled roller for the springtime (I got tired of rewelding the ends of the roller every spring just because I forgot to empty the water out every fall) and an 8 H.P. Briggs fired leaf vac, that is pulled by the tractor, to pick up the 250 C.F. of leaves every fall. Then it is time for the snow thrower. If it were just for me it might be a little overkill, but with my back going bad and several of the neighbors in the same boat; a snow shovel is out and those little throwers take to long. I generally do my drive, plus a 6' wide x 75' path from the garage to our back door -right across the lawn- and drives for around 12 of the neighbors. I've had a few parts go bad over the years like blade arbors drying out and exploding under load, thrower skegs grinding down to the sheet metal, a half shaft sheared off at the differential due to a design error from Simplicity, broken teeth in the 1st manual transmission I had due to me overloading the tractor so changed over to Hydrostatic drive, had to rebuild the first engine because it only had an aluminum block and jug and wore out after only five years and had to rebuild the 2nd engine because rubber gaskets wore out valves needed redoing, the magneto gave up and the starter needed new brushes, now I'm on hopefully the third and last engine with a cast iron sleeve, electronic ignition, heavy duty alternator and a full size car battery for all the lights, but the tractor and it's equipment will probably outlast me. Just another brand to consider.
 
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