Zero turn mowers (Fayette, Grant: sale, Home Depot, buying)

[padmaster]

I'm thinking about buying a zero turn mower. I've only looked at a John Deere Z255 and a Husqvarna. The Husqvarna looked relatively cheap made compared to the John Deere. Does anyone here have a zero turn? If so, what model and why did you buy that model?

[Big Grumpy]

Gravely is the brand used by many of the commercial grass-cutting companies. You might check their lineup out but I'm guessing they're a bit pricier than some of the other brands that are geared more toward residential customers.

[padmaster]

Yea I'm definitely looking at a residential model. Would like to keep it at or below $3000.

[BMW Dave]

Jeez! Zero Turn eh?

I have a Husqvarna, I like the brand a lot. It's not a zero turn.

My friend runs a lawn company and he uses the

ExMark Lazer or something

Buddy's Small Engine has a great selection of Zero Turn mowers and I believe they were on sale as the season is ending.
I was in there dropping off a chain for sharpening.

Lowes had some out front, but they weren't actually on sale, if I remember correctly.

How big is your yard?

[padmaster]

My yard is about 1/4 acre. I just bought a husqvarna push mower from lowes at the start of this season and I do like it, but I've been having a lot of problems with my foot from an old ankle injury. I typically push mow the front yard and use my old craftsman riding mower on the back. I don't like to use the craftsman on the front because it doesn't mow level. I will probably sell it if I get a zero turn. I was hoping to find some kind of end of season deal but zero turns are very popular right now so I doubt I will find one. The only dealers that carry husqvarna zero turn in this area are wolfman in hazel green and yearwood in Fayetteville. I went by trigreen in Fayetteville this past weekend to look at the John Deere and well, it's John Deere. I stopped by wolfman on the way home and looked at the husqvarna and it just didn't look very well built. Most notable was the welded deck. The John Deere has a stamped deck. I may go by Hills and Buddy's this weekend to see what they have.

[padmaster]

I also read some reviews on the husqvarna that said it has major deck vibration problems.

[bmrisko]

If you're going to get one, residential zero turns from the big box stores are crap. Get a Gravely, Scag or Exmark...I still think a zero turn is overkill for such a small lot but you have a valid argument if walking is difficult for you.

[BMW Dave]

Well I certainly would never tell someone to NOT go for "More Power"

But a good wide cutting deck riding lawnmower will cost you Half of a zero turn.

My 48" Husqvarna 7.75MPH mower is tops. It's the fastest NON zero turn, I paid $1890 for it at Lowes and I mow my front and back in under 30min. I have .39 of an acre. I also have lots of obstacles still, so it's 30 done and done, just need to weed eat after that.

I bought a Husqvarna self propelled last winter when it was on sale, but the yard was too much for it. So I had to upgrade unfortunately in the middle of the season, hence why I had to pay FULL Price. It hurt a little. But it was taking me well over 2hrs to do it all and I was dying out in the heat and grass debris.

[dijkstra]

The Husqvarna's as well as the others sold at places like lowe's, home depot, other big stores are cheap slapped together crap for the typical cheap American consumer. That includes the John Deere models sold at lowes and home depot. While the John Deere models sold at those stores are probably the best models sold there, they are still far lower quality than the real ones sold at the John Deere stores.

I have have had a Toro Zero Turn for a number of years now and it is built like a tank. I have absolutely no complaints about it. Now it is a commercial grade, not a consumer grade and since it is designed to be serviced, it will last me the rest of my life if I want to keep it that long. They come with either Kawasaki or Kohler Command engines. Get the Kohler, they are very good engines. The Kawasaki's are known to be less reliable.

Exmark is another very good choice. Many of their models are actually Toro designs but with Exmark's own deck design. They struck a deal with Toro years ago and they use toro designs but toro wouldn't let them have their deck technology. Toro's deck technology is supposed to be one of the best and as good as mine is I will confirm it is a good design. Go test drive some and fire the deck up, you can actually hear the toro deck moving more air than most other if not all brands.

The real John Deere's are of course excellent and would be a great choice. I actually almost bought one. I researched the John Deere and Toro model I was looking at and at the time I found they both had the exact same engine, exact same hydrostat drives, and both had roller tapered bearings for the deck blade spindles (basically trailer axle type bearings that are greasable). So basically they were the same mower mechanics wise and both were built comparably well so I chose the Toro due to it being prices about $500 less.

If your yard has wet areas or areas with a lot of slope, you are not going to like a zero turn. When one drive wheel slips or spins, the mower immediately turns and goes that direction since the rear hyrdos both drive and turn the mower. A couple of weeks ago, a man in Grant went over a 50-80 foot cliff on his zero turn for this very reason. Amazingly he stayed on the mower all the way to the ground, landed on the wheels and survived.

The advantage to a zero turn is if you know how to properly use one, you can decrease the time it takes to mow your yard by at least 30%. Basically what you do is you keep the yard as long as possible by making a pass on each end and then going back and forth the length of the yard. This way you keep the deck in the grass and the mower moving at full speed as much as possible thus decreasing the time it takes to mow the yard. Mine is capable of mowing over 5 acres per hour and I have literally done it to see if it really would. Mine has a 62 inch deck and a 23 hp Kohler engine.

[BMW Dave]

Originally Posted by dijkstra

The Husqvarna's as well as the others sold at places like lowe's, home depot, other big stores are cheap slapped together crap for the typical cheap American consumer. That includes the John Deere models sold at lowes and home depot. While the John Deere models sold at those stores are probably the best models sold there, they are still far lower quality than the real ones sold at the John Deere stores.

I have have had a Toro Zero Turn for a number of years now and it is built like a tank. I have absolutely no complaints about it. Now it is a commercial grade, not a consumer grade and since it is designed to be serviced, it will last me the rest of my life if I want to keep it that long. They come with either Kawasaki or Kohler Command engines. Get the Kohler, they are very good engines. The Kawasaki's are known to be less reliable.

Exmark is another very good choice. Many of their models are actually Toro designs but with Exmark's own deck design. They struck a deal with Toro years ago and they use toro designs but toro wouldn't let them have their deck technology. Toro's deck technology is supposed to be one of the best and as good as mine is I will confirm it is a good design. Go test drive some and fire the deck up, you can actually hear the toro deck moving more air than most other if not all brands.

The real John Deere's are of course excellent and would be a great choice. I actually almost bought one. I researched the John Deere and Toro model I was looking at and at the time I found they both had the exact same engine, exact same hydrostat drives, and both had roller tapered bearings for the deck blade spindles (basically trailer axle type bearings that are greasable). So basically they were the same mower mechanics wise and both were built comparably well so I chose the Toro due to it being prices about $500 less.

If your yard has wet areas or areas with a lot of slope, you are not going to like a zero turn. When one drive wheel slips or spins, the mower immediately turns and goes that direction since the rear hyrdos both drive and turn the mower. A couple of weeks ago, a man in Grant went over a 50-80 foot cliff on his zero turn for this very reason. Amazingly he stayed on the mower all the way to the ground, landed on the wheels and survived.

The advantage to a zero turn is if you know how to properly use one, you can decrease the time it takes to mow your yard by at least 30%. Basically what you do is you keep the yard as long as possible by making a pass on each end and then going back and forth the length of the yard. This way you keep the deck in the grass and the mower moving at full speed as much as possible thus decreasing the time it takes to mow the yard. Mine is capable of mowing over 5 acres per hour and I have literally done it to see if it really would. Mine has a 62 inch deck and a 23 hp Kohler engine.

Hmmm, mine has a Kohler engine with 24hp...