So, I need To Buy A Riding Mower..

[clemsonfor]

If u want to buy new buy an MTD model from walmart or lowes. I can almost guarantee you get 20 years out of it if you change oil and dont abuse it.

 

[prezes13]

I bought my craftsman tractor two years old about seven eight years ago. I got it for $500 with a bagging system. Fourty two inch deck 22 hp Briggs motor all I ever did to it I had to change battery twice. It's great to haul the splitter or take my two year old daughter for a ride around the neighborhood.

 

[BEConklin]

I'm mowing two lawns until we sell the old house which has an acre of land and is all grass. The new house has 2.5 acres but only about .75 acres is mowable. I've had a Toro Timecutter zero turn with a 42" inch deck for the past 7 years or so and it's a helluva lotta fun and makes a damn quick job of mowing. It used to take me nearly 4 hours to mow the old house with a rider and a 36" deck - with the zero turn and a 42" deck that came down to 1.5 hours.

I'll be leaving that at the old house though - offering it for sale to any prospective buyer that gets a shock when he sees how friggin big that back yard is. So I just picked up a John Deere 265 with a 17HP Kawasaki, a 48" deck and a JD tow behind materials collection system. I paid for it - $1800 - got it at a JD dealer where it had been traded in. But it's only got 365 hours on it, has a 60 day warranty and it's as clean as a whistle.

Buying the JD seems almost worth it not to have to load the mower on and off the trailer and drive the hour long round trip to the old house to mow it once a week.

 

[Ashful]

I'm mowing two lawns until we sell the old house which has an acre of land and is all grass. The new house has 2.5 acres but only about .75 acres is mowable. I've had a Toro Timecutter zero turn with a 42" inch deck for the past 7 years or so and it's a helluva lotta fun and makes a damn quick job of mowing. It used to take me nearly 4 hours to mow the old house with a rider and a 36" deck - with the zero turn and a 42" deck that came down to 1.5 hours.

Nice time savings. I'm doing 4 acres of lawn with lots of tree roundings in about 2 hours:



Here's the tool:



Deere ZTrak 757 with 60" deck. It's a gas hog, but it hauls ass. I use 2 gallons / hour, when the grass is thick this time of year.

 

[BEConklin]

I love them riding zero turns! Tree and rock roundings are quick and easy and you can mow right up to an edge and swing away with ease. Those low rocks that are just too tall to mow over, I just put one back wheel on the rock and spin the mower all the way around with that wheel planted on the rock. They're so agile....it's like lawnmower ballet.

 

[bassJAM]

Here's the tool:

View attachment 133960

Deere ZTrak 757 with 60" deck. It's a gas hog, but it hauls ass. I use 2 gallons / hour, when the grass is thick this time of year.

I used to have an 1987 diesel Kubota F2000 with a 60" front deck like the one pictured below. While it was a little large for my 1.5 acres that I mow, I LOVED having a diesel. I put 10 gallons in the tank at the beginning of the summer, and still had fuel left when I put it away. Unfortunately it had a stamped deck that was disintegrating and I couldn't find a replacement at a reasonable price so I've picked a Dixie Chopper 50" with a 22hp Kawasaki. It runs faster, taking my mowing time from an hour to 45 minutes, but gosh it gulps fuel!! I'm starting to think in the long run I would have been better off paying for a new fabricated deck on the Kubota!

 

[Ashful]

Yeah, I've noticed the same. When I went from a 12 hp gas garden tractor (IH Cub Cadet 123) to my 25 hp diesel compact utility (Deere 855), I was amazed how much less fuel this much larger tractor uses. Whereas I used to go thru maybe 3 gallons per day using the Cub to pull a trailer or aerator around the yard, I seem to use only maybe 5 gallons per MONTH in the Deere.

 

[Highbeam]

I bought my craftsman tractor two years old about seven eight years ago. I got it for $500 with a bagging system. Fourty two inch deck 22 hp Briggs motor all I ever did to it I had to change battery twice. It's great to haul the splitter or take my two year old daughter for a ride around the neighborhood.View attachment 133894

I have almost the exact same mower and bought it the same way, nearly new for a steep discount with a bagger from CL. Basic, bottom of the line, all manual, but modern, big box mower. It has been great for mowing about 3/4 acre.

Here's the thing... I bag my clippings and dump them in a huge pile to decompose. If I don't bag the clippings then they accumulate into a brown layer of duff on top of the grass and make a huge mess. My lawn also looks terrible if I don't bag the clippings. Maybe the ZTR mowers have some sort of special way to deal with it but more than half of my mowing time involves the bagging/dumping procedures.

If I could change one thing it would be to buy a wider deck. Going from a 42" deck to a 54" deck would be awesome. Sure, it's only 12" but if you assume that my overlap stays the same (about 6") then that 12" would be a 33% increase! Majorly reducing mowing hours.

I burn less than a gallon per hour mowing with the 42" deck. On my diesel tractor with a 60" deck I also burn a gallon per hour but I am doing much more work.

 

[bassJAM]

I'm no grass cutting expert, but I'd guess that if you have a problem with too many clippings making the lawn look terrible, it's because you're waiting too long between cuttings. My ztr spins the blades pretty fast and has mulching blades, but even then I have to go over it twice when I let the grass get high and it still leaves strips of clippings. Brown clippings really don't bother me though, and are gone by the next time I cut.

 

[Dix]

Okay. Getting closer to my goal of having the $$$$ 's saved for purchase (anything less than 4 $ signs, and I'm gonna be happy, me thinx !! )

Still looking at Craigs List, still watching BB store ads, and local ads.I'll be ready to fire when need be

The idea of moving firewood with a tractor is very appealing, as opposed to schlepping the wheel barrow around this joint, I must say

I can also move manure buckets of composted manure from the farm for the flower beds, and haul them in the dump trailer that I will buy for this thing. I can also buy a plow..... oh wait, the addiction grows.

Damn it, you guys!

 

[BrotherBart]

Dump cart, wheel weights, chains, snow blade and on and on and on.

 

[Dix]

Dump cart, wheel weights, chains, snow blade and on and on and on.

BB, the ultimate justification was "Oh, now I can tow that splitter that I want to buy, considering the oak trees that have to come down here the next few years".

And then, I need a new shed to put this in

 

[BrotherBart]

Let Dixie graze the yard and pull the splitter and save some bucks.

 

[Dix]

Let Dixie graze the yard and pull the splitter and save some bucks.

She doesn't live here, damn it . Because of the trees that need to come down

 

[Ashful]

Dump cart, wheel weights, chains, snow blade and on and on and on.

Yeah... when I had my garden tractor, I kept wheel weights and tire chains on it most of the year, and it spent a lot of hours pulling a trailer around the yard. Very handy tool. If you get a snow blade, then you're out of the lawn tractor, and into garden tractor territory. In that case, I might actually consider a somewhat older Wheel Horse, as I had refuted above.

One down side to some garden tractors (actually, my Wheel Horse) is that the rear diff is a little less "free" than some lawn tractors. My Wheel Horse used to tear some decent divots in the yard on tight turns, a problem I never had with our lighter Deere lawn tractor of similar vintage.

 

[HybridFyre]

Yeah... when I had my garden tractor, I kept wheel weights and tire chains on it most of the year, and it spent a lot of hours pulling a trailer around the yard. Very handy tool. If you get a snow blade, then you're out of the lawn tractor, and into garden tractor territory. In that case, I might actually consider a somewhat older Wheel Horse, as I had refuted above.

One down side to some garden tractors (actually, my Wheel Horse) is that the rear diff is a little less "free" than some lawn tractors. My Wheel Horse used to tear some decent divots in the yard on tight turns, a problem I never had with our lighter Deere lawn tractor of similar vintage.

Or a Case.

 

[BrotherBart]

She doesn't live here, damn it . Because of the trees that need to come down

Too bad you don't live in Ft. Worth. She could live in the big ass barn in the background of the pic of the livery operation I now legally own/am responsible for as the estate trustee.

 

[dougand3]

You want cheap? Get Dixie to pull this...

 

[Applesister]

Maybe your friend can sell you the one you are using and he can upgrade when he gets his new house?

 

[billb3]

2006 Husqvarna with 15HP Kawasaki from dealer not a big box store
I changed the original battery yesterday, the belly mower belt 2 years ago.

Dunno what the mower is painted or coated with but have not lost a chip of paint and a clump of grass has never stuck to the bottom.

It's like riding a gas engine vacuum cleaner though and gets dirty pretty quick compare to the Honda I had before it.
Actually gave the Honda away and just got it back. Dead battery and gummed carb.

 

[SCOTT S.]

Speaking of attachments snow blower is my favorite, not sure if the Husqvarna is better at cutting grass or snow removal it does a great job at both.

 

[Ashful]

Mine too:



64" Woods snow blower... really moves some snow!

 

[Dix]

Too bad you don't live in Ft. Worth. She could live in the big ass barn in the background of the pic of the livery operation I now legally own/am responsible for as the estate trustee.

I could do this. Really, I can.

Sign me up

 

[BrotherBart]

Father in-law-built the place a bazillion years ago. The barn has tongue and grove oak floors and auto waterers to each stall. I am now getting to pay for putting a new roof on that damned barn. And the house.

All I have other than that is a lot of rest home and legal bills.

ETA: And six kids, all old now, from two marriages that think they are now millionaires from that piece of dirt.

 

[SCOTT S.]

Wow Joful 64" that is crazy my husqy is only 48" and it impresses me every time I use it that Woods looks awesome.