Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Zero Turn mowers?

No CV19 info on this thread!

42’ish cut, $2,500’ish price range....

Craftsman Z510 at the top of the list now, what say the fire?

We have a Grasshopper, it cost $10,000.

My hills are too steep for one.

Go with whatever you’re best dealer locally sells.

There isn’t a brand out there that’s stands above the rest.

I have a Toro zero turn for 3 years now, same deck size, I use it to mow 3-4 lawns per week and it cost 3k...

Past a flat tire to 2 it’s been a great mower.

The important thing with operating a zero turn mower is to practice the official posture and look. You must sit bolt up-right and never move a muscle save for the almost imperceptible movement of hand on lever and adopt a steely, straight-ahead gaze, never turning your head left nor right.

I am not specifically familiar with that Craftsman model. My one issue is that I didn't want a stamped sheet metal mower deck...had too many rust out and fall apart on me. I wanted a welded plate steel mower deck. A lot of the John Deere and Troy Bilt / Craftsman models in that price range use stamped decks.

I bought a Hustler Raptor 52" with the Kawasaki power plant for $3k (new). They offer a smaller version in your price range if I remember correctly. Watch local ads for a good used machine as well.

Not that 1 year is a huge amount of time invested, but after having this Hustler since last spring, I can say I have been happy with it and would buy the same machine again for my needs (4 acres, mix of lawn, shrubs, trees and wooded tree line). So far, all I have had to do to it is blow the cutting debris off and will do an oil change in a few weeks.

Sounds great. Just remember zero-turn's don't work on hills.

Rookie status right there. I’ve shot guns off them,sent text,watched YouTube clips, and most importantly flipped off other guys on the crew.

TRUTH!

Why the heck would I turn my head left or right when I can accomplish that with the levers?

Stihl??


Good luck finding one that suits your needs. I always wanted to drive one.

Geno

PS, but what do I know, I use a push battery operated one. Any more grass than I have and I want to get livestock, not ride around 1/2 a day mowing.

They work better on hills in real life than they do on the internet.

The best part when you get on your first zero turn is the VERY steep learning curve to operating it.

I remember doing some detail cutting around my barn and boat...got hung and had the trailer tongue pinned hard against the mower's gas tank filler neck. Had probably only been on the mower for 5 minutes and I still remember thinking "How the F*** did I do this???"

And then I remember asking myself "Okay, which way do I pull on these levers to get out of this predicament without breaking something on a brand new $3k piece of equipment????"

Once you get past that though, they are pretty cool to run around your yard on.

The trick on hills is to go up and down the incline spinning at the top and bottom and not go across the incline.

@ war eagle - saw that model, looked pretty stout.


What’s this thing about hills? I’d think it’d be better than a standard Hank Hill riding mower. Not so?

Almost all residential mowers are built by MTD these days. Find something sold locally with the features you like.

Friend who has had several different models says that one of the important things to look for is if the deck can be tilted up for cleaning.

On a zero turn mower, the transmissions are key. The more heavy duty the transmissions, the more pricey the mower.

A company named Hydro Gear manufactures the transmissions for about 90% of the zero turn mowers.

The 2200 series will be found on most zero turn mowers in the $2800-$3500 range.

From there they move up to the 2800 series, then the 3100 series.

Once you get above a mower with 3100 transmissions, you start getting into the commercial mowers.

Hydro gear's page will fill you in.

https://www.hydro-gear.com/who-we-are/

My mower is a John Deere 1475 4wd Diesel 7' Irons deck. I got this after several zero-turn mowers. I have a lot of slopes to deal with. I don't want a mower with three blades chasing me down the hill.

I have a Husqvarna that was rated as heavy duty residential-light commercial, Kohler engine, 3100 Hydro-Gear Transmission, and the heavy deck. It has given great service in the over 5 years that I've had it. If I was looking at a new one, I'd check out Gravely first.