Ride on mowers - advice needed

im a palnt mechanic and service comunity mowers across half a shire.
I have a very cheep flogged out 90's MTD auto drive with cruise control.
it needs a front axle,tryes and the 2 spindals cost me $90 each.

John Deere F1445 Commercial outfront | John Deere Commercial Mowing | Parsons

we have 2 of these at 72 inch deck.yanmar diesel.used on tight rough surfaces.6 yrs old 2000 hrs.serviced every 50hrs.
decks has just been replace and is only comes as a complete assembley.
the drive belt for the deck is silly to replace these last 100hrs and ive rebuilt the spidals probably at 500 hours.one has had starter motor and injectors.

in my previous job i fitted air conditioning to a dust sealed cab-germans think you remove the glass panels to get airconditioning.
the other local shire has pressurised cabs but it doesnt look air conditioned.

Kubota Australia :: Categories :: Products :: Models :: Details

we have one of these.the engine is in backwards and the radiator fills with grass easily it has a simple shaft drive of the harmonic balancer so any engine could be fitted.i find it a pain to get out of the shed to work on.if you move the wrong levers out of sequence it stops.
ive replace the gearbox on the deck---they had these in stock.

its used on sandy areas and sports feilds it very fast and the deck has armour plating fitted by us to stop stones coming through the deck.

Walkers Mowers - Australia
we have 2 new diesel walkers.these get little work.
The new deck is miles ahead of the old model.I suspect the new deck is from new zealand and is old man in shed with a beer type re-engineering.
it has a silly shear pin that you spend all day clearing sticks and stones from parks.

mom has the early trouble some petrol engine.walker supplied an upgrade engine conversion at cost.it has silly plastic fans on the hydrolic pump drives.very good on level lawns and fast.this must be 10yrs old now and has been thrashed.

TORO
these must be cheep as i cant see any reason to buy one.my neighbour has one and cant keep belts on it.the work comunity mowers are slightly better with the electric clutch and have a dangerous plastic cover over the blades that we replace a few times a year.
the walker type version we have is always getting looked at.it once broke a steering spring and bucked off the driver-threw the grass bin.it was for a short time like the runaway bull with coments forwarded about shooting it.

these zero turn units dont bellong on sloping ground.

craftsman-husky-etc
cheep trouble free.if you spend a few hours fixing things like steering these should last for years.
I like to try a punsun diesel on a 18-20 horse mower.

my neighbour has a husquavana zero turn.kawasaki engine.

it looks unfinished around the rear and the engine only runs flat out-it often reuses to start when hot and throws belts.

but like the kabotorits fast and the kids line up to flog it around the farm.

"We did something similar - we bought geese . The added bonus is they taste good too!"

Ben, you know in some countries they eat horse too - I think young Maggie might get a little edgey though if she saw her pet pony doing laps on the rotisserie ;)

S

I bought an old Toro Wheel horse last summer. Best thing we did. Our place is not mower friendly but so far all has been good. Prices are steep for new ones once you look at what they are.

I have a cox 3.5HP used on very slopped & rocky ground.
Great little mower, easy to operate & does hills like nothing.
Knocks over really long thick grass & is pretty fuel efficient.
Problems, wear good ear protection, I broke a blade on a big rock & bits of grass get into your Rum in the cup holder.
Jonesfam

Quote:

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Originally Posted by roverrescue

"We did something similar - we bought geese . The added bonus is they taste good too!"

Ben, you know in some countries they eat horse too - I think young Maggie might get a little edgey though if she saw her pet pony doing laps on the rotisserie ;)

S

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With an apple in it's gob:D

Atleast it'd be a useful horse:angel:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by roverrescue

"We did something similar - we bought geese . The added bonus is they taste good too!"

Ben, you know in some countries they eat horse too - I think young Maggie might get a little edgey though if she saw her pet pony doing laps on the rotisserie ;)

S

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I have eaten horse meat quite a few times - and donkey. Very tasty, however I prefer goose.

I bought an ancient cox with a Honda motor, doing a good job now I've cut off most of the deck sides, I'm slowing working the dirt down, once it's smooth I'll rebuil the deck.....hopefully keep my toes

If it's steep though, they are a pain, my old rover mower was like mowing luge, bumcrack on the edge of the gaurd mowing my old joint, can't do real steep stuff with the cox as you need to keep your foot on the pedal, same goes with hydrostatic

Have a zero turn Hustler 18hp 48"cut, 5 acres of grass, trees, ridges, dips and gutters. Absolutely brilliant. Wife just cannot drive it. has flattened trees and mowed gardens flat. May be just a ruse but it too gets grass in your rum when mowing flat out.

When we moved to a bigger block 8 years ago I looked around for a ride-on. Ended up with a very, very old Greenfield and thought I paid over the odds at the time.

8 years later it's still going. It's had 3 drive belts, the odd bit of welding, changed the oil maybe three times and I doubled it's value recently by fitting a new air filter.

I think its a Tractor 8 (very old) fitted with a B&S motor from a pressure washer someone resprayed it white and stuck a few motorcycle stickers on it. There is a chunk out of the aluminium deck which has been repaired with a bolt on steel patch with a bracket welded on for the anti-scalp wheel. Seat is one of those hard plastic ones you find at a school thats been fitted to a steel bracket and bolted on.

If I this one ever dies I think I would look at another Greenfield. Aussie made, no plastic parts used by a lot of lawn mowing contractors......


Colin