Thread: Zero Turn Mowers

Walker mowers are good machines, have a look at the mc basic and reliable. Kubota are also good more refined but parts can be expensive. What ever you get, a welder, grinder and a hammer will be useful to keep the deck straight and the blades sharp, you will hit stumps and rocks from time to time.

I would thank you Nod but the button has disappeared!!!

Originally Posted by DiscoGav

Walker mowers are good machines, have a look at the mc basic and reliable. Kubota are also good more refined but parts can be expensive. What ever you get, a welder, grinder and a hammer will be useful to keep the deck straight and the blades sharp,

you will hit stumps and rocks from time to time

.

we wont because we are removing them all that was the purpose of wrecking this little mower as the clean up machine, ready for the pricey one to come in and live a little longer with a less harder life..or at least thats the plan

Zero turn mowers are the latest sexy craze in mowers. Your dealer will tell you that they're the greatest thing since sliced bread, turn on a sixpence, levers instead of a steering wheel, ergonomic as buggery and as technologically advanced as the latest iPhone 6 or whatever. It's all bull****. It's a lawn mower. If you're mowing around a lot of trees or in very difficult places a front deck mower is good but can take a bit of getting used to, but if you're mowing flat paddocks why do you need a mower of this complexity and with a pile more (expensive) moving parts to wear out ?
Sure Huskys are good and a 52" mower will do the job quicker than a smaller mower so why not buy a Husky GTH3052TF Lawn Tractor ?, more powerful than the MZ28ZT, same 52" deck, hydro drive and over $3000 cheaper ? Plus you can put a trailer on the back and use it as a mini tractor for various jobs around the place. Much better value for money and more versatile. It'a a mower, it cuts grass.

As for Toro, brilliant mowers, practically invented front deck mowers BUT their spare parts pricing is absolutely poisonous, plus Toro US have stitched up its dealer network in the US to prohibit sales outside the 'lower 48' states. Recently tried to buy a Toro ignition coil for an Onan motored ride on, $400+ in Australia or $45 in the US but won't export due to trade restrictions. What was that about the North American Free Trade Agreement with Australia ? Haha.................

John Deere stuff is excellent quality and IMO better than Husky and their spare parts are very reasonably priced. Simplicity is also good quality but I don't know about their spare parts pricing. If you're serious about quality avoid the MTD stuff of which Cub is probably the best, but still not a 'serious' mower. Kubota is of course the 'Rolls Royce', but big bucks.


Deano

Originally Posted by DeanoH

Zero turn mowers are the latest sexy craze in mowers. Your dealer will tell you that they're the greatest thing since sliced bread, turn on a sixpence, levers instead of a steering wheel, ergonomic as buggery and as technologically advanced as the latest iPhone 6 or whatever. It's all bull****. It's a lawn mower. If you're mowing around a lot of trees or in very difficult places a front deck mower is good but can take a bit of getting used to,

but if you're mowing flat paddocks why do you need a mower of this complexity and with a pile more (expensive) moving parts to wear out ?

Sure Huskys are good and a 52" mower will do the job quicker than a smaller mower so why not buy a Husky GTH3052TF Lawn Tractor ?, more powerful than the MZ28ZT, same 52" deck, hydro drive and over $3000 cheaper ? Plus you can put a trailer on the back and use it as a mini tractor for various jobs around the place. Much better value for money and more versatile. It'a a mower, it cuts grass.

As for Toro, brilliant mowers, practically invented front deck mowers BUT their spare parts pricing is absolutely poisonous, plus Toro US have stitched up its dealer network in the US to prohibit sales outside the 'lower 48' states. Recently tried to buy a Toro ignition coil for an Onan motored ride on, $400+ in Australia or $45 in the US but won't export due to trade restrictions. What was that about the North American Free Trade Agreement with Australia ? Haha.................

John Deere stuff is excellent quality and IMO better than Husky and their spare parts are very reasonably priced. Simplicity is also good quality but I don't know about their spare parts pricing. If you're serious about quality avoid the MTD stuff of which Cub is probably the best, but still not a 'serious' mower. Kubota is of course the 'Rolls Royce', but big bucks.


Deano

I do have a lot of trees down the back didnt you read that bit which is one of the reasons a tractor is not ideal

and I still have the little mower to pull a trailer which we just intend on taking the deck off and let it pull hay and **** around the paddock on our little tipper trailer....

I hear John dear are good I also hear they have quite unhappy customers because they have changed their decks to pressed. I wouldn't touch an MTD zero turn even though our little MTD ride on has been brilliant!! because I have read a lot that they self combust apparently a few have gone up in flames due to a faulty fuel line and company did not honour warranty..even with new ones...but that was just reading off people that brought them I guess they could be exaggerating

Lou, we have a basic Murray that's ten years old.
My partner scored it for nicks from one of the studs she foal watches at as they couldn't make it go.
An oil change, a tappet adjustment and we have a mower (that's needed the deck welded, and a few bits and bobs)

The studs have all gone front deck Toro's as that's what the biggest dealer here sells.

As for paddocks, they use 100+HP tractors with flailing mulchers

The front deck mowers are for the gardens/surrounds and roadsides. (our neighbour has 7km of hwy frontage, up to 20m wide shuolders and it's all mowed with, or was until they employed that new contractor that lost his Dixon last week with a couple of front deck Toros)

The two mower mechanics here don't like the JD mowers, they reckon they're overpriced, spares are overpriced (just like their tractors) and not very durable.
The older ones were much tougher.

Originally Posted by rick130

Lou, we have a basic Murray that's ten years old.
My partner scored it for nicks from one of the studs she foal watches at as they couldn't make it go.
An oil change, a tappet adjustment and we have a mower (that's needed the deck welded, and a few bits and bobs)

The studs have all gone front deck Toro's as that's what the biggest dealer here sells.

As for paddocks, they use 100+HP tractors with flailing mulchers

The front deck mowers are for the gardens/surrounds and roadsides.

The two mower mechanics here don't like the JD mowers, they reckon they're overpriced, spares are overpriced (just like their tractors) and not very durable.
The older ones were much tougher.

of course they are I forgot you lived in posh land

Originally Posted by dullbird

I do have a lot of trees down the back didnt you read that bit which is one of the reasons a tractor is not ideal.................................................. .....

Sorry DB, the term Lawn Tractor is just marketing terminology for ride on mower, it's really no bigger than the zero turn mower you're contemplating. It's not really a real tractor at all.

I've just recently gone through a similiar exercise looking at mowers and decided that the zero turn stuff wasn't worth the cost, also way too complex for for reliable operation and thus more expensive and dificult to maintain.

John Deere stuff is excellent, they have three different 'levels' of mower, similiar to Huskys H, L, C categorys. Their decks are particularly good especially on their more serious models.

Both the Husky MZ28ZT zero turn and the GTH3052TF ride on are 52" cut and of the same L (landowner) heavy duty category but I found it a bit hard to justify the additional $3100 asking price for the zero turn mower.

Deano