Thread: Zero Turn Mowers

Actually I will still need to Mow even with a horse the paddocks will be rotational the grass grows VERY quickly here....

I wont be getting goats because I like my neighbours

If I fence out the tricky bits then I reduce my grazing dramatically 5 acres is not a lot of space for two horses....so you have to care for your space wisely or you wont have a lot of grass and you will be hard feeding your horses all year round

The trees also provide some shelter.

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 have to agree.
I have a Kubota 25hp tractor .best thing I ever bought for the farm.
Of course with the bucket etc. it doesn't just cut grass, and saves my back!
The Kubota ride ons are worth the extra.
Try stretching the budget for a small tractor and save yourself a lot of hard work.

The Budget is stretched PLEASE no more tractor suggestions its actually really starting to frustrate me....I never even asked for opinions on tractors or anything other than zero's. We have already assessed what we think we need no one on this site has any idea what my land is like what use its going to get and what we do with it now so I think I'm the best judge of whether I need a tractor or a goat or anything else.

I appreciate people trying to put different options over but at least read the whole thread and dont keep beating the same drum especially when I have said NO on more than one occasion

Hi All

Dullbird, i have a 32inch mtd mower and my cox 24 inch mower will outcut it by 30 per cent easy - side by side on the same patch at the same time we tested them, Iseki front deck mowers were having problems with the turrets leaning in. John deere front decks are what the contractors are using here and they are fast and reliable.

Dont know much about the zero turns but i hope that the rest helps

Regards Mark

Thanks Mark I'm quite interested in the cox zero now as we have heard that they are robust but the guy telling us was the local mower guy, but also the dealer so we weren't sure whether he was just pushing his own barrow or not...I would go a smaller deck with the cox if it was the case that they are far more durable than the rest....

if Im spending the money I just want it to do what I need iit to do relatively quickly and last.

Neighbour got back..

his ride ons a kubota, part way between a ride on and a tractor, its got the 3 point and PTO on the back but still looks a hell of a lot like a normal ride on. Its an older model its running a 3 blade deck. (one center front and the 2 wing ones a bit further back.)

the zeros a cox, looks like this one
and hes looking for another if he can afford it he wants a kubota or a husky (I think hes looking to expand for the summer market this/next year hes asking if Id mind looking at some trucks for him).

His only complaint about it has been the plastic wheels that support the deck

I noticed the road side verge guys here have brand new Hustlers. They would have good heavy duty ones for that job?

They look good impressive to watch operating swiveling around.
Cheers

Ok so went out to look at the Cox today and some others...shop we went to hisband and wife appeared very genuine down to earth people they had the huskys and the ariens and the cox but sold the last one and didnt plan to get any in for a little while.

Second shop we went to had the Toros

Third shop we went to had huskys and Toros but only sold the Toros in zero turn.

I have to say I liked the Huskys but we actually liked the Ariens more and even more so Airens commercial brand Gravely was a fraction narrower than the Husky on a 44" Deck and we think that this model will actualy fit on our 7x 4 trailer....

Cant say I overally liked the Toro the one available in our price bracket it was OK and I know they have a good rep but the gravely and even the Airens (semi commercial) looked far beefier in frame and parts.

The guy on the third shop when asked about the husky Zeros was like oh we dont really sell them because the Toros Zeros are better....when I said why? he was like oh because Toro's are leaders! so didnt really give me a reason in fact anyone you ask doesnt give you a reason.

CAnt help but feel like the Toro's are a bit like the toyotas they are reliable but the die hards still cant tell you why they are better than a land rover.

Speaking to the lovely couple in the first shop he said that he took and Ariens home he is on 40 acres he said he mows about 7 (takes about 3hrs) and he took it home to literally hammer it and he said thats what he has done hammerred it over rough ground unlevel ground rocks the lot he said he couldnt fault it....

He advised the huskys are good but he himself personally prefers the Airens and would most definately would have the gravely..although he did say the Airens would do the job no problem for what we want and we dont need the Gravely...

we like the gravely only because its beefy and it will we hink fit on our trailer for transportation. for anyone that is interested its the ZT 44 HD we were looking at.

He got the husky out for Ian to drive up and down the carpark, and he loved being able to turn on a sixpence.