Anti-zero turn

[Kittermankadets85]

Who needs a zero turn. That a beautiful stripe job on my lawn with a 34 year old 1811. 50” cut the old girls got 1517hrs on her an runs as good as she did new!

 

[jbratton]

Looks good!

 

[dfrisk]

Yes, my 50C deck on my 982 did mow O-K, lots of work and money spent getting it that way and keeping it that way. But I'm not giving up my TANK. Mows the same yard in 2-1/2 hours that took 4 hours with 982 and 6 hours with #72. Plus I don't have that haunting feeling the B48G Onan is about to grenade itself, that 27 hp Kawasaki in the Tank just purrs.
Tank can't pull my Ohio Steel Fab moldboard plow, or my home-made lawn aerator, but it has pulled my Pronovost P-503 trailer for 4 years, but then NONE of my Cub Cadet tractors can mow 12 mph while still doing a great job of mowing. Blade speed on the Tank sounds about double that of the 50C. When I mow back and forth the TANK throws clippings over TWO 54" swaths, the 50C barely covers one 50" swath.
You barely see lawn & garden tractors in dealer showrooms anymore. Not sure if that's because nobody makes a decent new one anymore or what. Took me about 15 minutes in the seat of my new zero turn to know I made a good choice. Wife has complimented the zero turn's quality of cut MANY times.

 

[dschwandt]

That's because no one gardens any more.
I live in a small rural town of about 800 population and I could probably count on my fingers, and not use them all, the number of people that have gardens any more.
Lots of empty lots here that used to be gardens back when I was a kid.
I used to plow many of them using the neighbors old AC w/2 bottom plow.
Now I only till a few including my own and some of the are TINY!

 

[bmader]

Yes, my 50C deck on my 982 did mow O-K, lots of work and money spent getting it that way and keeping it that way. But I'm not giving up my TANK. Mows the same yard in 2-1/2 hours that took 4 hours with 982 and 6 hours with #72. Plus I don't have that haunting feeling the B48G Onan is about to grenade itself, that 27 hp Kawasaki in the Tank just purrs.
Tank can't pull my Ohio Steel Fab moldboard plow, or my home-made lawn aerator, but it has pulled my Pronovost P-503 trailer for 4 years, but then NONE of my Cub Cadet tractors can mow 12 mph while still doing a great job of mowing. Blade speed on the Tank sounds about double that of the 50C. When I mow back and forth the TANK throws clippings over TWO 54" swaths, the 50C barely covers one 50" swath.
You barely see lawn & garden tractors in dealer showrooms anymore. Not sure if that's because nobody makes a decent new one anymore or what. Took me about 15 minutes in the seat of my new zero turn to know I made a good choice. Wife has complimented the zero turn's quality of cut MANY times.

Got a picture of that home-made aerator?

 

[Kittermankadets85]

I enjoy the mow so if it takes a little bit longer I’m good with that.

 

[Thomas]

I have an 1811 and it has 1767 hrs on it. I love it, great machine.

 

[PACub100]

I enjoy the mow so if it takes a little bit longer I’m good with that.

Took the words out of my mouth. If I was done in half the time, I'd put down double the beers - and that's not a good thing if I want to make it past 7-8 Saturday nights...

 

[sblunier]

Love my ZTR...but don;t mind using a Cub either.....HOWEVER, 1/2 as long with the ZTR....big deal when you are sneaking it in after work and between rain drops in the spring /fall. Also MUCH easier in the church cemetery I mow.

 

[jbaker]

Always like my time and ih 129 mowing machine had a 44 inch deck, but I do like my new XT1 5 inch fab deck, glad I held on to the 169

 

[exSW]

My yards hilly. And I've got patches and strips everywhere do to a road and a creek bisecting my farm stead in two different directions
I don't think a zt would speed things up for me.

 

[RayF]

I can do my yard (only 1/2 acre is grass- rest is woods).. in 12 minutes with the RZT-50. But, I don't like it. I have a steep downhill-side hill along a drainage ditch, that the RZT runs-away downhill. I can't mow uphill, as the grass would go onto the neighbors driveway.
The 108 just gently mows it- with no loss of control, and it mows the rest of the yard perfectly. It only takes about 25 minutes. Glad to have her back running... and after this weeks rain, it will be put to the test when it dries out a little.

 

[PACub100]

My neighbor has a really nice ZT - spent a small fortune on it. It's super nice, mows fast and does a spectacular job. He had to borrow my Craftsmen a couple times last year when he had some repairs done to his. He was talking with me last weekend while I was mowing on the 1450 and made the comment "that thing's a tank!".
Granted, if I had the extra cash to spare, a ZT would be great. But I'm also one to think "why have a different machine for only one purpose". I like the fact that there's so much I can do with one machine and it does a pretty good job at it. Maybe not as nice as the neighbor's ZT, but then again I don't remember any awards handed out on my street for "Best Lawn".

Amount of area, terrain and budget play a huge factor. In the end, I can definitely see a ZT being well worth the expenditure for certain people. It would be nice to have but it's also nice to know that while it may take longer to mow my yard, in addition to the mower, my neighbor has to have an ATV so he can plow his driveway in the winter. He also has a walk behind tiller for his garden.
All I need to do is remove the mowing deck and put on a tiller, plow or snowthrower and the tank is ready to take on something else...

 

[exSW]

A fairly common sight here is retired farmers that have converted old pasture and cowlot into estate like lawns. And bouncing across it at high speed on their zeroturn. Hitting the ground every ten feet or so

 

[sblunier]

The more odd shapes and obstacles, the faster it is to mow with a ZTR. That's where all the time is made up, manuverablilty........

 

[lkortkamp]

I think about a ZT, but the cost? Ya, not happening. I do think my lower back would survive mowing better as the 149 beats me to pieces due to my South Dakota badlands style yard. Those new ZT with suspension would make it like riding my La-Z-Boy!