used ztr hours

[amped88]

Great site! I've read quite a few posts suggesting homeowners and large property owners look for a used ztr before laying out cash for a brand new one. If a mower has a lot of hours on it, is it worth looking at? How many hours are too many?

[jkason]

A good commercial unit has used up approximately half its life at 1000 hours. Up here in the Northeast, that equates to one year of use (6 days, 8 hrs/day, 26 weeks = 1248 hrs).
Yes. Commercial guys do turn over their equipment every 2-3 years.
If the person selling the unit has service records, so much the better.

[Lawn-Sharks]

Down in our neck of the woods we see commercial mowers pushing 2000 + Hrs with no problem. I would recommend, if your planning on buying used commercial equipment NOT used resi equipment is to buy it from a small lawn company. Reason being is that the smaller outfits seem to watch out and take care of their equipment then the big companies do! (example) Big companies= hiring & firing guys all the time, you think the new guy cares about the big companies equipment....NO! the more it breaks down, the less work he has to do and get paid the same... But on the other hand the small lawn company generally has one of the owner(s) working out in the fields along side his investments.