What's the consensus about Bunton ZTR?

[ADMowing]

We have a 3 year old Bunton 61" ZTR that I just LOVE to use. It has nice blade speed and ground speed. Cuts St. Augustine and other turf beautifully. Even though it is big, it has a light footprint because of large tires and weight distribution. I make zero ruts because I mow different paths each time I mow a lawn. Takes hills next to lakes and canals nicely. We've had usual maintenace to do on it, but nothing major.

I've seen the new Buntons and I'm not sure about them. We're thinking about buying another one. Truthfully, they don't look as sturdy as the one we bought.

Also, I absolutely LOVE the hydro blade lift. It is great when one yard has four different types of grass. Use the switch and raise and lower your blade while on the go. St. Augustine is mowed on 4" to 4.5" and Burmuda and Bahia are mowed on 3" to 3.5" or less. One yard has St. Augustine in side yard and Paspalum in front yard. I go from 4" to 2 1/2" while sitting on the mower and never stopping.

I'd like to hear any comments on Bunton. If you don't like them, please be nice! I don't have a lot of experience with other ZTR's and would also like to hear what is better about other brands over the Bunton. If it has a hydro blade lift and is better than a Bunton, I want to hear about it.

Thanks!

A & D
(Debbie)

[ADMowing]

Okaaaayyyy! No one is talking to me!

Starting to feel unwelcome!!!! This is the second time I started a thread and didn't get any response at all!

[chariot]

Maybe people are not responding because they don't know much about Bunton. I don't know about them. I know there is just one guy with one around here that I have seen. Sorry I am no help.

[odin]

I have seen no bunton ztr's around here but quite a few walkbehinds .
I have a friend who uses their walkbehinds exclusively.

[scottb]

Sorry I cant be of any help I have only seen Bunton walkbehinds around here and they seem to cut as goo as the rest. Dont feel unwelcome you could try the search feature but I dont know if you will find much. Good luck

[ADMowing]

Thank you guys! I think that is true about Bunton being hard to find.... We had several dealers around here at one time and now we only know of one. RCPW on the internet stopped carrying parts for our Bunton Twister and we've had a time finding a place to get parts. We still have options, but that may be one of the advantages of going with a more popular brand -- availablility of service and parts. It IS a very solid machine, though. Any other ZTRs have the hydro lift blades???

Did the search on this site like was suggested and you are right about that also, there isn't much! Another reason why we aren't sure we want to buy another Bunton. We bought the little Encore Z34 and have a great service and parts source for it. We have found Hy-Tech on 15th St East in Bradenton Florida to be a great place for us!!!

Don't feel so bad now! I put on my deodorant, but I knew it couldn't be the smell anyway!!! I don't have smellivision! :D :D

Thanks again! :) :) :)

[longviewlawncare]

the kubota's have a hydro deck lift. there are the only other one i know of

[rwleigh]

The bunton twister is now made in the steiner line only! Also steiner, schweiss and bladerunner all have hydralic deck lifts.

[ADMowing]

Thanks Longview! We've checked out Kubota. It has a hefty price take -- Guess it's the name. I THINK, but am not sure but Grasshopper may have the electric blade lift too! My husband corrected me. It is an electric lift, not a hydro lift. Sorry!

Rwleigh - We're going to check, on the net, the steiner line schweiss and bladerunners. I'll do a search now. They may cross reference parts for the Bunton Twister too! Thank you!!!

[Mowingman]

When Bunton was bought out by Textron, they merged the Bobcat and Bunton ZTR machines into virtually one design, the Bobcat survived. The Bunton ZTR's I looked at last year are EXACTLY like the Bobcat machines, EXCEPT, the Bunton includes an electric deck lift. I ran a Bobcat ZTR for years and loved it. It was built like a tank and never gave me any trouble through 6 years of hard use. I was going to buy another Bobcat/Bunton last year, but our local dealer quit selling them. I would not hesitate to buy another if we had a dealer here.:D

[Dave]

Bunton is owed by textron.they are very close to the bobcats with the excepition of a few things including the electric lift,you could do a search on the bobcats as they are about the same,Textro has been working out some bugs in there products from what I have seen in the past three years,I believe they cut as good as anything else,the oldest I have is three years old just turned 1000 hours inwhich the only problem was a dampener at 720 hours and the other at 910 both covered under warrenty as they upgraded them,also i believe textron is such a big company that they really do not push there products

[ADMowing]

I've been looking around on the net and the Steiner Zero Turn does look just like our Bunton except it is red and has a different name on it. I hit a well cover (under taller grass in a new yard) and it had a thick wire handle on it that grabbed my blades and it is the first time my blades stopped for ANYTHING! I messed up the spindle and we did get a new one, but it is good to know about other sources. I'll check with the Steiner dealer in Sarasota.

Thanks Dave and Mowingman -- I'll check out Bobcat too!

Yes, Mowingman -- I like the TANK feel of the Bunton. The steering is so nice I can get into places in little mobile home parks that astound our customers. And... we got the little Encore for getting into backyards (36" gates). It is a little jerky with the steering and I HATE the manual blade lift. But it has got some seriously thick metal plating on it and a nice thick commercial deck too! Runs two different sized blades!! Weird!

I'll check out these other ideas! Thanks!
A & D
Debbie

[LS Choice]

bladerunners do have an electric lift on there machine! We sell them and also they are a sponsor here on lawnsite. Go to the manufactures forum!

[ADMowing]

Will do -- LS! Thanks!

[George777]

My partner and I just bought a new buton 42" deck with the 25 hp engine. This machine looks just like a walker and is one fine cutting machine.

[ADMowing]

LS -- Please excuse my ignorance, but I can't find a sponsor under the name of Bladerunner. Is that the mower name? Thanks!!! We love to look at new ZTRs but don't know the name of all of them. Sorry if the answer is right under my nose. I need some direction! Thanks.

Yeah, George, we like the Bunton cut. It has a real nice finish cut with the tough grasses here in Florida. A neighbor of a customer told us that the Bunton makes ruts and doesn't mow as good as a w/b. But we don't have ruts in our customer's yard and we don't have brown spots because we keep our blades sharp. Don't know what those kids are doing next door, but the man's St. Augustine is dying! Dixie Chopper people had trouble in this customer's front yard and always made a footprint on one turn in the same spot. Customer wasn't happy. I assured her we wouldn't do it and we don't. It's a nice machine. Congrats on your new one!!! Have fun with it!:D :D

[TLS]

AD Mowing,

I don't see a HUGE advantage to a hydro deck lift. Do they lift real fast and jerky, or slow and smooth? I like the foot lift on the Lazer, and use it more than I think. I think a hydro lift would be a hinderance for me now. My JD's all had some sort of hydro lift, but thats because there was no other way to do it!

I have also seen a few Bunton WB's but never any riders? Look nice on their ads in the mag's but without a local dealer, I've never seen one!

[Farmboy]

I beleve that the bladerunner mower that is sponsored on lawnsite is actually the AMERICAN BLADERUNNER. Correct me if I am wrong LS CHOICE! I am sure that this is the mower you are talking about since it is the make that I demoed at your place yesterday. And I must say it is radical!

[Grasshog]

I have a 52 Bobcat a little over a year old. Hit 500 hours on it.
It does a pretty stripe. Thats about all I can say good. In my eyes its a good home owners mower. The cutting speed is slow, the hydr controls are very jerky, the seat is rough on the backside, the fuel tanks are to small, its not able to take a hill very well, etc etc. I honestly feel Textron uses the cheapest parts they can find. Im just glad I only have the one.

[ADMowing]

Grasshog - That's what I was concerned about with the new Bunton machines. The older 61" is built like a tank and the parts are seriously heavy duty. I'm not so sure that they are building them like that anymore. We want to stick with the durability of the machine that we have. We'll be careful about the Bobcat. We do demo equipment first and that will help too!

Thank you for all the info, Farmboy. I'll be looking around on foot and on the net to see what we can find.

TLS - The steering and the lift are both very smooth on our machine. Sometimes, I think that it depends on your machine. I can raise the electric lift and set it where I want it immediately. I like to be able to set it one "tick" or 1/8" above 4" and we don't have that option with the foot lift. There is no guessing about it. It lands right where I want it to and that's no BS either. But, I've been using it for three years too! :)

Guess it's all in what you get used to!

Thanks!!!

[Wayward]

The Gravely ztr's have a hydro deck lift.

[ADMowing]

Hi Wayward! I noticed that. I've been checking out the sponsors' sites. Also found lots of Gravely dealers nearby. Thanks!