Best mower for my application

[Woodward]

I would like your opinions on these mowers including durability etc... Scag, Grasshopper, Exmark and Gravely. I have one 10 acre commercial account and the rest are all 1/2 acre to 3 acre residential. If service from my dealer was the same and distance to these dealers were all fairly close to the same, which of these would you purchase? Also would you buy a mid mount or a front mount?
Thanks for your info and time
Don

[crazygator]

Demo a machine from each on your list above. Make sure you demo them on YOUR properties, to get a feel in the real world where you mow.

I do not think you should factor in the 10 acre place. What if you buy a bigger machine to knock the 10 acres out and you lose it? Then you are back to 1/2 to 3 acre stuff only. I say to fit machine on the smaller lawns first, because you know it will handle the larger ones as well. All just my opinion.....:D

[Woodward]

Thanks for your reply crazygator. Would looking at 60" cuts be to big.

[crazygator]

No, but it all depends on the smaller stuff. I am getting a Lazer HP 52" in a few months. I have from 1 1/2 acres down to 1/4. I have many more smaller properties than large ones, so I am fitting that requirement first. I do have a 36" Turf Tracer as well.

But you need to look at all the machines out there. Dont take my word, or someone elses here. The machine has to fit your needs, and the only way to know for sure is demo demo demo. Ride it up down and all around. If you have hills, get that sucker on them and see if it will stay. The only way you will know is by trying it yourself.

[grassdaddy]

boy you opened up a can of worms on your very first try.i don't know much about gravely.but since you asked here goes-exmark cuts the best,its the lightest,parts are cheap.scag tt-big,heavy,handles hills best.hopper -kubota engine will outlast 3 mowers.outfronts have some advanages but bad rap for wearing out.right now i'm facing same problem ,today its exmark ,tommorrow it may be scag or kubota zd28f i got about 6wks to figure it out.:cool:

[Shuter]

The bigger you go, the higher your production will be. The higher the production is, the more per hour the company makes and the less per hour it costs to make that money. If you have small and large properties, don't get a machine that is wonderful for large and a struggle to get around on small lots.

[mklawnman]

Well what mowers do you have now? You may want to look at a 61inch because these mowers can do the 1/2 acre lawn but also cut a 10acre lawn in resonable amount of time. All depends upon what your plans are for the future of your biz, if your looking at doing bigger lawns then definatly look at a 61inch or possible a 72inch.
I have a 52inch Scag Turf Tiger, and the majority of lawns I do are 1acre to 2acre lawns and in some ways I wish I would have went with the 61inch, but the 52inch can get in small areas but can do big wide open areas fairly quickly.
Also if your on a budget look at your options on that end too.
Matt

[Woodward]

Should I look at purchasing a front mount because of the fact that they are able to trim better and get into spots the mid mount can't. Wich of these hold hills better the front mount or mid mount? With good maintinence how many hours can I expect a
60" 27hp Emark to last until it now longer is feasible to fix intead of replace? Since a grasshoppper with its better motor would out last the mower itself, would it be cost effective to continue to fix it or would it be better to get a Exmark and replace sooner with the initial savings at purchase?

[mklawnman]

Mid mounts usually hang hills alot better than front mounts. Also ZTR's can cut a lawn alot faster than a front deck model, even did a test with my WB verses a JD F710, i walked the WB and i finished a few minutes earlier than the JD did. YOu can get pretty close to things with the ZTR.
Matt

[grassdaddy]

take a 61'' grasshopper one outfront one midmount both with same engine the outfront holds hills much better.i guarantee it! the outfront with g2 trans. also has same topspeed.demo both for sure.:eek:

[MONTE]

I see you are from sedalia. Take a trip up to springfield and take a close look at a BLADERUNNER or a DIXIE CHOPPER. I have played with the others and I think you would be much happier with one of these. By the way the BLADERUNNER is built in strafford mo.

[65hoss]

The eXmark HP and Lazer will hold hills better than anything I've seen. Done the testing!


Exmark makes really great machines. Cut is great. Customer service is second to none. You can always find the guys that really know the machines on this site. Very very knowledgeable. Unless you plan to drop the machine from 15' to concrete all the extra weight of many machines means more ruts on customers lawns. Exmark mowers are very strong, they just don't have the overkill.

Don't forget to check out Hustler. They have some really nice machines that are built very strong also. I don't have 1st hand knowledge, but I bet their customer service is good too.

[kutnkru]

of the names you mentioned I think for customer service and quality of cut you would be happiest with an eXmark.

From a durability standpoint, I think that Scags are one of the toughest units available. I have talked with many contractors who prefer the Scag over the GH.

I would have to place the Gravely/Scag units pretty close together for quality of cut.

[TurfGuyTX]

Everyone knows Exmark mowers are good. Not everyone has experience with a Scag. My 61" Turf Tiger is a champ. Durable as they come and I haven't had any problems with incline with it. Maybe a little different here in Texas though. I think crazygator says it well. Demo, Demo and Demo. Good luck.

[WREBELMACHINE]

The exmark makes a good machine service and dealer support at least here in my town is not to good. Dixie Chopper is #1 in this area I do agree with monte that Dixie or My pick the BLADERUNNER would be very good! I cannot say a lot about scag because nobody uses them around here. Be sure to demo everything.

[Evan528]

Do not even consider a Dc unless you will be mowing all perfectly flat lawns!!!!:dizzy:

[crazygator]

I have to agree with passing on the Dixie Choppers too. I just sold my brand new 2002 because it could not hold a hill. Plus a lot of other issues that Dixie Chopper will not address nor try and work out with us owners.

Exmark is my choice now, but demo demo demo. Its the only way you will know!

Just make sure whatever you buy has good customer service. DC has NONE, trust me I know first hand, and so does Evan.

[Farmboy]

I do not know about dixie but I do know on gravely and bladerunner, and bladerunner wins period between those two! Also the dealer I deal with really will go out of his way to help you. Also I had no hillside issues with the bladerunner mower!

[southerngent]

As far as factory help...Dixie Chopper has been good to me. I bought a new 42 in" 20 HP Kohler , with a removable side piece to allow me to get through 99% of the gates I run across. It didn't come with a mulching plate, so I ordered one. Seems this is a new deck or size or something , and the manufacturing side hadn't produced the plate yet. My dealer notified me about it, and told me the co. is making me a plate, and now plates for this model will be available. WOW!!....I'm gonna get the prototype??? That's going in my ad's...LOL.....It's been about 2 weeks now , waiting to see how DC responds to what they said they'd do.

[nelbuts]

One word says it all:



SCAG

[noclevername]

In the past I have always had Gravely equipment and was very happy with it until Ariens bought them and found that they seemed to go downhill. As a matter of fact we still have a 1980 8183 tractor with over 3300 hours on it. Still the original bottom end in the motor. We still use it to pull the roller in summer and plow sidewalks in the winter. We've switched all our "smaller" mowers to Exmark Lazers 60" with the 25hp. Kohler. We've had good luck with these but the key to them all is maintenance. Forget what the manual says we change oil and filter every 50 hrs. max. We use exclusively synthetic motor oil ( it's not that much more expensive, for two litres per oil change, buy it at your local discount store in bulk). The other thing we do as soon as we get the new ones is drill out the spindles to accept grease fittings and grease them every working day. I went with the Exmark rather then the Ferris (which is the other big brand in our area) because they are a bit simpler, no independant suspension, less parts to go wrong. And the Exmark distributor is close to us so no chance of having parts backordered. As for your big property, is it flat and wide open enough to have a 10 or 12 ft towed finishing mower? I have a winged 12ft for my big properties it saves an incredible amount of time.
I think the zero turn are the way to go, they're much faster than the front mount. A little less stable on the side hill but pretty good up and down
Good Luck !

[Sooners]

Originally posted by noclevername
The other thing we do as soon as we get the new ones is drill out the spindles to accept grease fittings and grease them every working day.

I have often wondered about this. My Lazer has a 3 yr warranty on the sealed bearings, but you're supposed to take them out every year and repack them. I wonder if the grease zerk voids the warranty and why they went to sealed bearings? I thought I once read that people were overgreasing. Is that possible?

Back to the original question. I've only used the eXmark, but like almost everyone who has one says, I love it. Tough, fast, and parts are readily accessible. Two new dealers moved in the area last year. They're growing.

[BladeRunner Rep]

Woodward

I would be happy to demo one of our machines to you. I was recently in sedalia and I am searching for a dealer your way, maybe you could give me some insight in who to contact. If you would like to visit us in the manufactures forum and ask any specific questions.

[noclevername]

I asked my machinist friend ( who drilled and tapped for the zerk fittings) if it was possible to over grease. He thought that the only problems were that over filling may allow dirt to "sneak" by the seals and, possibly getting grease on the belts, if grease were allowed to build up under the pulleys. Since we grease every night when we're done cutting (after rinsing the equipment off) it only requires 2 or 3 pumps of grease in each fitting and that would keep pushing a little grease (& dirt) out.
So far 757, 543, 454 and 183 hrs and no spindle problems. (knock on wood !!)

[P&J Lawncare]

I would seriously look into the super z by hustler, It is everything that a mower should be (heavy duty,fast,dependable,great cut) and it will climb hills with the best of them.