Homeowner ZTR, Tractor and mower discussion thread

[jmlexTN]

Here's my slope.

[avguy]

You won't have a problem there. You might slip a little if it's damp from rain or dew but that's about it imo.

[Mtnmn]

Hi all. New to the site and have been lurking for few months.
Went to look at a Hustler sport W/Honda gsx530, but dealer said almost impossible to find. Stated somewhere around $3600.00 if he found one.
Drove by a dealer that sold Scags and stopped to see what they had.
He had a 2009 new Freedom Z 36" for $3800.00 + tax.
I have 1/2 acre lot.
Would the Scag be an upgrade from the Hustler 42 Sport and a deal for that price? Thanks for your opinions.

[Popeye77]

He had a 2009 new Freedom Z 36" for $3800.00 + tax

If it's a new machine I would be at his front door the next time he opened unless it had a Briggs ELS. What engine??

[Mtnmn]

It's a 20 hp bs. I told him that I wasn't pleased that it was bs. I don't recall if it was an els. I had turned down the Airens &
Gravelys that he offered because they had bs engines.
I figure if it made it past the warranty I replace it with Honda or Kowi, for that price.

[jmlexTN]

Originally Posted by jmlexTN

Here's my slope.

Replying to my own post because I realized I made a mistake in the OP. The 3 mowers I have kind of narrowed things down to are the bad boy czt 60", hustler fastrak 54" or 60" and exmark Pioneer e or s. I figure any of these mowers will make fairly easy work of my ~2acres, but was wanting some opinions from the board on the these mowers. All seem like fine machines but I don't want to need a mower again for a loooong time. All opinions appreciated.

[saw n mow]

Originally Posted by saw n mow

In a day or so I'll post about the latest yard I have mowed with my MZ...another yard that really should have been bushhogged in some areas . I will say that this MZ continues to amaze me.

Kevin

What I put my little MZ through recently. I got the job of mowing the approx. 2.5 acres of grass/weeds at our/my volunteer fire department. For preparing for a fund raiser, it had been bushhogged once by another member and than finish mowed later by another member with a 60”(?) commercial diesel JD ZTR mower. It needed mowing again so I asked the president of our/my VFD if I could tackle the job with my MZ. Some of the areas had tall grass, but not very thick. Some areas had tall and the thickest mess of grass/weeds that I’ve mowed so far. 2 hrs and 20 mins is what it took with my deck on the highest and second highest settings to get the yard manageable. I had to wait almost a week to do the ‘finish’ mow (rain one evening and lack of time). The ‘finish’ mow took 2 hrs. and 25 mins. The second mow should have been faster, but the grass had grown some in the days between the mows and the first mow was done mainly on the taller thicker grass (there was small areas that I had left till the finish mow). So far this is the toughest mowing I’ve put on this mower and it handled it very well. The 26hp Briggs Professional did very well in the tall thick grass/weeds. Only once did it really bog down low and I was wondering if I should have even been trying to mow that section…but I slowed down to a crawl and it pulled through.

I’m not posting this for bragging purposes…just showing what this little well built residential mower can do if needed…for anyone who might be thinking about getting this mower. I wouldn’t do this type of ‘heavy’ mowing on a regular day-to-day basis. I’m sure that now that the yard is down at a manageable level, it will be no problem for me to maintain it the rest of the mowing season. I’ll have about 4.5 acres total (between 5 yards including my own) to mow for the rest of the season.

Here are some pics of before and after. The pics really don’t do it justice…especially the ‘before’ ones.

Before:

[saw n mow]

After pics:

[Capemay Eagle]

Originally Posted by Mtnmn

Hi all. New to the site and have been lurking for few months.
Went to look at a Hustler sport W/Honda gsx530, but dealer said almost impossible to find. Stated somewhere around $3600.00 if he found one.
Drove by a dealer that sold Scags and stopped to see what they had.
He had a 2009 new Freedom Z 36" for $3800.00 + tax.
I have 1/2 acre lot.
Would the Scag be an upgrade from the Hustler 42 Sport and a deal for that price? Thanks for your opinions.

Yes it is an upgrade and for a 1/2 lot, that machine is perfect!! As Popeye said, if this is indeed a new machine, I would be waiting at the door with him!

[damnfingers]

Originally Posted by jmlexTN

Replying to my own post because I realized I made a mistake in the OP. The 3 mowers I have kind of narrowed things down to are the bad boy czt 60", hustler fastrak 54" or 60" and exmark Pioneer e or s. I figure any of these mowers will make fairly easy work of my ~2acres, but was wanting some opinions from the board on the these mowers. All seem like fine machines but I don't want to need a mower again for a loooong time. All opinions appreciated.

I don't know anything about the others but I'm very happy with my Exmark. I've only got 14.5 hours on it now but they've been a fun 14.5 hours...I can't help smiling as I mow.