The Green Industry's Resource Center

moreira85 · #1 12-26-2008, 12:45 AM

WHAT SHOULD I DO GUYS????
I have a new house that is 1.4 acres. it is flat for the most part, the front yard is slightly graded down and the side of the house has some elevation becuase the septic is built up onto a long plateu so there is a little 5 foot hill , but no crazy hills.
I can get a 2008 Toro Timecutter Z4200 that a guy bought in May for $1500 that is in good shape.
My other option is the buy a new John Deere Riding Tractor Mower in from the 100 series.
How is the Toro Z4200? It has a Kohler engine.
What should I do? nothing compares to a new mower but the ZTR mowers are supposed to perform great. thanx.

jds720 · #2 12-26-2008, 06:44 AM

i had that same Toro mower before i bought my scag, and i miss it! it cuts great!

bif · #3 12-27-2008, 09:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jds720

i had that same Toro mower before i bought my scag, and i miss it! it cuts great!

ha ha, I too have this mower with a mulching deck, and it does cut great!! I put a big league striper on it, and the results are tremendous...anyway...

the only downside to this mower is that it doesn't like to do hills, steeper grades it just slides down...

it goes without saying that it does better going up and down rather than side to side on a grade...but where my little hill is it's very tough to do that...

but that's my only complaint, and so far, I've got over 200 hours (approx) on it..

good luck
Steve

moreira85 · #4 12-27-2008, 03:36 PM

i went and checked it out and the guy said it was an 2008 with about 80 hours on it. i thought that was a lot for an 08 for $1500. It looked really used and i passed on it, I did drive and wow that thing would be neat to cut with.. also on the side of my house it would be tough to go up and down the hills with that so i am going to buy a new deere LA125 for my own yard.

bif · #5 12-27-2008, 06:28 PM

wow...that's what I just bought also....it's got a tremendous cut...
I got a bagger with it too...the bagger does a good job, the air flow from the deck to the bagger is very high volume...

I don't have a lot of time on this, and I got it to tow implements, since I can't with my ztr...but so far it's a nice piece of equipment, and the price was right
good luck

bif · #6 12-27-2008, 06:39 PM

I forgot to mention, the other downside with the toro was the muffler burning the grass, but they sent me a deflector which eliminated that problem...

I was a little surprised that they didn't notice that in the initial engineering of the engine...

moreira85 · #7 12-27-2008, 07:23 PM

bif what did you just buy the toro or the 125 deere?

bif · #8 12-27-2008, 10:17 PM

I've had the toro for about a year and a half (approx.) and I just got the 125 in november...I bought it for pulling aerators, lawn rollers, and for the grass catcher, when I need it...so far I really like them both, but the toro makes very short work of the lawn...

lifetree · #9 12-28-2008, 04:46 AM

The Timecutter Z4200 is a homeowner machine ... if you're going to use it for commercial purposes I would stay away from it, same for the JD !! Do the right thing and get a commerical grade machine.

bif · #10 12-28-2008, 08:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lifetree

The Timecutter Z4200 is a homeowner machine ... if you're going to use it for commercial purposes I would stay away from it, same for the JD !! Do the right thing and get a commerical grade machine.

odd...I don't remember the original poster saying he would use it for comm. purposes??? sounded to me like he would use it on his own lawn?