I'm sure this has been debated before, but from what I can tell it's for a different reason.

I'm not so much worried about fitting through gates, but this: cost. I'm picking up some more lawns. Thus I need a wider cut.

I could probably swing a new 48" but it would mean money is tight for a while (a lot of new expenses for the first time this year: mortgage, kids tuition, etc.) A 36" is obviously cheaper and the money is more comfortable.

Question is am I going to see a significant increase in productivity moving from my current 30 inch to a 36?

Furthermore if I go 36 I could prob grab a sulky with it. If I go 48 I may have to wait until I get through a month of cutting to add the sulky.

So, is a sulky on a 36 hydro gonna speed me up a good bit compared to my 30, or should I wait it out for the 48?

A 48" isnt going to be that much more than a 36"

My two cents, get a 48" belt drive with a sulky... that will manage all your wider open bigger mowing for now.
Then keep using the 30" for any of your in an outs or tight stuff.

Save the money and dont buy a hydro.

 

I agree with the "dont get a hydro" message. Its not that much of a difference. (steering mostly)

 

Personally i would wait out for the 48, but it all depends on your current demand and if you can truly afford it.

 

I should mention, that I’ll be mowing on hills a decent amount of the time. Isn’t a hydro gonna be better suited to handle hills?


Also, as of now I mow wet grass frequently in spring etc. I’ve heard people griping over belts slipping. Is that really an issue?

 

I would buy 48... big enough for acre lots small enough for 7.5ksqft I’m hydro all the way. Different strokes for different folks I guess. Also if your interested I have a goslide I’m not using. I didn’t much care for it.

 

Skip the 36, if your really hanging hills get a hydro.. sulky or proslide and be careful

 

yes tp talking bout money . and yes everybody would tell you get hydro for hill n wet . get the 48 and forget the sulky for now . when you get rolling the 48 cuts time off route .

 

Hydro all day … buy right from the beginning so u don't have to go back and regret not saving up a little more. If the money is tight save up a little longer and purchase the machine that you see will be most beneficial not only now but 5 years down the road.

 

Problem with that idea is: the difference in production (and reliability) of commercial 48" walk behind vs a 30" toro/exmark is soooo big that waiting to earn that money with a 30", vs just getting a 48" belt now is like trying to win a one legged race.

The mower category is called "intermediate" for a reason.
It's not "best mower for every possible situation evever known" category.

People keep trying to get stuck in the "best" category - which doesn't exist in the first place - they actually hobble themselves from being profitable.

My first commercial mower that was mine (not my dads) was a 1989 bobcat belt drive 48" - I didn't sell that machine until 2005 and it worked just fine at the time.
I had 60" riders up the wazoo and I still had that mower.

Shying away from something because it's not the "best" isn't good advice when there are adequate options to massively step up production and profitability that are in his budget range.

His budget is enough to get a 36" hydro , then it's enough to get a 48" belt with a sulky.

The OP didn't say I want to do wet areas and/or hills... he wants bigger area production which a 48" belt will do just fine.

By the time he's ready for the next level he's likely looking at a stander or a ride on anyway... can skip right over the hydro walk altogether and the 48" walk will help in earn it ... staying with a 30" time waster is a prison sentence - it would take him months more to save up the extra quid... which basically blows his season because he's not going to have the big mower to pick up the bigger jobs when the contracts and deals are closing at their highest rate.

 

If your 30 is in good shape, don't even consider a 36. Although, since a lot of startup's go with the 36 out the door, there us usually a ton of them lightly used on craigslist. If I had it to do all over, I'd forget the 48 and jump to 52. My 48 never gets used, the 52 is my workhorse. If you have an ag-pro near you, they always have low hour John Deere hydros at good prices, and they sell the 36 cheap.

 

I guess I should mention that most of my lawns are residential city lawns, well under an acre. So, the maneuverablity of a 36 vs 48 plays a factor. But I don’t know what that difference is because I’ve never laid hands on a walk behind.


Also, on smaller properties how much time am I really saving going with 48 over a 36.

I think at this point I’m leaning toward 36” w/ sulky because of the maneuvering on smaller lawns, fitting through a couple gates I have, and less cost.


I imagine just moving to sulky alone will noticeably increase my productivity vs walking all my lawns with a 30”? But I don’t have any experience to know for sure, lol.

Any input is much appreciated.

 

What about the gate sizes of the properties your working on?

 

I don't have many gates and the ones I do either won't fit neither 36 nor 48, or the gated yard is so small I can just use the 30.

The only gated yard that could justify a walk behind could fit a 36 but not a 48.

 

I've never operated a belt drive WB.
My two hydro observations:
Being able to easily back up is NOT overrated.
Being able to easily back up will then require less trimming.

 

I occasionally use my 36, but due to the lack of overhang on the trim side, it requires more string trimming than my 48 or 52. Also, if using a sulky around beds or tight circles, you tend to ride up over curbs and into beds, way more than on the 48-52 walks. If you go 36, get a single wheel velke. If a 48 fits through a gate, so will a 52.

 

IMO if your props benefit from a sulky, you are on the wrong mower.

Why is that?

 

Get a good (very good) used 36 hydro with an adjustable, floating deck (like turf tracer), the cut is really good and being able to back up (vs belt) in tight areas is vital, is really good on slopes. A 48 might be over kill for you now. You want a mower that you can use 90% of the time. If you get the need for a 48 get a stander.

 

I've checked locally for used mowers, but there doesn't seem to be much selection. Everything is belt, beat, or far from me. Know of anywhere to buy from that will ship used mowers?

 

I ran belt 36"s for years. If you are young and props are flat , they are fine. Hydros are a great improvement for backup on small yard and sulkies . IMO if your props benefit from a sulky, you are on the wrong mower. Stander or walker. Sounds like a Staris 44 is the ticket .

 

I've bought a bunch of used mowers from LS people with good results. You need to post your location if you really want help.

 

TP, I agree with you on the economics of the belt drive investment. The downside is, he'll get equipment envy in a season or so, and want an upgrade. Then the belt drive will sit in the shed without any use at all unless the shiny new stander / Zt goes down. If he tries to sell a belt drive, there will be a huge loss if he purchases new. If he can find a good deal on a hydro walk, it will be on the trailer being used regularly for many years, gutting a ditch, hogging the encroaching jungle, working the slopes, set up as a dedicated mulcher for tight areas between beds. JMHO... Right now I'm jonesing for the season to start! So I'm posting on LS for something to do .

 

Also, I anyone has an input on the belt slippage: my 30” is belt drive and I’ve cut many a wet lawn with it. Never had belt slip. Is there something about a bigger walk behind that causes belt to slip when wet?

 

The 30” timewaster has belts

The 48” belt with peerless transmission is the staple of the landscape maintenance industry
It’s the cornerstone in which the entire profession was built.

Is the hydro better in really wet conditions ?
Sure
But the difference of an entire foot on your deck and having a velke to mow at full speed for hours is much greater of a difference , exponentially so, than the difference between a hydro and a belt in wet conditions.

The hydro is only better on “hills” if you are trying to ride a velke straight up the hill, rather than mowing it/maneuvering along side the hill.
That’s not the right way to do it in the first place.
You don’t want to ride a sulky on a hill anyway...
so once you start doing it the right way.. the hydro has no actual hillside advantage over the belt.

Belt slipping in wet grass is much more over and over exaggerated reason to choose a hydro and is most emphasized by people who just want a hydro “because it’s better” than someone who actually had experience running both.
They throw that out there because they don’t have any real reason or justification for their mower choice and they don’t want to be challenged.
It’s not nearly the “thing” it’s made out to be.

The hydro is a little better at turning around (180) so you pick up time (not a huge amount) mowing
It’s stronger so its better at hopping curbs and running up hills towing a rider on a sulky/velke.
And most of all it’s got a true and instant reverse
So it’s better going back and forth and in and out of right areas.
But that’s not really what the mower is intended for ... it’s just handy to do something with the mower because you’re already there using it for the wide areas adjacent..
an example would be mowing under rose bushes/thorns or spruce trees with low branches... in and out
In and out...

That’s what hydros do better...

Again you’ve got a 30 timewaster and a tight budget
48” belt drive and sulky is going to be a rocket ship
Difference between a 48 belt with sulky and walking behind a 36 hydro is going to be marginal in some areas and actually worse by a noticeable amount in most applications you’re actually buying the mower for.

If money wasn’t an issue ... sure get the hydro because of the added extra oomph but it’s in no way a “deal breaker”

I’ve run entire fleets with employees on belt drives.... for longer than most guys on LS have been in business.
Day In day out
Every week
All weather conditions.

Never have I had guys that couldn’t mow lawns because they were wet.

 

OP I would go with a 48” belt drive. Never had an issue on hills or with belt slippage when wet. Sure a hydro is easier to turn as the belt requires a little muscle, but the savings alone between the 2 machines is worth it in my opinion since you said money is tight.

 

OP I would go with a 48" belt drive. Never had an issue on hills or with belt slippage when wet. Sure a hydro is easier to turn as the belt requires a little muscle, but the savings alone between the 2 machines is worth it in my opinion since you said money is tight.

The "feathering" the brake handle skill basically removes the need for muscle

The toro t bar solves that too

 

We are using a 36 belt now as our main mower, they are great. Hard to muscle around and no reverse, but you learn how to deal with it. Cuts very good, holds hills very good cuts wet grass good and is very affordable. We are moving to get standers as soon as we can afford it. Get what you can afford now, use it to afford what you need when you can. Stay out of debt as long as you can.

 

What brand of mower are you using?

 

Exmark metro ecs, 2006 model. Still starts up and runs good. Same spindles and bearings. The only thing we have replaced are belts and tires and of course oil and such.

 

I just bought a "like" new Scag 48 SWZ hydro...never ran a walk behind before, and have a pretty solid feel for it already. It's hard to say you can go wrong with it.

You've got some good advice from these folks. Heck, I posted a picture of my trailer and asked guys if they though I could fit it...the listed lengths of my Gravely and Scag said no...had to remove the velkie to close the gate, but wheel are on the wooden platform and not the dovetail (12 ft trailer, 2 foot dovetail). The common response was without a doubt...I have worn out a tape measure checking.
Moral of the story...they had experience with it!

 

seeing op say only one big hill , and seeing tp chime in again the case is closed for me = get what tp says , the 48 belt driven . and my outlook on 36 vs 48 is say youve got 50 accounts and the 48 saves you 4 minutes on every account , end of the week 4 minutes x 50 = 3 hours 20 minutes of time saved

 

It's actually more time savings than that in reality

You just gave a good example of the difference between a 48 and a 52

The difference between a 36 and a 48 is really big
There is fatigue factor to throw on there too
It's all mental really.

Eleven years ago I did a 3 year stint with a 36" swz and velke as my main mower
Im a hardened criminal when it comes to velke mowing - so you know I can pull off multi acre properties with a 36" ... but a 48 it's like.... just amazing the difference .

Also a 36" at full speed is border line too skinny to not screw up and miss mowhawks... not really for a veteran, but by the time guys "graduate" to vet status ... they've usually moved on to more productive mowers.

 

With a walk behind go hydro all the way. Don’t bother with a sulky on a 36”. With a 48” get you a sulky. I would personally save up and get the 48”. I have had both. I loved hydro’s and hated belt driven. For a hill belt driven walk behinds are rough and safety is a problem that much more.

Good luck with your decision and congratulations on the growth!

 

With a walk behind go hydro all the way. Don't bother with a sulky on a 36". With a 48" get you a sulky. I would personally save up and get the 48". I have had both. I loved hydro's and hated belt driven. For a hill belt driven walk behinds are rough and safety is a problem that much more.

Good luck with your decision and congratulations on the growth!

Thanks! Out of curiosity, why no sulky on the 36? Truthfully it wouldn't get a whole lot of use with my current lawns, but there are a couple that it would be awesome to have a break during the day and not have to walk those s.o.b.'s

Then I figured it could come in handy if a pick up a few more open areas in the future.

 

If i was picking a mower to start with, I’d go with a hydro 36. A 36 will cut and go everywhere a 48 will, but the inverse is not true. Sure a 48 may be faster, but if it doesn’t fit in gates, you then have to use a 21 (or in your case a 30) which is significantly slower. Also, when you’re ready to upgrade, a 36 is still a valuable mower to have on your trailer. If you later buy a 52/61 ztr or stand on, the 48 would only be used as back up. A 36 would serve that purpose, but also still get in those places the bigger mower can’t. My 36 is broken, and not having it for the yards I need it has reminded me just how much I appreciate it.
Personally I’d sell the 30, buy the 36 hydro and cheap 21 for the places the 36 doesn’t fit, then save up for larger ztr/stander.

 

If i was picking a mower to start with, I'd go with a hydro 36. A 36 will cut and go everywhere a 48 will, but the inverse is not true. Sure a 48 may be faster, but if it doesn't fit in gates, you then have to use a 21 (or in your case a 30) which is significantly slower. Also, when you're ready to upgrade, a 36 is still a valuable mower to have on your trailer. If you later buy a 52/61 ztr or stand on, the 48 would only be used as back up. A 36 would serve that purpose, but also still get in those places the bigger mower can't. My 36 is broken, and not having it for the yards I need it has reminded me just how much I appreciate it.
Personally I'd sell the 30, buy the 36 hydro and cheap 21 for the places the 36 doesn't fit, then save up for larger ztr/stander.

He's not stated he has a gate problem ... he's looking for a wide area mower to get more production.
He already has a 30" to solve any gates

Selling a 30" to buy a 21 is like shooting yourself in the foot.

There's nothing to be gained by buying a "cheap" 21 and you'd get so little for a used 30 it wouldn't buy you a good 21.