Dear Simplicity.....

[Envy Lawn Service]

Dear Simplicity,

I am a commercial operator. I do mainly use a commercial zero turn. But I feel a strong need to keep a lawn tractor style mower in my stables. They are good for tender lawns, tackling a slope after a surprise thunder storm and towing around attachments. My current one is well seasoned and will soon grow old and tired on me. So I will be looking for a replacement someday. When someday comes I would like for there to be an actual commercial grade lawn tractor available for me to purchase that has all the features I'm looking for.

Your current Prestige model has some of the features and it is a good starting point. I like the faster hydro trans-axle with differential lock, the power steering, striping roller and the body style. But there are some areas where it fall short of commercial grade. Since you own Ferris and they certainly know how to build them smooth and tuff, I would challenge you to call them in on this one. Challenge them to give your Prestige unit a true commercial grade tractor frame and have them design a deep, welded, commercial grade deck, with commercial spindles, 19,000 FPM blade tip speed, and similar in shape to your current deck so all the Simplicity goodies can still be added.

Then add an engine with 25 or more HP and tighten the turning radius as tight as possible. Also make the stance as wide as possible without taking away all the trim ability for a given deck size. A dial stop cutting height adjustment would be another good thing to add. It would come in handy on rough properties. You could dial in the cutting height, drop the deck and it would stop there. Then it would be hanging in suspension rather than riding on the striping rollers and taking a beating over rough ground. Throw in a suspension seat too. They are nice. And oh by the way keep it affordable somehow and make sure it's offered under the Massey Ferguson name just like the rest because they are the right color....


To be completely honest, if they built that and it was able to:

Mow fast, say atleast 8 mph
Mulch really well
Turn really tight, fast and effortlessly

I really would by one. Be honest, would you??? I might would even go back to tractor style mowers again if I could only afford one mower on my trailer. To be honest I almost bought a 2823H Massey Ferguson with a 23 hp Kohler and a 54" deck instead of buying my first ZTR...

 

[PMLAWN]

Envy, I too am looking at a tractor for the reasons you stated. The towing would be a big help because I have a few big properties that need trimming and clean up in many far corners. I feel that the current garden tractor options fall short on mowing so I had not planed on using it for that so, Yes if someone built one like you describe I too would be interested.

 

[Envy Lawn Service]

Yeah, now one of those little sub-compact tractors would be nice too because you would have a real little tractor, maybe 4x4 and the benefits of the 3 point hitch and the like. But they are too big, too tall and lack in cutting performance. So they don't quite fit the bill either.

I think one guy here has a Simplicity Conquest or Prestige. I think one guy runs a few of those New Holland Garden Tractors. Somebody has a John Deere X Series. And I think somebody has those little 3 cylinder Kubota Garden tractors.

All these are nice and close to what I would be looking for. But they all fall short somewhere. Plus they would cost you as much as your main commercial rider. That's really hard to justify unless the do really well at everything, or at least to me it is...

I don't 'think' it would cost Simplicity all that much to make those chnges and offer what I'm looking for. I mean it would be cheaper for them to make those adjustments than for sy any ommercial MFG to design one from the ground up. But what do I know? The problem is there is probably very little demand for something like I want and most people will easily settle for a little less than exactly what they want ya know?