How much HP? - Round 2... (New Mower Finally)

5925 Views 238 Replies 20 Participants Last post by Wye Oak Tree, 2 mo ago

Jashley73

Discussion Starter · 3 mo ago

I was going to post in the previous thread on "How much HP for a 60 mower" to close the loop, but I see it was finally locked. (Probably a good thing.)

I finally got to answer my own question. I guess my new answer is 37hp...

I Found a 2020 model, 61" Wright ZK on Facebook. 1,100 hours, fresh service, 37hp Vanguard EFI, with a grass flap. All for the price of...........

---- drumroll please ---

$5,950

It's going to be interesting getting used to this machine. I feel pretty awkward on it, but I hope it lives up to the hype - especially on hillside performance.

Wheel Tire Vehicle Automotive tire Tread

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rippinryno

· #41 · 2 mo ago

If you can show me where I've attacked or insulted anybody that would be great. Until then, I would appreciate it if you would stop saying that's what I am doing and throwing around threats like you have done above.

I said the same thing you said in regards to the differences between the two mowers and that's because I've run both of them and know they are in fact quite different in many regards, center of gravity is one of them, which is why i responded to the claims above from a person who has never run a stander. It's not mental, they're different.

Derwood

· #42 · 2 mo ago

rippinryno said:
Well you arent supposed to put the tires in the drink!

Are ya thinking about selling the stander now? If so I'd be interested. I need another good stander for some of my retention areas.

FYI - just came across a 2015 ZK with a Kawasaki 850 on it. 61” deck with 405 hours. 10k obo. Fresh bath and clean looking as best I could see from a few pics

want me to pass along the details in a pm?

troverman

· #43 · 2 mo ago

The ZK is a nice machine. However, your example of getting stuck in a muddy ditch is certainly not the definition of "hill-holding." I do have to agree with J Baker a little bit here - there is less perception of imminent rollover on the stander, as the operator can both lean uphill more easily and at the same time knows he can jump off with ease. I think I also agree with your initial assessment that the stander's true hill-holding ability is only marginally better than a zero turn rider. In my opinion, a stander locates the engine where the operator would normally sit, and locates the operator where the engine would normally reside. The operator will be heavier than the engine, and combined with the short wheelbase and metal frame ahead of the rear axle, the balance might be better.

I have three zero turn mowers and a relative who has a ZK61 similar to yours. My newest addition is a Wright ZXL ride on zero turn; same engine, tires, and fuel tanks as your ZK. However, I bought it new last November and haven't mowed with it yet to pass judgement. My best hill-holding mower is a Kubota which uses very low-profile rear tires and places the fuel tank down under the seat rather than in dual tanks mounted up high. That mower has excellent side-hill ability despite standard run of the mill Carlisle turf tires.

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Jashley73

Discussion Starter · #44 · 2 mo ago

troverman said:
The ZK is a nice machine. However, your example of getting stuck in a muddy ditch is certainly not the definition of "hill-holding." I do have to agree with J Baker a little bit here - there is less perception of imminent rollover on the stander, as the operator can both lean uphill more easily and at the same time knows he can jump off with ease. I think I also agree with your initial assessment that the stander's true hill-holding ability is only marginally better than a zero turn rider. In my opinion, a stander locates the engine where the operator would normally sit, and locates the operator where the engine would normally reside. The operator will be heavier than the engine, and combined with the short wheelbase and metal frame ahead of the rear axle, the balance might be better.

I have three zero turn mowers and a relative who has a ZK61 similar to yours. My newest addition is a Wright ZXL ride on zero turn; same engine, tires, and fuel tanks as your ZK. However, I bought it new last November and haven't mowed with it yet to pass judgement. My best hill-holding mower is a Kubota which uses very low-profile rear tires and places the fuel tank down under the seat rather than in dual tanks mounted up high. That mower has excellent side-hill ability despite standard run of the mill Carlisle turf tires.

I laughed at getting stuck in that ditch. I think it was a combination of things, but what really led to it getting stuck was three-fold I believe. First, like I admitted in that post, I probably attacked that transition a little too aggressively. Second, the deck doesn't overhang the drive tires as much as I'm used to on my Exmark, so that positions the drive tires closer to the mud. Third, the crummy tires just fill up with mud, and then you're stuck. A directional tire with self-cleaning properties would probably have dug itself out, and I'd have made it out of there.

I laughed, and still do because it took me about one minute to get the mower stuck, despite all the hype that I hear about standers. No hard feelings. I'm going to stick with it for a few months at least. I'll put some better tires on it, and give it an honest shake. If I'm still not impresssed, I can always sell it & replace it with another Lazer, or a Hustler Hyperdrive.

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troverman

· #45 · 2 mo ago

When I bought the ZXL I considered the ZK. Here's my Pros and Cons quick list:
Stander Pros:
-Quick to get on and off
-Faster to pick up trash or move obstacles out of the way
-No seat belt or roll bar to deal with
-Better visibility
-Slightly better hill-holding ability
-Ability to jump off if mower is going to slide out of control or flip
Stander Cons:
-You have to stand up the whole time on large lawns
-You have to duck for every low tree canopy you pass under, worse if you are tall
-Somewhat harder to service
-Hand controls are more fatiguing than lap bars

So quite a few positives, but for me - I have a lot of large commercial properties (2-5 acres) and I didn't feel like standing the whole time. Maybe some people do prefer that, to each their own. Either way, the ZK is possibly the best made stander on the market, so it should be good.

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Prestigious1

· #46 · 2 mo ago

I'm curious how much you need to get off your mower when mowing to pick up trash? Do you mow a landfill? LOL I suppose I have seen some really bad city lots in the center of town with some trash on them, but in my case I have my worst property at the intersection of 2 very busy streets and I do any trash pickup while trimming....and that might be only be 5 pieces or so of trash that goes into their dumpster...takes me maybe an extra 30 seconds while trimming. When I start mowing I don't have to stop, the property is already picked up.

Is this an inner-city thing? The need to pick up a lot of trash?

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J. Baker

· #47 · 2 mo ago

Prestigious1 said:
I'm curious how much you need to get off your mower when mowing to pick up trash? Do you mow a landfill? LOL I suppose I have seen some really bad city lots in the center of town with some trash on them, but in my case I have my worst property at the intersection of 2 very busy streets and I do any trash pickup while trimming....and that might be only be 5 pieces or so of trash that goes into their dumpster...takes me maybe an extra 30 seconds while trimming. When I start mowing I don't have to stop, the property is already picked up.

Is this an inner-city thing? The need to pick up a lot of trash?

We mowed a lot for the last couple years (dropped it this year along with all that customers properties) that was right next to a gas station. It was terrible. Not on the "nice" end of town, and the people that frequent that particular station look like maybe they are meeting there for other reasons. Anyway, tons of trash blew from the gas station onto the lot we mowed. Basically people came out and unwrapped the whatever they were eating the just let the trash blow away. Small glass liquor bottles, cups, napkins, candy wrappers, pizza boxes, whatever. But like you, I typically picked up while trimming or before mowing. The lot also had a maple tree on it that dropped sticks when the wind blew over 5 mph, so there was always something to pick up.

Had another lot that the same guy owned that the tenants couldn't figure out how to keep the lids on the dumpster closed, so it was covered in a lot of trash too. Plus it was right next to a creek lined with trees. Raccoons liked to get in the dumpster too. Half the time the dumpster was overflowing. Probably a lot of non tenants using it because it was in a far unlit corner of the parking lot. Probably a lot of people rolling through after dark using it.

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Derwood

· #48 · 2 mo ago (Edited)

Just for perspective:

I have a Candy Shop (candy, ice cream, chocolate, etc) and they have outdoor seating for guests who buy ice cream. My son will grab 30 individual napkins all over the property, many of which are wet and soggy and gross (that's why I make him do it lol

, literally every single time we cut. I have jacked their price almost 45% for this year, and they're thinking about it. PLUS, the nearby business can't seem to get anything in their own dumpster that sort of sits between the candy shop and their business, and half their garbage blows onto this property. If I'm buy myself, I mow as long as I can before I have to get off for ONE napkin, and then I just walk around and do the rest of them at that time. I'm guessing this one will no longer be on my route, but we'll see.

J. Baker posted his before I could get mine up here - otherwise I might have just said "ditto."

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Prestigious1

· #49 · 2 mo ago

7

J. Baker said:
We mowed a lot for the last couple years (dropped it this year along with all that customers properties) that was right next to a gas station. It was terrible. Not on the "nice" end of town, and the people that frequent that particular station look like maybe they are meeting there for other reasons. Anyway, tons of trash blew from the gas station onto the lot we mowed. Basically people came out and unwrapped the whatever they were eating the just let the trash blow away. Small glass liquor bottles, cups, napkins, candy wrappers, pizza boxes, whatever. But like you, I typically picked up while trimming or before mowing. The lot also had a maple tree on it that dropped sticks when the wind blew over 5 mph, so there was always something to pick up.

Had another lot that the same guy owned that the tenants couldn't figure out how to keep the lids on the dumpster closed, so it was covered in a lot of trash too. Plus it was right next to a creek lined with trees. Raccoons liked to get in the dumpster too. Half the time the dumpster was overflowing. Probably a lot of non tenants using it because it was in a far unlit corner of the parking lot. Probably a lot of people rolling through after dark using it.

EEeeewwwww!! Yeah, I definitely don't blame you for getting rid of those!! I do some lawns for a property manager who also flips houses...this house was pretty bad and iin a pretty bad part of town, yet all the neighbors came over to thank me for making the property look a lot better...my instructions was to just clean it up as well as possible in a couple hours...LOL! Turn out all the people were very friendly and the little bit of trash in the yard they spent about 5 minutes (there was about 8 people) who picked up all the wrappers and stuff for me. Everyone took pretty good care of their properties, but this place was a real blight...had that one for several months until she flipped it.

Trying to find a couple pics....I couldn't imagine living next to something like that...but that's as bad as it gets for me, and usually after the first cut, wash and blowdry these go real nice depending on the size/layout naturally.

Plant Window Building Fixture House

Plant Building Window Land lot Vegetation

Plant Natural landscape Terrestrial plant Grass Groundcover

Building Window Property Wood House

Plant Property Window Building Tree

Plant Tree Grass Groundcover Natural landscape

Plant Building Window Tree House

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Ridin' Green

· #50 · 2 mo ago

The trees in the gutter made me smile. There's a house not too awful far from my home, maybe a couple miles or so, that is on a side street and most of the homes are not mansions or anything, but just nice average homes that are kept up well around them. There is one house that had trees a couple feet tall about two years ago- from one end of the gutter to the other. The place was no dump, but apparently they were afraid to get up on a ladder and clean them that year. (too steep to get on the roof to do it). I watched the trees grow from just barely showing above the gutter to a couple feet tall in one summer. I guess the neighbors or code enforcement made them clean them up, because it hasn't been that bad since.

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Derwood

· #51 · 2 mo ago

P1 -

I see the "before" pictures! But where are the "after" pictures ?!?! lololol - sorry I couldn't resist lol!!!!!

Well done.

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Prestigious1

· #52 · 2 mo ago

That sounds like a new Country Song...."Tree's in the Gutter" by Ridin' Green on WLON 93.3 on your FM dial....

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Ridin' Green

· #53 · 2 mo ago

If only I could sing.................

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rippinryno

· #54 · 2 mo ago (Edited)

Residential props maybe not a lot of trash. Commercial props youll find have some cleanup. The stander has been a huge help in that realm. Picture 3 acres of turf and open area. If im all the way in the back and theres a polar pop cup, im off and on the stander in 10 seconds with very little effort. Do that 5-10 times per prop and you will seethe benefits. Im not sure if my pto clutch likes it.

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Derwood

· #55 · 2 mo ago

rippinryno said:
Im not sure if my pto clutch likes it.

I’m sure your PTO clutch hates it. That’s why others want to disable it. To each his own.

rippinryno

· #56 · 2 mo ago

Yeah, its a wear part. If i have to change it out once more than normal than no biggie. I wont disable it though because with an open ocdc it just takes one slip to be choppped up

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Derwood

· #57 · 2 mo ago

I have to have that work done for me. No way I could do that myself

rippinryno

· #58 · 2 mo ago

They can be a royal pain! On the 757 injust repowered the old pto clutch took a lot of convincing with not one but 2 pullers. The first puller stripped itself trying to get it off it was stuck. I would have left it as i ended up putting a new one on the new motor but there were 2 spacers and a metal stop that i had to get off. Quite possibly the worst part of the whole process.

Turf Tracer

· #59 · 2 mo ago

.45hp per “ of deck minimum

Jashley73

Discussion Starter · #60 · 2 mo ago

I find, like others have mentioned, that the roadside commercial accounts always have some level of trash to be picked up. I can certainly see how a Stander is "faster" at this, but like @rippinryno mentioned, it's hard on clutches if you are killing/engaging the blades at WOT, which is the quickest way...

On my ZTR, I got one of the long pistol-grip trash/debris grabbers, and it lives on the mower full time. If I'm expecting a lot of trash, I'll grab a couple trashbags too. Trash goes in the foot well until I have a convienant place to drop it. This works pretty good. Often, I don't even need to push the sticks back to "neutral" - just stop, grap the trash, drop near my feet, and take off again. I couldn't imagine how much time I'd waste without it.

On the stander, I already have the trash bucket mounted. I need to pick up another trash grabber for this one too.

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