What prior experience do you have in the acre plus / riding mower department?

Few other things...
A mower is either residential grade, or it's commercial grade.
I don't care what they try and hype, there is little difference between stamped and fabricated decks per se,
most of the difference is in the gauge or thickness of the steel.
A commercial grade mower generally sports a 7-gauge steel, which is about 1/4 inch thick.
That's why they cost so much, you pay for the steel.

There is no getting around it, residential grade mowers usually have closer to a 10-gauge steel in use.

But if you know your yard and keep your mower covered, a thinner steel deck can last 10-20 years just as well.
It's not all about the thickness of the steel, you still have engine and transmission and everything else, too.

 

herler, thanks for the reply!

This will be my first time using a riding/ztr and I want to be sure that if I'm spending $3,000+ on a mower that it will be a good investment. I understand that there is a huge difference between commercial and residential but I was hoping to get first hand experience from people with knowledge of the Toro SS5000 versus the other models I'm considering (Exmark Quest and Hustler Raptor).

I can't really spend much more and considering I'll only be using it to cut my own lawn I don't want to break the bank on a mower. I'm more concerned with which residential ztr is the best bang for my buck. The reason I'm keeping it between Toro, Exmark, and Hustler is that these are the three brands offered by a couple of good dealers in my area (northwest of Detroit) as opposed to going to big box stores.

 

The Toro Timecutter SS5000 is one of the best selling ZTRs on our site, and consistently receives great reviews.

Read some reviews here:
http://www.mowersdirect.com/Toro-74631-Lawn-Mower/p9943.html

 

Any other opinions on the Toro Timecutter SS5000?

Or does anybody think I'd be better off with the Hustler Raptor or Exmark?

 

bumping this up to get more replies

 

i looked at ss5000 recently, but became concerned when i found out its built by mtd, a low end builder. any thoughts?

 

I've never been on a Hustler or Exmark. Sorry.

Toro stopped selling lawn and garden tractors at least 2 years ago. I bought a 2015 MX-5050 in the early spring of 2016 and they didn't offer any tractors. I asked. He primarily sells Scag and is the 3rd generation owner.

TractorData states "In 2007, Toro began selling a re-branded line of tractors built by MTD." But they don't say when they stopped.

I've never seen a statement that MTD built any Toro zero turns.

Fwiw, the MX-5050 is great and I'll never go back to a tractor with a steering wheel. My ztr has a Kohler 24 hp 7000, 50" 10 ga. welded deck and 2800 series transmissions with filters. It also has an oversized air filter with prefilter. I mow a lot of sticks, pine cones, clay dust and clover. And rocks and weeds. It's only rated to tow 80 pounds.

I bought my 85-year-old uncle a Deere X380 last spring because he has hills and has always had a Deere. Unfortunately, his health declined and he can't mow. It has 20 hours on it and I trailered it the 1.5 hours back to my house on Saturday. Stupid steering wheel and stupid gas pedal. How quaint.