Well, as most of you know I"m in the market for a WB and have never purchased one or operaed one. What are your remarks, I don't want to spend to much, so do I go hydro or gear, please give me your responces with some sort of explaination. Is buying the gear driven worth the cut cost, or no?
If cost is the issue go belt driven......Toro and Exmark make good mowers for good prices. 36" and 48" run 2100-2300 dollars. Hydro is nice but expensive.... Derek
About $2500 for a 48" Exmark gear drive. About $3500 for a 48" Lesco hydro. If you are going to do some larger yards with zero obstacles then the gear drive is fine. If you need to turn a lot and will have a sulky then the hydro is the ticket.
Without a doubt, go hydro. Twice the cost, will last 5 times longer, less maintanence, faster, smoother, true zero turn ability, I could go on and on.....new companies starting out with limited budgets go belt until they can afford ( or try) a hydro. I used a hydro for years working with someone else, then an opportunity came about for me to buy a gear/belt driven for cheap and I did. Sold it pretty quickly. It was nice, but nothing compared to the hydro. Just get the best now, don't worry about later, it'll still be there for you years and years down the road. ~Nest P.S. eXmark, not Toro
HEY your from near home...nice... Yea, I try and stay with my residential mostly ,and under 10K, I do have some office buildings where a 32 or 36 would come in handy, but all my lawns seem to be smaller, but they are also where I turn the most profit from. 35 to 45$ for a 15 to 23 min jobber!!! thats money, expcially when I am starting to delevelope closer routes.. hey you don't need a 42" Husqvarna rider do you?...lol
All other things being equal (engine/deck,etc...) Bob-Cat hydro is about $1100 more than a geardrive. That's not too bad considering 2 wheel motors and 2 pumps and the hoses.
Hydro would have a higher learning curve than a belt drive. Hydro would provide MUCH less operator fatique
This is true - the only trouble w/ a hydro WB is the cost. You are VERY, VERY close in price to a small Z rider
If you can not afford a new hydro look for a used one. you can always find some pretty good deals in the paper
