Lawn Care Forum banner

Walker Mowers?

6K views 23 replies 13 participants last post by  gene gls 
#1 ·
Are Walkers ALL THAT? Would you say they have a finish cut better than an Exmark? I'm thinking of buying one with a 42"Mulching Deck/16 HP Kolher. At the present time I use a Toro WB. I'm looking at the Walker for the outfront deck as to make blade change and cleaning the deck easier. Anyone using this machine please respond as to help me make my choice for spring. Thanks for your input. Mowman
 
#4 ·
I have owned Walker mowers for almost 6 years now and I love them.Do they have a good cut?Yes,they do,I would not own them if they did not!Do they cut better that an Exmark?I can't tell you that becouse I have never owned an Exmark.My first Walker had a normal deck that did not flip up 90 degrees.That was a real pain crawling under the deck to change the blades.But my last 2 Walkers had all flip up decks and I love them.All you do is slide two bars and lift!The distributor even gave me a free professonal torque wrench to take the blades on and off.I sharpen my blades every day so those decks are great!I have never owned a mulching deck on my walker so I can't tell you anything about them.I see you will be looking into the 16hp,that is a good model.I must warn you,don't buy the 11hp with chain drive.That machine is to be used by home owners or places such as universities that are not cutting all the time, ect.It is not meant to be used day in and day out like we do_Our first Walker we bought was a used 11hp and was great mower but it is not meant to be worked by us guys.Actually we still have that machine it is a back up mower right now and probally will be traded in soon.You said ''are Walkers all that?''I would have to say YES!I own a 20hp Walker right now and I have put 500 hrs on it in its first year!With zero repairs to date.My next model will be the 24hp kabota gas.Its engine life expectancy is 4000 hrs!I think Walkers are very reliable,and think you would enjoy owning one.

P.S Walkers can not go 14mph like a dixie can,but for a couple of bucks you can get a speed-up kit that will have your walker going about 8mph.I also know how to get it going 14 mph but I have not tryed it yet!

from:Adam
AB Lawn Care
 
#5 ·
Mowman,

I have been using a Walker MT 25hp for 3.5 yrs now. And I love it. Does everything. Bags, mulches, and just fun to drive. I use a 42" mulch deck 85% of the time. About the only time I bag is early spring cleanup, and for fall cleanups. Most the grass I mow is St. Augustine and Centipede. And as long as the blades are sharp they both mulch real well.

Today I put on a set of gator blades on my deck. First time I have ever used them. Mowed a yard that was rye grass with some leaves. The blades mulched the grass an leaves with out balling up like damp rye normally does. Chopped the leaves fairly fine in one pass. With the cross blades I usually have to go over leaves twice. The yard looked real good, so am impressed with the Gator blades, and saved $30 to boot. Paid $16 a piece for the Gator blades and only need two, and pay $15 a piece for the crossed blades.(need 4) Now if I can find them for my 52" deck.

If you get the machine that has lowprofile tires you have to be careful with the side walls. They are in line with the deck and take a while to get used to obstacles.

jim
 
#7 ·
I have a Walker MTGHS 42" and its my moneymaker. Tha Walker company is very dedicated to its product and the service from the company is second to none. I use the dethatcher in the spring. Collect clippings or discharge them out the back on large lawns. In the fall it does a great job of reducing and collecting leaves.
Problems I have had were with the 1998 Kohler 25HP which was frustrating but it wasn't Walkers fault. My customers love the cut and I would buy another one.
 
#10 ·
I often use my walker 12 hours stright in the hotest days of summer and I have never had 1 problem.Like I said before I have put 500hrs on it the first year and to date I have had know break-downs.

Lazer replied and said "Walkers are awesome if you're bagging. If you're not, they're expensive as (*&@ and you can get more bang for your buck"but I disagree I don't bag and my walker does alot of lawns.Yes I agree that walkers can not cut as much as a lazer-z or a dixie can.But what they lack in speed they make up for in versatility.If you do alot of spring and fall clean-ups than there is no faster machine on the market.If you use your mower for snow removal walkers are great.I do close to 60 drive-ways a day when it snows.Walkers have many deck sizes and styles.You can also use the following attachments:snow thrower, snow blower, 2 sweepers, blower, bed edger, snow blade, dethacther, aerator and more.Lazer is right if your cutting lawns all day long and don't do much spring and fall clean-ups than yes a lazer-z would be faster,but most of us have to do leaves and spring clean-ups and so on.Anyway that is just my opinion!

from:Adam
AB Lawn Care
 
#14 ·
Mowman,I run a Walker 48" GHS unit with 20 HP.I now have 1600 hours on it.According to every one I have talked with I ended up with the ONLY mower that has had problems,new from the factory. I think a lot of my problems were dealer related. I ran it 600 hours last year with only a minor adjustment. I belive the Walker GHS unit was made for the guy that mows on a very regular schedual or more often on properties with a faster growth rate. It is a super machine for spring and fall clean-ups, you can trim cut with both sides of the deck which makes some mowing a lot easyer. It was a lot quieter than the Scag unit when I demoed it.Also, you can only go as fast as the ground is smooth, or you need a seat belt to hold you down. I have found dislikes with every mower that I have owned.I am still looking for the PERFECT mower for ME. I am going to demo a Hustler UPPER-CUT with a bac-vac unit this spring.
 
#15 ·
I enjoy reading the Walker Talk Magazine they put out. I run Choppers and would entertain the idea of buying one if all I did was bag but rather than spending the money on an entirely new unit I put a Trac-Vac on my Scag. It works great but I can ride wheelies all day long!

Homer
 
#16 ·
OBRYANMAINT,

The Gator blades for the Walker are only made for the mulching deck. They will NOT work on the GHS deck. I have two 42" decks. One is a GHS (bagging) and the other is for mulching only.The mulching deck has no discharge and both blades turn the same direction as opposed to the GHS deck which has counter rotating blades.

There is a trick that I do with the GHS deck to make it mulch if I don't want to take the time to change decks on a small job. This works especially well when doing yards with leaves. If you head into a pile of leaves rather fast you will plug up the discharge chute before the blower. You can then continue to go over the rest of the yard mulching the leaves. If the leaves are light to medium heavy they will mulch without a trace. You might have to go over them a couple of times. If they are heavy, you can mulch them and then unplug the chute and go over the yard and bag the chopped up leaves. Since the leaves are mulched they will not take up as much room on the trailor or in bed of truck, or whatever you use to dispose of them.

Jim
 
#18 ·
One of the big reasons I like walker mowers is becouse they are allways looking to make more attachments and add-on's.Every Walker Talk magisene has new products to use on your walker.Like the Walker Talk I got today in the mail has about 4 new products.The great news in this one is that walker is now having optional seats that are more comfortable!!!!!!You can get them with these when you buy a new walker or order one for your used walker.The other great thing about the walker company is that the have recalls.If you walker is one of the machines under that recall your dealer will replace the faulty part for free!I have an old walker that had springs to shut the lid on the tank,the dealer replaced them with struts free of charge and I did not even ask them to do it!Just a couple of other reasons why I like Walkers.

from:Adam
AB Lawn Care
 
#20 ·
Adam, I sat in the new seat at the landscape show in Toronto last month.. Nice, but about Can$800
Of course Walkertalk pushes Walker's, it's not called Lazertalk. There are actually some good articles for all brands in the magazine, just put your mowers name where it says Walker and it will make good reading.
Southside, check out the Walker web site, they did a special on Australia and New Zealand awhile back, you might like it.
 
#22 ·
I have never used the edger attachment,I use a stick edger for all my edging.The one attachment that not many people own that I think they should invest in is the spring dethacher that mounts in front of the mower deck.We use to hand rake the lawns and suck up the piles with the walker in the spring becouse everything was too stuck to the ground to suck it up.But with the dethacher on it,it does the raking and bagging all in one.Plus the costumers think its great becouse not only are they getting a spring clean-up but they are getting a dethaching as well.Plus the hooker areator can be mounted on the dethacher.

from:Adam
AB Lawn Care

----------
Adam
AB Lawn Care
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top