Comparison Advice Needed: Looking to buy new Scag ZTR

[jekjr]

I thought the same thing when I was looking, The only thing that made me go with the 61 inch deck was that it hung out past the rear wheels, the 52 inch was almost flush with the rear tires.

They both are great decks.

I guess that is really a personal preference thing or possibly an application issue as far as size of deck. If we cut the same property over and over again that was level I definitely would go with the 61". In our application we run the 52" decks for numerous reasons. First they don't seem to scalp quite as bad on rough ground. They will go in tighter spots than the 61" decks will. Third they take less space in the trailer.......

We cut properties at times that I wish we had 61 or even 72" decks but overall the 52" decks serve us well because they work for us better in such varied applications.

 

[Mad Mackie]

Wider decks make transporting the machines more difficult and the wider the deck the longer the reach to change the middle blade. I'm on my 4th cargo trailer which is a 7' X 16' and the ramp cables limit me to 52" decks as I use a collection system. My Hustler X-ONE is a 60" rear discharge deck machine and I can load it with no problem as it doesn't have a side chute. My 2nd cargo trailer was an 8 X 20 10,000 GVW unit, nice trailer, but too big to get in and out of places. I was never one to park on the side of a street or highway while I did the job either mowing or snow removal.
Several of my full time lawn care guys got a hankering to get new machines with wider decks, one of them did. It took him a season to get his employees to take advantage of the wider decks and a long time to realize any time savings.
I've been mowing part time and doing maintenance part time for over 30 years and I've seen frequent turnover in company ownership and employees. Not many stay in this business long term.