dixieseller
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I would get a DIXIE CHOPPER Zee 2 it will last much longer, and need less service parts.
Best upper end residential zero turn
- Thread starter pinkstonm
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emo666j1
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Look on You tube for "vice grip garage" he is is a partnership with swittser lawn equiiptment made in Missouri. He has a whole segment on the factory. Never owned one but was impressed with features.
I have two acres to mow with light hills and many trees. thought i would chime in. There are a lot of contrasting responses here which i believe helps make this thread great. First, I think that nothing other than a 4 wheel zero turn mower is the way to go. the time savings alone will make it worth your while in a short span. I am very mechanically inclined so my purchases have been limited to pre-owned heavy duty commercial machines. my purpose for this choice is that i care more about cost savings and build quality than warranties. the acquisition cost of both of my mowers was less than 3500.00 each. yes, a pre-owned machine is probably going to need some work, but if you are handy, you can have a MUCH better mower at a much lesser price. if you are not in a hurry, take your time to search Marketplace, Craigslist and such. you can find an absolute tank that will last a lifetime for both you and your heirs. My first mower was a mid 2000's ExMark Lazer Z XS with 60" deck(horizontal shaft engine). My present mower is a 2008 Dixie Chopper Xcaliber Industrial- 66" deck with 35hp Yanmar Diesel. Both mowers have their pluses and minuses and i thought i would share them here
The ExMark Lazer Z XS: it was an absolute tank! The "XS" was the heaviest duty machine from this manufacturer that wasn't a diesel. every bit of the fabricated Triton deck was at least 1/4" thick! it should last forever and is next to impossible to mess it up. for some reason, wet grass never seemed to stick underneath. I like that the deck was positioned on the machine toward the very front(at least to the extent possible on a 4 wheel zero turn). this made it easy to get close to trees and other obstructions. it was very easy to get a really close cut. another nice feature was that it was possible to swing the mower in an arc in such a way that you could maneuver it between objects(trees) that were a few inches narrower than the width of the deck. The drive system was really heavy duty. I loved that the mower had a horizontal shaft engine. it was a 22.5 Hp Kohler. Unfortunately, that particular motor would burn about a half quart of oil each time i used it to cut my lawn. this is what precipitated my search for another machine. The features i didn't like about the ExMark were that it was pretty difficult to work on. most everything under the seat required contortionist hands to get to. also, my yard is kind of bumpy(cypress knees and various uneven ruts) in many places. the lack of front suspension would jar the teeth out of my head. the stock drive tires on the ExMark really suck. they might be ok for flat land(when its dry), but that is not my situation here. the drive levers were really heavy to actuate. if you have a bad rotator cuff, this mower will make you sore for a couple of days after its use.
The Dixie Chopper Xcaliber Industrial Diesel: this is Dixie's heaviest duty machine....period. I love, love, love that Yanmar 35 hp 3TNV engine! completely unnecessary for my application, but it will truly last forever with proper maintenance. (I am not suggesting that all of you with 2 acre lots go out and buy diesel mowers). This zero features a spring fork front suspension which i also love. it will be really difficult for me to own another mower in the future without some sort of suspension feature. This mower was purposely designed to be fairly easy to work on. EVERYTHING, i mean everything has a grease zirk that is generally in a good position to get the gun on. I love that this machine does not use an electric clutch to engage the deck. it actually has a heavy duty dual belt/pulley system with a lever that engages and disengages the drive. I really like the proprietary Dixie Chopper Chevron tires. they can potentially tear up your yard if you aren't careful, but at least you generally have good traction in most every situation. these tires will be potentially really expensive to replace. for this big mower, they are around 450.00 each. The deck on the Dixie is also fabricated, but about an 1/8" or perhaps 5/32" thick. in comparison to the ExMark, this deck is a joke. for longevity, the deck should have been made out of a much heavier gauge of steel. i take good care of my equipment, but this deck has suffered a good bit of abuse from a previous stewardship. this is an issue that i plan to address this winter. it will involve dismantling the deck, repairing impact damage and somehow bending the shell back into square. the deck is located more in the middle of the machine on the Dixie. I am not so much a fan of this location. I prefer the configuration of the Exmark for its better maneuverability. My dixie has electric deck height adjustment which is a nice option. however, for my needs, i don't raise and lower very often, so this is a feature i could live without. this Dixie is built like a tank (other than the deck) and is kind of a monster in size. the wheel track width (not talking about deck width) is perhaps a foot wider than my previous Exmark. i would say this is great if you have a really hilly lawn. for my yard, i would say that i prefer the narrower wheel track of the ExMark as it also slightly adds to the maneuverability. I am thinking about sourcing a used 60" exmark Triton deck to replace the 66" dixie. it will take some fabrication to fit, but that would make this mower bulletproof. you sit up a lot higher on the Dixie than the Exmark. not a deal breaker or a very important issue, but i guess i prefer the lower seat height of the Exmark.
all in all, i much prefer the Dixie Chopper over the the Exmark. they both have plusses and minuses. i can say that after using both, there are features from both machines i wish i could have in one perfect zero turn mower. In my opinion, i would say buy a machine with the heaviest hydraulic drive system possible. Front suspension is an important feature for me of which i hope to never be without. other than a diesel engine(likely financially out of reach for most of you) i would say in my opinion Kawasaki makes the best gas engines and i would choose this manufacturer over all of the others. (fortunately the world is a better place since Tecumseh engine company is out of business, lol). a 4 wheel zero turn with the deck out forward as much as possible is also in my opinion a good choice. at some point i will probably buy a good used 60" Ferris with a Kawasaki to see if they are worth the hype. i have also looked at 60" diesel Kubotas and might consider one of those(alas, no front suspension).
One last thought: someone above mentioned Walker mowers. I looked at these as well as a similar snapper diesel 6 wheel zero turn. i chose not to buy one of these because they are so much longer than the 4 wheel style. since these mowers pivot around the center drive wheels, i discovered after trying out the Snapper that it is really easy to swing the back end into trees, fences, walls and such. these mowers are a lot longer, more difficult to store, and maneuver poorly in tight places. I think they are probably great if you have a lot of open area(which i do not). the 4 wheel style mower was a better option for my yard and the 80 plus trees i have to cut around every week.
I hope the information i took the time to provide here is helpful to some of you in the future. I also hope that others who have owned multiple manufacturers will chime in with their experiences to make this string even better than it is now. instead of posting in this thread, I was actually considering starting a new posting with a title something like "best used commercial zero turn mowers". Let me know if any of you think it would more appropriate and i will "make it so".
Edit: I just wanted to add a little to this entry. first, i rebuilt the deck on my 66" Dixie. I invested about 3 weeks of my spare time and somewhere to the tune of 700.00. One of my upgrades was a set of Oregon G6 Gator blades. Highly recommended with 2 thumbs up!!! they are not cheap, but i truly believe they are the best blades on the market and worth every penny if you can find them for your application. it cuts a lot better and a lot flatter than it used to. i am about 70% happy with it. unfortunately, with my yard and my plethora of trees, i have about 5 or 6 places i cannot get to that i was previously able to mow with a 60" deck. to rectify this, I just purchased a used Kubota 60" heavy duty fabricated deck that i plan to modify and mount on my Dixie at some point in the near future. After some posthumus research, i found that Kubota makes an extremely heavy duty deck which will work great for my intended application. however, (at least in regard to the diesel mowers) parts are generally 3x+ more expensive than just about any other brand. there is also basically zero aftermarket parts availability. I spent a good bit of time researching prices for various parts in general. Kubota is crazy proud of their spares. for example, the least expensive spindle assemblies i can find for this deck are 230.00 each! I can buy spindles off ebay to fit my Dixie for 29.00. for that reason alone, i can not recommend Kubota Diesel Zero turns on any level. you are going to need to spend money on it at some point. i promise parts will cost a lot more to fix this brand than pretty much any other.
The ExMark Lazer Z XS: it was an absolute tank! The "XS" was the heaviest duty machine from this manufacturer that wasn't a diesel. every bit of the fabricated Triton deck was at least 1/4" thick! it should last forever and is next to impossible to mess it up. for some reason, wet grass never seemed to stick underneath. I like that the deck was positioned on the machine toward the very front(at least to the extent possible on a 4 wheel zero turn). this made it easy to get close to trees and other obstructions. it was very easy to get a really close cut. another nice feature was that it was possible to swing the mower in an arc in such a way that you could maneuver it between objects(trees) that were a few inches narrower than the width of the deck. The drive system was really heavy duty. I loved that the mower had a horizontal shaft engine. it was a 22.5 Hp Kohler. Unfortunately, that particular motor would burn about a half quart of oil each time i used it to cut my lawn. this is what precipitated my search for another machine. The features i didn't like about the ExMark were that it was pretty difficult to work on. most everything under the seat required contortionist hands to get to. also, my yard is kind of bumpy(cypress knees and various uneven ruts) in many places. the lack of front suspension would jar the teeth out of my head. the stock drive tires on the ExMark really suck. they might be ok for flat land(when its dry), but that is not my situation here. the drive levers were really heavy to actuate. if you have a bad rotator cuff, this mower will make you sore for a couple of days after its use.
The Dixie Chopper Xcaliber Industrial Diesel: this is Dixie's heaviest duty machine....period. I love, love, love that Yanmar 35 hp 3TNV engine! completely unnecessary for my application, but it will truly last forever with proper maintenance. (I am not suggesting that all of you with 2 acre lots go out and buy diesel mowers). This zero features a spring fork front suspension which i also love. it will be really difficult for me to own another mower in the future without some sort of suspension feature. This mower was purposely designed to be fairly easy to work on. EVERYTHING, i mean everything has a grease zirk that is generally in a good position to get the gun on. I love that this machine does not use an electric clutch to engage the deck. it actually has a heavy duty dual belt/pulley system with a lever that engages and disengages the drive. I really like the proprietary Dixie Chopper Chevron tires. they can potentially tear up your yard if you aren't careful, but at least you generally have good traction in most every situation. these tires will be potentially really expensive to replace. for this big mower, they are around 450.00 each. The deck on the Dixie is also fabricated, but about an 1/8" or perhaps 5/32" thick. in comparison to the ExMark, this deck is a joke. for longevity, the deck should have been made out of a much heavier gauge of steel. i take good care of my equipment, but this deck has suffered a good bit of abuse from a previous stewardship. this is an issue that i plan to address this winter. it will involve dismantling the deck, repairing impact damage and somehow bending the shell back into square. the deck is located more in the middle of the machine on the Dixie. I am not so much a fan of this location. I prefer the configuration of the Exmark for its better maneuverability. My dixie has electric deck height adjustment which is a nice option. however, for my needs, i don't raise and lower very often, so this is a feature i could live without. this Dixie is built like a tank (other than the deck) and is kind of a monster in size. the wheel track width (not talking about deck width) is perhaps a foot wider than my previous Exmark. i would say this is great if you have a really hilly lawn. for my yard, i would say that i prefer the narrower wheel track of the ExMark as it also slightly adds to the maneuverability. I am thinking about sourcing a used 60" exmark Triton deck to replace the 66" dixie. it will take some fabrication to fit, but that would make this mower bulletproof. you sit up a lot higher on the Dixie than the Exmark. not a deal breaker or a very important issue, but i guess i prefer the lower seat height of the Exmark.
all in all, i much prefer the Dixie Chopper over the the Exmark. they both have plusses and minuses. i can say that after using both, there are features from both machines i wish i could have in one perfect zero turn mower. In my opinion, i would say buy a machine with the heaviest hydraulic drive system possible. Front suspension is an important feature for me of which i hope to never be without. other than a diesel engine(likely financially out of reach for most of you) i would say in my opinion Kawasaki makes the best gas engines and i would choose this manufacturer over all of the others. (fortunately the world is a better place since Tecumseh engine company is out of business, lol). a 4 wheel zero turn with the deck out forward as much as possible is also in my opinion a good choice. at some point i will probably buy a good used 60" Ferris with a Kawasaki to see if they are worth the hype. i have also looked at 60" diesel Kubotas and might consider one of those(alas, no front suspension).
One last thought: someone above mentioned Walker mowers. I looked at these as well as a similar snapper diesel 6 wheel zero turn. i chose not to buy one of these because they are so much longer than the 4 wheel style. since these mowers pivot around the center drive wheels, i discovered after trying out the Snapper that it is really easy to swing the back end into trees, fences, walls and such. these mowers are a lot longer, more difficult to store, and maneuver poorly in tight places. I think they are probably great if you have a lot of open area(which i do not). the 4 wheel style mower was a better option for my yard and the 80 plus trees i have to cut around every week.
I hope the information i took the time to provide here is helpful to some of you in the future. I also hope that others who have owned multiple manufacturers will chime in with their experiences to make this string even better than it is now. instead of posting in this thread, I was actually considering starting a new posting with a title something like "best used commercial zero turn mowers". Let me know if any of you think it would more appropriate and i will "make it so".
Edit: I just wanted to add a little to this entry. first, i rebuilt the deck on my 66" Dixie. I invested about 3 weeks of my spare time and somewhere to the tune of 700.00. One of my upgrades was a set of Oregon G6 Gator blades. Highly recommended with 2 thumbs up!!! they are not cheap, but i truly believe they are the best blades on the market and worth every penny if you can find them for your application. it cuts a lot better and a lot flatter than it used to. i am about 70% happy with it. unfortunately, with my yard and my plethora of trees, i have about 5 or 6 places i cannot get to that i was previously able to mow with a 60" deck. to rectify this, I just purchased a used Kubota 60" heavy duty fabricated deck that i plan to modify and mount on my Dixie at some point in the near future. After some posthumus research, i found that Kubota makes an extremely heavy duty deck which will work great for my intended application. however, (at least in regard to the diesel mowers) parts are generally 3x+ more expensive than just about any other brand. there is also basically zero aftermarket parts availability. I spent a good bit of time researching prices for various parts in general. Kubota is crazy proud of their spares. for example, the least expensive spindle assemblies i can find for this deck are 230.00 each! I can buy spindles off ebay to fit my Dixie for 29.00. for that reason alone, i can not recommend Kubota Diesel Zero turns on any level. you are going to need to spend money on it at some point. i promise parts will cost a lot more to fix this brand than pretty much any other.
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Ida-Boy
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Following: I am in nearly the same boat. Sold my home and left my Grasshopper go with the place. Now I am closing on close to 12 acres but 10 acres gets farmed, so I need a zero turn for just under 2 acres. Leaning towards 52: deck as my 61" seemed to scalp. I see a lot of different recommendations but do believe that good service and service close to where I am living are 2 things that will plays a big role in my choice.