Best Zero Turn Mower Brands

[MorrisGray]

I have 2.68 acres to mow and my first zero turn was made by Ariens and I bought it from mowersdirect.com
They shipped it to me by freight company and I picked it up at their facility locally. It was a 48" cut or smaller, maybe 46" or 42", not sure but it had a Kawasaki 23hp motor and I considered it to be a great mower for the job. But my yard is very rough terrain and I eventually gave that mower to one of my son-n-laws. I now have a Ferris ZTR with a 48" cut, fuel injected Vanguard motor and shocks on all four wheels. My Ferris has a lot of premium features and cost me about $8500 a couple of years ago. The Ariens mower cost me around $2800 several years ago. My Ferris is a much better mower but for the price and value, I would buy another Ariens if it met my needs. Find a local mower mechanic for all your work because all dealers charge too much for service.

 

[Its Me]

Morris, not defending the mower shops but you know that they have to pay rent, Labor, workman comp., insurance, mechanic tools, electricity and when those nice fuel injected engines don't run those testing instrument are very costly as years go by the shade tree mechanic won't be able to work on them and for some reason the dealer wants to make money and the people that work for them also, I am not being ugly I know they are expensive but we all see expenses at different levels.

 

[bertsmobile1]

I charge $ 60 /hr because I am mobile & work out of a building I pay no dollar rent on .
The shop up the road charges $ 90/ hr because he owns the shop and lives out back but even so he has to find $ 100,000 every january before he can open his doors for various insurances. I just have to find $ 1200 / year.
The mower shops i town charge $ 120 / hr but they are paying $ 3,000/ week rent and still have to find the same $ 1000,000 for compulsory insurances .

So it is not a case of rip off it is a case of mittigating fixed costs .
Then there are franchise fees, advertising and a pile of other stuff that the local mechanic does not have to buy.
Plus some weird things like JD dealers down here have to wash every mower than comes in so it leaves looking like you just bought it.
I wash where it is needed to do the work and if I have the time , might wash the rest of the mower, usually only when he customer has obviously regularly washed their mower.
This alone can take several hours to get grass stained wheels back to pretty shinny yellow.

A rip off is when you get charged for things , like checking the valve lash that is not done .

 

[MorrisGray]

My apologies if I inferred that dealers rip you off, I just meant that labor and repairs are expensive. I understand business concept and can accept that but I don't live near dealers and don't have a way to transport my mower.
... Again <> Sorry

 

[Its Me]

I did not either being negative in my comments but the cost is high to keep them going and they have a floor plan from the brand that they sell, if the don't get them sold by a certain date they start paying entrance of what is in the show room or still setting on pallets, and tools have to be the best used everyday even the best wear out and the Snap-on and other are not as forgiving about replacing them, that lift table that is on a Aviator cost me 1,200 and had a place to drop off other wise I would have to pay shipping, one thing I found different about repairing mower as to four wheelees and out board motors, those guys don't even ask the cost because it play toys but will complain about mower repairs, glad that you got a good mower, change the oil and filter, Air Filter, grease and keep the oil fresh in the Hydraulic, change it twice as much as the owners manual says you will have a mower for a life time, Joe

 

[khr76]

no more words , just go for TORO .. Its best

 

[Old & Slow]

Purchased a Kubota Z231KW-48 this morning...First ZTR. Have spent hours upon hours on the internet and visited several dealers miles away to look first hand at makes of interest. No dealers closer than 25 miles and this Kubota dealership has been here for many years, also the Ford dealer, so feel comfortable with purchase. Replacing a 2009 Cub Cadet SLTX 1054 tractor style.

 

[Its Me]

Old & Slow, that is the best one to buy where you can get service after the sale, parts will be needed and if you cannot do the mechanic work they can, way better than the box stores, support you local business, good for you now you should be mowing tomorrow on it, Joe

 

[gainestruk]

I have a 2004 Gravley ZT 1844XL with 805 hours on it, believe it or not it has an 18 hp Kohler Courage engine.
The only thing I've done is adjust valves an checked torque on case bolts each year, I've never had a problem with it.
The Gravley has hydraulic pump and drive pumps on each rear wheel, I've changed the hydro oil and filter 2 times per manual, I use Mobile 1 15W50 in it per manual.
I'm going to run that Courage engine till it gives up, I am noticing the power is going down, at the most it uses a pint between oil changes every 50 hrs or once a year if I don't use it that much, last year was 38 hrs, I use Penzoil 10W30 Dino oil in it, I'll send pictures as soon as I remember how to do it.

 

[cruzenmike]

I have a 2004 Gravley ZT 1844XL with 805 hours on it, believe it or not it has an 18 hp Kohler Courage engine.
The only thing I've done is adjust valves an checked torque on case bolts each year, I've never had a problem with it.
The Gravley has hydraulic pump and drive pumps on each rear wheel, I've changed the hydro oil and filter 2 times per manual, I use Mobile 1 15W50 in it per manual.
I'm going to run that Courage engine till it gives up, I am noticing the power is going down, at the most it uses a pint between oil changes every 50 hrs or once a year if I don't use it that much, last year was 38 hrs, I use Penzoil 10W30 Dino oil in it, I'll send pictures as soon as I remember how to do it.

So long as your hydro system does not have some type of failure, a simple re-power would turn that old girl into a new machine again. Sticking with 18 hp a Briggs Vanguard would make a good choice!

The one thing that I picked up on is that you have not only kept up on the maintenance but per the manual. I know people that either don't do maintenance or they assume that they know what they are doing and make mistakes.