Budget zero turn help

[khr76]

do you have choices ? i suggest toro lawn mower .. its gives you hassel free service for long term ... cheers

 

[Craptor Owner]

I'm partial to my Hustler Raptor. Just a few hundred more than the ones you are talking about. It has a much heavier Fabricated Deck, and most come with a Kawasaki engine. I think both items are worth the price alone. Mine has run flawlessly for 8 yrs.
https://www.hustlerturf.com/products/raptor

The newer Raptors are plagued with problems. Broken hydro mounts that have not been addressed by Excell, Huslter or Big Dog Just replaced 6 of the hydro mounts on mine and then found the battery tray broken and seat crossmember is cracked. 2018 Raptor 54sd Deck has isues with the idler pulley bolt bending the deck where it mounts. Basically a carriage bolt through an area that is not reinforced. When frame issues are brought to the attention of a dealer for warranty you get the what type of ground is it use on, do you trailer it and so forth. I did not spend $4500 to wrench on a mower at every turn. We see far more HDepot Toros and Cubs used for residential/commercial mowing around here.

 

[100 td]

The Quest was upgraded and is a nice mower. They now have the serviceable ZT2800 transmission. I love Exmarks!

ZT2800 plus fabricated deck, BONUS!

 

[7394]

I'm quite content with my Toro.

 

[Darryl G]

I went with the Exmark Quest. I like it, but honestly wished I had gone with the Toro. the Toro is just a nicer mower with more features, same quality, for $100 less. The cast aluminum caps serve a great purpose. If you hit and bend something, that arm can be removed and replaced easily. Without that feature, you have a bent frame. The smart speed transmission is nice, so you can go at slower speeds without losing any tip speed. I guess I went with Exmark name recognition and what I thought would be higher resale value, which I should not have since I would keep this for many years.

As far as the bottom of the barrel of ZTRs, I don’t believe that. I’ve had a 18 year old Sears Craftsman rider that was a hand me down and still was running fine. I’ve just sold my Troy-Bilt rider that I had for 8 years and was still like new. I’m sorry, I don’t buy into the thought that a residential owner has to purchase some expensive, commercial mower to get a quality mower and cut. No matter what you buy, if you take care of it, it will take care of you.

The transmission on the Quest is much better. The issue with the budget zero turn mowers is that the 2100/2200 transmissions fail and are too costly to repair/replace given the residual value of the machine. Thus they are essentially throw-away mowers.