Thanks for the feedback, I took your advice and stayed away from it. Glad I did, because I just STOLE a nice mower from someone. lmao Guy was selling a Craftsman ZTS 6000 (26hp, 52") for $300! He even delivered it, which was great because my truck is currently down. Anyway, he listed it on Facebook, saying it had some issues. It would only start on starter fluid. He cleaned the carb several times, and even bought a new one, but couldn't fix it. He said it's "just how those motors are." Well, I discovered that the choke linkage was just dangling, not connected to anything. I pushed it up with my finger, and it started with no problem. lol It also needed a battery (bought one for $40 at Tractor Supply), and he said the blades belt started to come off all the time. I put the belt back on, and mowed my entire property with it (mind you, my grass was about 14" high from not mowing it for 2 weeks) and the belt never came off once. I'm thinking maybe he was routing it the wrong way? Anyway, this thing still looks like new, and everything functions properly as it should. Runs absolutely perfect and cuts beautifully! I couldn't be happier. I've never seen these below $1200 used.
My question now is, are rear baggers worth the hassle? I've never owned a mower with one. Like I said, I live in the black dirt region of southern NY, so the grass grows THICK and FAST here. I normally just have a pattern that I mow in certain directions to just keep blowing it into one direction (towards the ditch/woodline), but it takes a lot more time and is more wear & tear on the mower obviously. Would I benefit from having a bagger, or do they clog often and have to be emptied on every pass with a lawn like this? Also, could I rig up most any bagger to this, or does it have to be specific to this model mower? I can fabricate a mounting system no problem, just wondering how they connect to the deck.
Any help would be great, thanks guys!