I'm shopping for a ZTR 60" --- Here's what I'm finding, your thoughts please
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Old Goat
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Re: I'm shopping for a ZTR 60" --- Here's what I'm finding, your thoughts please
I feel your pain! But my names not Bill.
I looked at ALL of these makes very hard, including Gravely.
After 2 years of thinking about this and driving myself almost crazy, I settled on a 54" Big Dog R754 model.
I may have gone a little large, but we have 2.25 acres to cut and this machine is well, well built.
What finished the deal for me is when I discovered that these are built by Excel Industries, which built the first ZTR made in 1966!
You owe it to yourself to look at them well before you buy. I got my R754 for $5247 out the door, Tax included.
Not as commercial duty as The Hustler line they build, but plenty sturdy for residential use.
Rode mine today for a while with my neighbor watching who owns a Dixon. When I got off of it, the first thing he said was "I want one, where did you get it?" This mower is a "BIG DOG".
You need to check them out at your closest dealer before you pay the piper.
Residential and Commercial Zero Turn Radius Lawn Mowers and Tractors - Big Dog Mowers
Charles
I feel your pain! But my names not Bill.
I looked at ALL of these makes very hard, including Gravely.
After 2 years of thinking about this and driving myself almost crazy, I settled on a 54" Big Dog R754 model.
I may have gone a little large, but we have 2.25 acres to cut and this machine is well, well built.
What finished the deal for me is when I discovered that these are built by Excel Industries, which built the first ZTR made in 1966!
You owe it to yourself to look at them well before you buy. I got my R754 for $5247 out the door, Tax included.
Not as commercial duty as The Hustler line they build, but plenty sturdy for residential use.
Rode mine today for a while with my neighbor watching who owns a Dixon. When I got off of it, the first thing he said was "I want one, where did you get it?" This mower is a "BIG DOG".
You need to check them out at your closest dealer before you pay the piper.
Residential and Commercial Zero Turn Radius Lawn Mowers and Tractors - Big Dog Mowers
Charles
djdicetn
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Re: I'm shopping for a ZTR 60" --- Here's what I'm finding, your thoughts please
tso,
Hope you didn't get the recomendation about Cub Cub Cadet Z-Force's & Tanks and the Toro Z-Masters confused(in your first sentence about CC buying Toros)???? Cub Cadet builds their ZTR's and Toro builds theirs!! Of course, Exmark on the other hand WAS bought out by Toro and those two ZTR's are almost identical(except for the decks, which are exclusively a Toro deck or an Exmark deck on each machine). And I was wrong in my previous post.....I made an offer for the 52" Dixon DX152(the DX100 series is a step above the Ultra and the DX100's are "true commercial" mowers). The Ultra series is a high-end Residential unit with some "commercial features". Based upon the other ZTR's you have looked at I would not recommend the Ultra(but the DX100's would rate with some of the others you listed). The Dixon dealer had given me a $6,391 "out-the-door" price for the Dixon DX152 and it would have been my second choice behind the Gravely. The Big Dog mentioned by user Old Goat is a solid high-end Residential ZTR and I would consider it before I would the Dixon Ultra. Again, the Big Dog being made by the parent company that makes Hustler ZTR's is a strong point for the Big Dog(the 54" Hustler Fastrak Super Duty was third on my list, but the dealer wouldn't budge off $7,100 and the Gravely at $6,800 OTD was a no brainer). Again, good luck searching for the best ZTR to meet your needs.
Okay, thanks for that... Not sure on which model the gravely was, I'll have to call them back and ask.
So Cub Cadet is buying Toros for their higher and machines? Who is making their lower and models? I remember a time when MTD made 80 percent of the mowers out there, I'm assuming that something like that is still happening with the lower end units, but I have not mower shopped in a long time so I'm not up to date on all the gossip
Does anyone know if the Dixon Ultra is any good? As gay as it sounds, the blue would match my tractor's color nicely ;-)
tso,
Hope you didn't get the recomendation about Cub Cub Cadet Z-Force's & Tanks and the Toro Z-Masters confused(in your first sentence about CC buying Toros)???? Cub Cadet builds their ZTR's and Toro builds theirs!! Of course, Exmark on the other hand WAS bought out by Toro and those two ZTR's are almost identical(except for the decks, which are exclusively a Toro deck or an Exmark deck on each machine). And I was wrong in my previous post.....I made an offer for the 52" Dixon DX152(the DX100 series is a step above the Ultra and the DX100's are "true commercial" mowers). The Ultra series is a high-end Residential unit with some "commercial features". Based upon the other ZTR's you have looked at I would not recommend the Ultra(but the DX100's would rate with some of the others you listed). The Dixon dealer had given me a $6,391 "out-the-door" price for the Dixon DX152 and it would have been my second choice behind the Gravely. The Big Dog mentioned by user Old Goat is a solid high-end Residential ZTR and I would consider it before I would the Dixon Ultra. Again, the Big Dog being made by the parent company that makes Hustler ZTR's is a strong point for the Big Dog(the 54" Hustler Fastrak Super Duty was third on my list, but the dealer wouldn't budge off $7,100 and the Gravely at $6,800 OTD was a no brainer). Again, good luck searching for the best ZTR to meet your needs.
Okay, sorry about that... I miss read what you typed and I thought you meant the Cub Cadet was a Toro... I went back and read that again !
I talked to a dealer today who sells Scag and Toro. He says he has cut a lot of grass for different companies in his time before working here, he felt that the Scag was way better than the Toro... Until you stepped up to a very high end Toro commercial unit which quickly became more expensive than I want to spend. He said that it it was for commercial use, he would spend the extra $500 for this year's model with a Kawasaki, over the close outs from last year with the 30 horse Briggs. He says he is seen more problems with the Briggs than the Kawasaki. However, he said that with the amount I will be mowing, he wasn't sure that the $500 extra would be worth going to the Kawasaki.
I'd like to go sit on each mower, the problem is that only the grasshopper and Exmark are local.. The other dealers are 25+ miles away.
Re: I'm shopping for a ZTR 60" --- Here's what I'm finding, your thoughts please
What do you guys think about this?
Grasshopper 225 72" cut with 629 hrs, very local to me (dealership sells Grasshopper). 25hp Kohler Pro.
$4995
I'm not sure on the year.
EDIT::: Ok, just called them, it's an '03 so no warranty left. But, that's probably a $10,000 mower new.
What do you guys think about this?
Grasshopper 225 72" cut with 629 hrs, very local to me (dealership sells Grasshopper). 25hp Kohler Pro.
$4995
I'm not sure on the year.
EDIT::: Ok, just called them, it's an '03 so no warranty left. But, that's probably a $10,000 mower new.
Last edited:
Re: I'm shopping for a ZTR 60" --- Here's what I'm finding, your thoughts please
Can you tell me why? I don't have any experience with any of them...
djdicetn
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Re: I'm shopping for a ZTR 60" --- Here's what I'm finding, your thoughts please
IMHO, I wouldn't have spent $5K on a 10-yr-old used mower with 629(most likely "commercial") hours on it when for less than $1800 more(I assume the $4995 would be plus tax) I got a brand new(0.5 hours) Commercial ZTR. Does the dealer have maintenance records for that Grasshopper? Did he tell you why the owner(landcape company) traded it in(or how the dealer obtained it)? Maybe others will say something different, but that's how I would look at it.
P.S.
User old goat may be referring to the Kohler Courage line of engines that if you search this forum you will find a lot of information about major design flaws in those engines. The Kohler Pro engines may very well be fine but the consensus I found was that the Kawasaki's were the most reliable all things considered. Both Kohler and Briggs & Stratton make some very good engines(I had a 1995 16HP B & S Vanguard that ran great for the 17 years that the lawn tractor lasted without ever using a drop of oil, but had a 2006 24HP B & S Intek I wouln't give to my worst enemy).
IMHO, I wouldn't have spent $5K on a 10-yr-old used mower with 629(most likely "commercial") hours on it when for less than $1800 more(I assume the $4995 would be plus tax) I got a brand new(0.5 hours) Commercial ZTR. Does the dealer have maintenance records for that Grasshopper? Did he tell you why the owner(landcape company) traded it in(or how the dealer obtained it)? Maybe others will say something different, but that's how I would look at it.
P.S.
User old goat may be referring to the Kohler Courage line of engines that if you search this forum you will find a lot of information about major design flaws in those engines. The Kohler Pro engines may very well be fine but the consensus I found was that the Kawasaki's were the most reliable all things considered. Both Kohler and Briggs & Stratton make some very good engines(I had a 1995 16HP B & S Vanguard that ran great for the 17 years that the lawn tractor lasted without ever using a drop of oil, but had a 2006 24HP B & S Intek I wouln't give to my worst enemy).
Old Goat
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Re: I'm shopping for a ZTR 60" --- Here's what I'm finding, your thoughts please
Do some searching here and other places and you'll probably find like I did of multiple engine troubles included cracked blocks etc.
Primarily the Courage engine, but that was enough for me.
B&S engines ain't what they used to were, either. The last mower I had with a v-twin, I had to pull the engine to reseal the crankshaft with only a year run time. Ridiculous.
Do some searching here and other places and you'll probably find like I did of multiple engine troubles included cracked blocks etc.
Primarily the Courage engine, but that was enough for me.
B&S engines ain't what they used to were, either. The last mower I had with a v-twin, I had to pull the engine to reseal the crankshaft with only a year run time. Ridiculous.
Re: I'm shopping for a ZTR 60" --- Here's what I'm finding, your thoughts please
Good point... however that particular mower is probably $10k new being the 72" deck. An extra $1500 buys me a new 60" with warranty... just wondering if that price was worth considering (or adding to the list to consider) based off the NEW pricing of the unit. If I end up considering it, I'll definitely do like you suggest and ask those questions to the dealer.
Good point... however that particular mower is probably $10k new being the 72" deck. An extra $1500 buys me a new 60" with warranty... just wondering if that price was worth considering (or adding to the list to consider) based off the NEW pricing of the unit. If I end up considering it, I'll definitely do like you suggest and ask those questions to the dealer.