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We have a hillside in front of our house. It's probably about 5 acres and slopes vary from 10 to possibly as much as 25 degrees, but mostly just 15/20. It is possible for me to mow up and down rather than side hill. My husband wants to get a 60" Bad boy ZT. Would this be a good choice? From my researching on the net, the Cub Cadet ZTR is supposed to be good for mowing slopes.

Mowing up and down the hill is fine but the mower just needs the power to get uphill and I need decent traction for when I turn around to head back down. Any advice is appreciated. This is our first cutting season on this property and I'm using an old Murray 42" that was left here. It's a nightmare.

Edited to add: Picture of hillside

HollyE75 said:

We have a hillside in front of our house. It's probably about 5 acres and slopes vary from 10 to possibly as much as 25 degrees, but mostly just 15/20. It is possible for me to mow up and down rather than side hill. My husband wants to get a 60" Bad boy ZT. Would this be a good choice? From my researching on the net, the Cub Cadet ZTR is supposed to be good for mowing slopes.

Mowing up and down the hill is fine but the mower just needs the power to get uphill and I need decent traction for when I turn around to head back down. Any advice is appreciated. This is our first cutting season on this property and I'm using an old Murray 42" that was left here. It's a nightmare.

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Ztr mowers get all of their traction from the back wheels. When the back wheels break loose and the mower starts to slide, you have no steering control. You are just along for the ride until the mower reaches a final rest. Hopefully it doesn't run you into a tree, ditch, or turn over. Mowing up and down hill isn't a good idea with a ztr mower.

If it's too steep to mow side with a ztr mower, then you should look at something else.

Shughes717 said:

Ztr mowers get all of their traction from the back wheels. When the back wheels break loose and the mower starts to slide, you have no steering control. You are just along for the ride until the mower reaches a final rest. Hopefully it doesn't run you into a tree, ditch, or turn over. Mowing up and down hill isn't a good idea with a ztr mower.

If it's too steep to mow side with a ztr mower, then you should look at something else.

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Sure, I'm up for any advice. What is the something else I should be looking at?
I edited my original post to show a picture of the hillside.

HollyE75 said:

,

Sure, I'm up for any advice. What is the something else I should be looking at?
I edited my original post to show a picture of the hillside.

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I would mow that with a ZTR all day. I also have many hours of practice.

HollyE75 said:

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Sure, I'm up for any advice. What is the something else I should be looking at?
I edited my original post to show a picture of the hillside.

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That hill isn't too steep for a 60" ztr mower. It should handle mowing that side to side.

Always mow side to side. Start at the bottom so you are making your turns up hill.

Where is Ric when you need him ?
That is a perfect place to use a stander.
In fact looking at the picture thats a perfect place period. Nice piece of the planet you hae there.
You can get the standers with really wide decks.

Thanks for all the advice here. The picture shows the hillside from the front of the house. What you don't see is a steep drop not far out that no mower will ever go on. The picture make it look like a smooth gradual slope.

I'm now considering the Husqvarna MZ61. There is a dealer and service center near us....... and there isn't much near us, LOL, so that's a huge plus. We live in a rather remote area so I want to make sure a service center is close, and by close, that means an hour away.

HollyE75 said:

Thanks for all the advice here. The picture shows the hillside from the front of the house. What you don't see is a steep drop not far out that no mower will ever go on. The picture make it look like a smooth gradual slope. I'm now considering the Husqvarna MZ61. There is a dealer and service center near us....... and there isn't much near us, LOL, so that's a huge plus. We live in a rather remote area so I want to make sure a service center is close, and by close, that means an hour away.

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The mz61 is a good mower.
Husqvarna does not have the fastest blade tip speed but has one of the highest tuque going to the blades. Very good in thick grass.

HollyE75 said:

Thanks for all the advice here. The picture shows the hillside from the front of the house. What you don't see is a steep drop not far out that no mower will ever go on. The picture make it look like a smooth gradual slope.

I'm now considering the Husqvarna MZ61. There is a dealer and service center near us....... and there isn't much near us, LOL, so that's a huge plus. We live in a rather remote area so I want to make sure a service center is close, and by close, that means an hour away.

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For five acres, I would upgrade to the MZT61.

I went to the local mower shop today and now am considering the Ferris IS700Z with B&S engine, 61" cut. Price was $6695. Was told it would outperform and outlast the Husqvarna.

HollyE75 said:

I went to the local mower shop today and now am considering the Ferris IS700Z with B&S engine, 61" cut. Price was $6695. Was told it would outperform and outlast the Husqvarna.

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The IS700 is a mid level commercial mower, and is better built than the MZ61. A better comparison would be the IS700 to the MZT61. I am a big fan of Ferris mowers.

bertsmobile1 said:

Where is Ric when you need him ?
That is a perfect place to use a stander.
In fact looking at the picture that's a perfect place period. Nice piece of the planet you have there.
You can get the standers with really wide decks.

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I've been watching and agree with you bert it is perfect for a stander. I just didn't get involved because they would be more money than the OP wants to spend. I also agree with you that is a pretty piece of property. The 60" Grandstand would be around 12K OTD

Ric said:

I've been watching and agree with you bert it is perfect for a stander. I just didn't get involved because they would be more money than the OP wants to spend. I also agree with you that is a pretty piece of property. The 60" Grandstand would be around 12K OTD

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That's much more than we are budgeted for. I'm not familiar with a stander but I'm also not familiar with a zero turn. I've always just used a lawn tractor where we've lived before which was flat acreage.

HollyE75 said:

That's much more than we are budgeted for. I'm not familiar with a stander but I'm also not familiar with a zero turn. I've always just used a lawn tractor where we've lived before which was flat acreage.

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When your talking about mowers everyone's opinions are going to be different. Why do you think you have to have a 60 or 61" deck or mower? You can do your 5 acres with a 48" or 52" for a lot less money. The difference in productivity in the size's of the deck especially for the homeowner isn't going to be worth the money your spending. It's not like your mowing commercially where time is money.

Ric said:

When your talking about mowers everyone's opinions are going to be different. Why do you think you have to have a 60 or 61" deck or mower? You can do your 5 acres with a 48" or 52" for a lot less money. The difference in productivity in the size's of the deck especially for the homeowner isn't going to be worth the money your spending. It's not like your mowing commercially where time is money.

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I was guesstimating on the 5 acres of mowing. We own 40 acres but much of it is wooded. We have the hillside as shown in the picture to cut, we have a yard at a rental cabin on our property to cut, and we have the "back yard" to cut, so it's a LOT to cut. I wanted the largest deck I could get to cut back on time.

My broken cub cadet lawn tractor had a 50" deck and took 2.5 to 3 hours just to mow the hillside shown.

If you want to spend the extra cash then have a good look at the standers.
You should be able to get a dealer to give you an on site demo on the commercial mowers and they are worth the extra cost.
With proper maintanance you should be looking at 20 years of service so amortised over the service life the maths work out very favourably

bertsmobile1 said:

If you want to spend the extra cash then have a good look at the standers.
You should be able to get a dealer to give you an on site demo on the commercial mowers and they are worth the extra cost.
With proper maintanance you should be looking at 20 years of service so amortised over the service life the maths work out very favourably

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Not sure where that was misconstrued in the thread, I'm not interested in spending the extra cash, certainly not $12K for a stander and I'm not really interested in a stander.

HollyE75 said:

I was guesstimating on the 5 acres of mowing. We own 40 acres but much of it is wooded. We have the hillside as shown in the picture to cut, we have a yard at a rental cabin on our property to cut, and we have the "back yard" to cut, so it's a LOT to cut. I wanted the largest deck I could get to cut back on time.

My broken cub cadet lawn tractor had a 50" deck and took 2.5 to 3 hours just to mow the hillside shown.

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If your mowing with a 50" Lawn tractor and it's taking you 2.5 to 3 hours a good 48" stander or 48" ztr will cut that in half. You have to remember your CC only did about 5mph top speed and a good stander or ztr top speed is 8 to 10 mph so you can cut your time as well as the cost of the mower by dropping deck size but you'll also cut cost of operation. Also both stander and Ztr price will be a lot less on a 48 or 52"

HollyE75 said:

Not sure where that was misconstrued in the thread, I'm not interested in spending the extra cash, certainly not $12K for a stander and I'm not really interested in a stander.

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If your looking for a 60" you can get the Hustler Raptor SD 60 with I think a 26hp Kawasaki engine and 2800 drives that's rated for almost 4 acres per hour for $4495.00

Ric said:

If your mowing with a 50" Lawn tractor and it's taking you 2.5 to 3 hours a good 48" stander or 48" ztr will cut that in half. You have to remember your CC only did about 5mph top speed and a good stander or ztr top speed is 8 to 10 mph so you can cut your time as well as the cost of the mower by dropping deck size but you'll also cut cost of operation. Also both stander and Ztr price will be a lot less on a 48 or 52"

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I do hear what you're saying. However, for the Ferris IS700 that I looked at, the 52" is only $400 less than the 61". In that case, I'd gladly pay the extra $400 for that much more cutting deck. I haven't compared the other brands price differences when it comes to deck sizes. The local dealer that we would like to buy from deals with Husqvarna, Scagg, and Ferris mowers. They provide all the services and even will come to our location for pickup/dropoff and even repairs at our location when possible. For living as remote as we do, that's hard to pass up so we really would like to buy one of their brands.

Big decks can make lighter work however they also scalp really bad on neven ground.

HollyE75 said:

I do hear what you're saying. However, for the Ferris IS700 that I looked at, the 52" is only $400 less than the 61". In that case, I'd gladly pay the extra $400 for that much more cutting deck. I haven't compared the other brands price differences when it comes to deck sizes. The local dealer that we would like to buy from deals with Husqvarna, Scagg, and Ferris mowers. They provide all the services and even will come to our location for pickup/dropoff and even repairs at our location when possible. For living as remote as we do, that's hard to pass up so we really would like to buy one of their brands.

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Out of the Husqvarna, Scagg, and Ferris mowers mentioned I'd have to go with Scag but there are just to many others out there to compare to that are better mowers for the money you're looking to spend. I'd have to take a look at mowers like Exmark, Toro, Hustler, Gravely and Dixie chopper see the differences and get opinions from some other dealers before I committed to buying one of the three mowers your looking at. Also Bert is right Bigger decks can make lighter work however they also scalp really bad on uneven ground and there also somewhat less maneuverable.

Ric said:

Out of the Husqvarna, Scagg, and Ferris mowers mentioned I'd have to go with Scag but there are just to many others out there to compare to that are better mowers for the money you're looking to spend. I'd have to take a look at mowers like Exmark, Toro, Hustler, Gravely and Dixie chopper see the differences and get opinions from some other dealers before I committed to buying one of the three mowers your looking at. Also Bert is right Bigger decks can make lighter work however they also scalp really bad on uneven ground and there also somewhat less maneuverable.

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We are looking to spend under $7K. My husband would love to buy a Scagg but it's several thousand more. The other brands may not have a service center nearby and the nearest place could wind up being 2 hours away which isn't a good idea. My husband works out of state for sometimes long periods of time and there is no way I can load the mower on our 20' trailer and haul it by myself. These are all things I need to consider.

HollyE75 said:

We are looking to spend under $7K. My husband would love to buy a Scagg but it's several thousand more. The other brands may not have a service center nearby and the nearest place could wind up being 2 hours away which isn't a good idea. My husband works out of state for sometimes long periods of time and there is no way I can load the mower on our 20' trailer and haul it by myself. These are all things I need to consider.

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You will find that all of the brands mentioned offer the same drive train options. Anyone on this or any other site is going to recommend the brand they use, and say it is the best mower out there for the money. The ones who give you this advice are doing so without any experience with the other brands they are putting down. In truth, there isn't a great deal of difference in the major brands. Thy are all quality mowers. They will handle a little different, and some have options that are specific to that brand, but all are good mowers. The IS700 is a very well built commercial mower. Choose the dealer and mower that you like best. You can get a very good mower for $6k to $7k.

Made the decision today and bought a Scag Patriot with 61" deck. It is being delivered tomorrow, can't wait to try it out.

HollyE75 said:

Made the decision today and bought a Scag Patriot with 61" deck. It is being delivered tomorrow, can't wait to try it out.

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Congrats on the mower, I think you'll be real happy with that choice. Scag has a good reputation and they make a real good mower. The FX engine is a real good engine.

HollyE75 said:

Made the decision today and bought a Scag Patriot with 61" deck. It is being delivered tomorrow, can't wait to try it out.

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Nice, can't wait to see some pics!

wow

Beautiful view!


A zero turn will provide a proper and quick mow, just do not turn too quickly, the sod and dirt will get dug up. Quality is not achieved quickly.

It was delivered today and as soon as I was able to, I began just driving it around getting a feel for it. Right away, I headed to the the meadow at the bottom of the hill and tried it out. I hadn't cut this section yet this season because it was just too hard to do with the regular riding mower. I immediately felt like I was all over the place with little control, and gladly had nothing to run into. Within 20 minutes, I had improved 200%. I went fairly slow but was still able to cut it fairly quickly. It was a breeze cutting on this slight slope going side to side. The seat was extremely comfortable and I felt stable the entire time. Mowing grass just got a lot simpler in my world. :biggrin:

Try this till you get used to the controls.
Use your off hand ( left assuming you are right handed ) to do nothing more than control speed.
So you just move the control from stop to full foreward.
Use your dominant hand to do all the steering so move it backwards & forewards to change direction.
That means for a while you will be making wider turns than you need to but you won't be tearing up the grass or end up spinning around doing 360's till you can not remember where you were going.
Concentrate on that right hand and in no time flat you will find you are doing two hand steering.
It has to come naturally if you concentrate on it you will be driving all over the place.