Need some advice for a ZTR on a small lot

[tkk]

I'm having a difficult time trying to decide which more to move up to. I currently have a Craftsman 700 series walk behind which was purchased a few years ago for my old house. To be honest my mower is a piece of junk - it can't mulch any length of grass without clumping and grass is constantly getting stuck everywhere.

My new lot is only .4 acres (including the additional 20x94 feet I can mow into the green belt behind my house). The basement is 1/2 exposed so there are half story hills on either side. All included it probably takes me a good 2+ hours to mow, trim, and get everything cleaned up (not including myself). This is best case however since this mower doesn't mulch well I usually have to bag which takes even longer and leaves me with a trip to the city compost pile on the weekend.

So my lot is definitely too small to turn a tractor, especially with all the corners on the house and probable fence in the future. A ZTR, while I believe it would work well, still seems a bit ridiculous. The wife wants me to cut down the mow time so I can help more with the three young ones all under the age of 2 :/

Here's what I have looked at so far:

- Toro Time Cutter 30 inch walk behind
Not really thrilled about this but it is cheaper than ZTRs. I'm sure it will mulch better than the craftsman.

- Toro Time Cutter SS 42
This is probably the right size for ZTR however I'm not sure about the Kohler engine, stamped deck, and non-maintainable transmission. I also haven't seen anything listing the BTS.

- Hustler Raptor 42
Looks like a possible option but the BTS is relatively low and the nearest dealer is 40 miles away.

- Ariens Zoom 42
Jury is still out on this one. Seems about on par with the Toro SS

What else should I be looking at?

Would be nice to keep this at 2500 or less although I am not the type of person that would be penny wise and pound foolish. I also need to consider that this is a small lot so there won't be a ton of hours logged. If my stamped deck gets a hole in 8 years it might be more cost effective to replace the stamped deck vs upgrade to something that has a welded deck. I suppose this could be the case with transmission as well?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[exotion]

I'm having a difficult time trying to decide which more to move up to. I currently have a Craftsman 700 series walk behind which was purchased a few years ago for my old house. To be honest my mower is a piece of junk - it can't mulch any length of grass without clumping and grass is constantly getting stuck everywhere.

My new lot is only .4 acres (including the additional 20x94 feet I can mow into the green belt behind my house). The basement is 1/2 exposed so there are half story hills on either side. All included it probably takes me a good 2+ hours to mow, trim, and get everything cleaned up (not including myself). This is best case however since this mower doesn't mulch well I usually have to bag which takes even longer and leaves me with a trip to the city compost pile on the weekend.

So my lot is definitely too small to turn a tractor, especially with all the corners on the house and probable fence in the future. A ZTR, while I believe it would work well, still seems a bit ridiculous. The wife wants me to cut down the mow time so I can help more with the three young ones all under the age of 2 :/

Here's what I have looked at so far:

- Toro Time Cutter 30 inch walk behind
Not really thrilled about this but it is cheaper than ZTRs. I'm sure it will mulch better than the craftsman.

- Toro Time Cutter SS 42
This is probably the right size for ZTR however I'm not sure about the Kohler engine, stamped deck, and non-maintainable transmission. I also haven't seen anything listing the BTS.

- Hustler Raptor 42
Looks like a possible option but the BTS is relatively low and the nearest dealer is 40 miles away.

- Ariens Zoom 42
Jury is still out on this one. Seems about on par with the Toro SS

What else should I be looking at?

Would be nice to keep this at 2500 or less although I am not the type of person that would be penny wise and pound foolish. I also need to consider that this is a small lot so there won't be a ton of hours logged. If my stamped deck gets a hole in 8 years it might be more cost effective to replace the stamped deck vs upgrade to something that has a welded deck. I suppose this could be the case with transmission as well?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

I think the 30" would do you best .4 is a bit small for a most ztr in my opnion and most of those 42" are much to big the time master 30" walk behind is about 1000 bucks and much cheaper than the others

 

[txzrider]

if you are going purely on price, the 30 inch walk behind is a no brainer... I am not sure how much time you will save although I am sure your quality of cut will improve. For whats is worth, my lot is not much bigger, and I cut it with a 38 inch ztr, this is my 2nd, the 1st a 33inch snapper yard cruiser, lasted me 15 years with a stamped deck and non maintainable hydros... Now granted at the time when I bought it, I was also mowing my wifes mothers house, my parents house and 2 other houses. It was easy to justify. I now mow my Dad's once a month and ours... but honestly I will never go back to a push mower.

 

[tkk]

if you are going purely on price, the 30 inch walk behind is a no brainer... I am not sure how much time you will save although I am sure your quality of cut will improve. For whats is worth, my lot is not much bigger, and I cut it with a 38 inch ztr, this is my 2nd, the 1st a 33inch snapper yard cruiser, lasted me 15 years with a stamped deck and non maintainable hydros... Now granted at the time when I bought it, I was also mowing my wifes mothers house, my parents house and 2 other houses. It was easy to justify. I now mow my Dad's once a month and ours... but honestly I will never go back to a push mower.

Granted that the 30inch walk behind is a better mower you are probably right about that extra 8 inches (over my current 22) of width not being a big time saver. I think I would be in some trouble if I dropped 1K on a mower and still out there for over an hour.

That said, if one of the entry level model ZTRs is going to give me nothing but problems then I should start looking at some other options. One way or another my current mower has to go. Whoever designed the Craftsman 700 series needs to go back to engineering school.

What about the JD Z235? Looks to be on par with the Toro SS.

 

[exotion]

Granted that the 30inch walk behind is a better mower you are probably right about that extra 8 inches (over my current 22) of width not being a big time saver. I think I would be in some trouble if I dropped 1K on a mower and still out there for over an hour.

That said, if one of the entry level model ZTRs is going to give me nothing but problems then I should start looking at some other options. One way or another my current mower has to go. Whoever designed the Craftsman 700 series needs to go back to engineering school.

What about the JD Z235? Looks to be on par with the Toro SS.

Tbh... if you spend more than an hr on a .4 acre lot your doing something wrong even with a 21"

 

[tkk]

Tbh... if you spend more than an hr on a .4 acre lot your doing something wrong even with a 21"

That could very well be however this is a brand new house with a new lawn so I have hoses and sprinklers all over the place. My house also has 18 corners. You really need to think about the total time required including all support activities. It is not like the clock starts and stops with the blades on the mower.


1) Get ready to mow. Throw on old clothes and shoes. Get head phones / ear protection (5 min)
2) Get out mower and set up for mulch, throw, or bag depending on lawn conditions. Set proper height. Add gas. Sometimes check oil (5 min)
3) Disconnect all 6 sprinklers and move hoses out of the way (5 min)
4) Tilt up down spouts, remove kid toys, pick up dog crap. Charge up trimmer. (10 min)
5) Mow front left and left side (10 min)
6) Trim mow back (10 min)
7) Mow back (30 min)
8) Mow right side and front right (10 min)
9) Get out blower and house. Clean up mower with blower and washout. Put away (5 min)
10) Get out trimmer, check string, edge driveway, sidewalk, curb 300 ft (10 min)
11) Edge around the house / deck (5 min)
12) Blow off edger and put away. Blow off sidewalk, driveway, and siding. Put away blower (5 min)
13) Hook up sprinklers (5 min)
14) Go inside, take shower (15 min)

This is assuming no additional landscape work and that I'm not bagging the lawn - just over 2 hours start to finish.

The way I see it a ZTR would probably cut 60 min of mowing to 15. Also subtract another 15 minutes depending on the day as may not need to shower. An additional 10 minutes will be saved when I can get rid of the sprinklers.

I suppose when you think of it saving an hour each mow isn't a ton of time but when you have twins every second during the day counts :/

 

[Ric]

That could very well be however this is a brand new house with a new lawn so I have hoses and sprinklers all over the place. My house also has 18 corners. You really need to think about the total time required including all support activities. It is not like the clock starts and stops with the blades on the mower.


1) Get ready to mow. Throw on old clothes and shoes. Get head phones / ear protection (5 min)
2) Get out mower and set up for mulch, throw, or bag depending on lawn conditions. Set proper height. Add gas. Sometimes check oil (5 min)
3) Disconnect all 6 sprinklers and move hoses out of the way (5 min)
4) Tilt up down spouts, remove kid toys, pick up dog crap. Charge up trimmer. (10 min)
5) Mow front left and left side (10 min)
6) Trim mow back (10 min)
7) Mow back (30 min)
8) Mow right side and front right (10 min)
9) Get out blower and house. Clean up mower with blower and washout. Put away (5 min)
10) Get out trimmer, check string, edge driveway, sidewalk, curb 300 ft (10 min)
11) Edge around the house / deck (5 min)
12) Blow off edger and put away. Blow off sidewalk, driveway, and siding. Put away blower (5 min)
13) Hook up sprinklers (5 min)
14) Go inside, take shower (15 min)

This is assuming no additional landscape work and that I'm not bagging the lawn - just over 2 hours start to finish.

The way I see it a ZTR would probably cut 60 min of mowing to 15. Also subtract another 15 minutes depending on the day as may not need to shower. An additional 10 minutes will be saved when I can get rid of the sprinklers.

I suppose when you think of it saving an hour each mow isn't a ton of time but when you have twins every second during the day counts :/

The Toro Timemaster 30' would reduce your time mowing, but if your counting the time schedule above a ztr isn't going to do much better. According to your schedule you have 40 to 50 minutes of odds and end work to do before you touch a mower. I think you need to work on reducing that time, I think that's your problem. Thing is a ztr is a great mower to use to save time but in the wrong situation can end up with you using more time than your push mower. My advice to you would be to hire a company for a one time cut that uses a ztr and see how long it takes them to cut your lawn before you spend all types of money on a mower you may not need. I can tell you I run the commercial version of the timemaster on lawns just like yours and I save considerable time over the 21" mowers I was using. Personally if it were me I'd start looking for a good 36" walk behind, IMO that would be the ideal mower for your situation.

 

[lawn mower fanatic]

My advice to you would be to hire a company for a one time cut that uses a ztr and see how long it takes them to cut your lawn before you spend all types of money on a mower you may not need.

Good suggestion, but you have to think that they most likely will have a commercial ZTR that can go 10 mph, and his entry-level ZTR wouldn't go that fast. Also it might be a 2 or 3 man crew.

 

[mowerman05]

A zero turn mower on a new lawn, that's not going to look pretty when done:ashamed:

 

[txzrider]

ztr's do have a learning curve, when it comes to turning to not damage the lawn... and on a "new" lawn... maybe even more caution is required. What I learned with my kid who did not want to mow at all and wanted to finish as quickly as possible... mowing efficiently with a ztr does not mean as fast as possible!