Need some experienced opinions on a mower purchase

[toothlesrooster]

Hey all, I lurk a lot and this site has provided a lot of useful info so I thought I'd ask some of your opinions.

I take care of a few properties as a side hustle.

My lawn is a standard residential lawn. Nothing too big.
I also take care of the property owned by my wife's place of work which is a small road facing patch about 50 yards by 10 yards along with a house behind it they own which is a normal residential size yard.
Last, residential property which has a large field. The whole property is just under an acre. I enjoy doing this on the weekends and being outside so I may pick up another lawn or two next season.

I have suffered a back injury and can't continue to use my current mower. An older Scag SWZ48 Hydro walk behind with a sulky. I need a sit down. I'm trying to keep my prices down and am buy used as I don't really want to go over $2500 at this time.

The two I'm looking at are:

Toro Timecutter 42" fabricated deck, Toro 708cc (supposedly commercial) engine, model 75744 (Almost no hours, kid bought it and used it once and realized he didn't have the expendable cash and needs to sell it. He's asking $2500 but I may be able to get him down a bit.) I believe it still has 2.5 years of the 3 year warranty on it.

or

Older Snapper 48" Commercial with a Kawasaki FH601V from a local guy that buys and sells mower equipment on the side. He's pretty reputable and has been doing it for a while. Mower has 892 hours on it and is in excellent shape. Looks to be well taken care of and he's serviced it.

I will be going to see them both and thoroughly inspecting both and I am leaning towards the Snapper because it's just commercial and obviously the build is a different league. My conundrum is this:

All things being equal, is nearly 900 hours on the Kaw a deal breaker? I've always had great luck with Kaw's. If the hydro's, deck bearings, tires belts and everything else are in good order, what would you do?

Are the residential ZT-2100 hydro's on the Toro going to hold up? I dunno. As you can see, I prefer the Toro.

Thanks in advance, all.

Gavin

 

[Rivets]

I’m a Toro guy, but this is a tough one. Personally I would go with the Toro unless, yes I said unless, the guy who you believe is reputable, would give you a one year warranty or somehow back you up if something major goes wrong. If he would make you feel comfortable buying a used unit with those hours, I might pull the plug in that direction. At the end which unit does your gut say is better. Sorry, but can’t give an answer in one direction.

 

[toothlesrooster]

Do you have any experience with the Toro engine?

 

[Rivets]

If you are talking about the Loncin engine which Toro started to use the last five to seven years I have not seen any problems with them. That being said, you must realize that in the short amount of time they have been around, there is no way to know about their longevity. When Toro first started using them on push mowers, I was not a big fan, there were problems that first year. i was on a first name basis with Toro Tech Support and even talked to a Loncin engineer. I was not the only tech hallering. The next year I saw major changes in the engines design and upgrade. (Different carb, change in recoil, use of bearings to name a few). For the first time in a long time I felt that someone was actually listening and hearing what a service tech had to say. Today I’m a fan of the engine, but only time will tell if I fall off that fan wagon.

 

[shurguywutt]

Which one did you end up going with?

 

[Ron3]

I would go with the toro and all that warranty. I would venture to guess most residential customers in this country are mowing with ZT 2100, 2200 in there zero turns. With reasonable care they will last the life of the mower. Just my 2 cents.

 

[shurguywutt]

I would go with the toro and all that warranty. I would venture to guess most residential customers in this country are mowing with ZT 2100, 2200 in there zero turns. With reasonable care they will last the life of the mower. Just my 2 cents.

I have ZT-2100s, they are sealed and have "no maintenance requirement." Not sure how I like that, also not being able to easily drop the fluid.

Maybe you more experienced members can shed light on this? Best way to service them? Recommended service interval from your experience?

I have heard some have gone several thousand hours with no issue on original fluid...