Need to replace a worn out rider

[rbstern]

Howdy, all. First post here. Wish I had known about this site a while back!

I've got 3 to 4 acres of lawn, pasture and road/driveway shoulder to mow around my place. Most of that gets done with a Yanmar 2210 and a 4' rotary cutter. I've been running a well-used 2007 Poulan 300EX Pro (42" w/B&S 18.5hp manual shift rider) to deal with the finer cutting of the lawn around the house and gardens (where the rotary cutter is too much hammer for too little nail). The Poulan has been a pain to keep running reliably. I'm making a concerted effort to regrow a nice lawn around the house and gardens we have. It's coming in thick and beautiful. The Poulan just isn't up the task anymore.

For those of you who might suggest a finish mower for the tractor: The wife often cuts the grass with the Poulan. The riding mower is as much her domain as it is mine, and she's not very interested in operating the tractor. She wants ease of use. Plus, having a lawn tractor allows us to both work on the cutting at the same time and get finished sooner.

Property has some pretty good slopes, and can be a bit bumpy in places. We also have rock debris from the driveway that's usually impossible to completely avoid. To it's credit, the Poulan dealt with the land conditions pretty well. In a pinch, if the tractor was down or busy with other jobs, we could use the Poulan to mow all of it, and it did well enough. Took a while with the 42" deck, but it got done.

So, we're looking for a new, reliable rider. I'm trying to decide if I should spend the money on an entry-level/consumer zero-turn (Toro, Cub Cadet, Husqvarna, Ariens, Troy Built), the Husqvarna R120S (rear articulating), or spend similar money to move up the food chain of traditional front-engine riders and get something a bit higher quality. I'd like to get something more refined, rugged and maintainable than the Poulan was. I've had good experiences with Husqvarna equipment (trimmer, chain saw, rear tine tiller), so that makes me lean toward that brand a bit. Also, I am under the impression that Cub Cadet used to make good "better/best" consumer grade mowers, but is now plagued with quality problems. Any truth to that?

Any input appreciated.

 

[Shughes717]

Howdy, all. First post here. Wish I had known about this site a while back!

I've got 3 to 4 acres of lawn, pasture and road/driveway shoulder to mow around my place. Most of that gets done with a Yanmar 2210 and a 4' rotary cutter. I've been running a well-used 2007 Poulan 300EX Pro (42" w/B&S 18.5hp manual shift rider) to deal with the finer cutting of the lawn around the house and gardens (where the rotary cutter is too much hammer for too little nail). The Poulan has been a pain to keep running reliably. I'm making a concerted effort to regrow a nice lawn around the house and gardens we have. It's coming in thick and beautiful. The Poulan just isn't up the task anymore.

For those of you who might suggest a finish mower for the tractor: The wife often cuts the grass with the Poulan. The riding mower is as much her domain as it is mine, and she's not very interested in operating the tractor. She wants ease of use. Plus, having a lawn tractor allows us to both work on the cutting at the same time and get finished sooner.

Property has some pretty good slopes, and can be a bit bumpy in places. We also have rock debris from the driveway that's usually impossible to completely avoid. To it's credit, the Poulan dealt with the land conditions pretty well. In a pinch, if the tractor was down or busy with other jobs, we could use the Poulan to mow all of it, and it did well enough. Took a while with the 42" deck, but it got done.

So, we're looking for a new, reliable rider. I'm trying to decide if I should spend the money on an entry-level/consumer zero-turn (Toro, Cub Cadet, Husqvarna, Ariens, Troy Built), the Husqvarna R120S (rear articulating), or spend similar money to move up the food chain of traditional front-engine riders and get something a bit higher quality. I'd like to get something more refined, rugged and maintainable than the Poulan was. I've had good experiences with Husqvarna equipment (trimmer, chain saw, rear tine tiller), so that makes me lean toward that brand a bit. Also, I am under the impression that Cub Cadet used to make good "better/best" consumer grade mowers, but is now plagued with quality problems. Any truth to that?

Any input appreciated.

As someone who mows over 4 acres myself I understand how demanding that can be on a mower. If you want a mower that can handle your whole property by itself I would suggest going with a commercial ztr mower. I don't know what your budget is, but you can get a quality 48" to 54" mower between the $5000 to $7000 range. I know that may seem too high, but most commercial mower brands offer 0% financing for 48 months. I mow my 4.2 acres with a commercial 48" snapper pro s150xt. I can finish the whole lawn in just a little over 2 hours, and have a blast doing it.

You can get a commercial 54" husqvarna mzt in the $5500 to $6000 range if husqvarna is the brand you would like to stay with. You can get a 48" ferris is600 (has independent suspension) in the $6000 range. The kubota 724x is an excellent mower. Will run in the $7k range. The 52"snapper pro s125xt will run about $5500. The hustler fastrack sd is another good option that will run in the $6k to $7k range. If you wanted to step down a bit you could look at a hustler raptor sd in the $4k range, or a snapper pro s50xt for around $4500. Gravely would be another quality option, as is toro or exmark. Scag is another great mower brand. There are so many options out there. Mowers of that quality will last 20 years if properly maintained and stored.

I know you are looking for a rider, but a high end residential/low end commercial would be a much better option for a larger lawn. You could make the whole lawn look great by using a mower rather than the tractor with rotary cutter.

 

[rbstern]

I know you are looking for a rider, but a high end residential/low end commercial would be a much better option for a larger lawn. You could make the whole lawn look great by using a mower rather than the tractor with rotary cutter.

Sorry if I wasn't more clear: It's not all lawn. Much of it is pasture, which I cut with a Yanmar tractor and bush hog. About an 1/2 acre of "lawn" that bush hog isn't suitable for. If the lawn tractor is rugged enough (which the Poulan seems to have been), it can help with the rougher areas in the pasture, along the driveway and street. Don't have the budget for a mid level zero turn.

 

[Shughes717]

Sorry if I wasn't more clear: It's not all lawn. Much of it is pasture, which I cut with a Yanmar tractor and bush hog. About an 1/2 acre of "lawn" that bush hog isn't suitable for. If the lawn tractor is rugged enough (which the Poulan seems to have been), it can help with the rougher areas in the pasture, along the driveway and street. Don't have the budget for a mid level zero turn.

Gotcha, if you are only mowing a half acre any new rider should be able to handle the job with no issues. You won't put much stress on a rider with a lawn that small. However, if you try to mow the whole property with a new residential rider it probably won't last long. You may be in a position to look at a good used commercial mower though. It would be tough enough to mow your pasture as well. Ric posted an example on of a used commercial mower in his area for $2k. Don't rule out a used commercial stand on mower either.

 

[Shughes717]

309hrs with an 18hp Kohler $2400 this morning and I'd bet you can get it for less than 2K.


I tried to copy and paste the picture, but it didn't work. It is a grass hopper 618. It is a good example of a commercial mower in your budget that would be a better option than a new mower in the same price range for your particular needs.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Forget about any articulated ride on if you have anything like rough terrain.
They are great for chasing the peacocks around My Lords front lawn but wont take the rough stuff , tip very easily on moderate slopes if travelling just a little too fast and most of the decks fitte to them do not cut long grass particularly well.


Oh and don't get me wrong, I love the pro-riders. They are well built and a dream to work on .
However they are a European mower designed to work in European conditions cutting European grasses.
Add to that they have poor traction which is why they added the 4WD option.

I too am a big fan of a good quality used commercial mower.
I work on a lot of Cub Cadet 2100 series mowers and have a great respect for them.
I work on a couple of Cub Cadet 3000 series ( which replaced the 2100 series ) which are not as good but still better than most.
Similar with Great Danes excellent mowers can't speak highly enough of them with the exception of the "twitchy" nature of the drive controls.

I rather like the JD 200 series of ZTRs which do a very fine cut and are really used friendly to operate. particularly if you are not familiar with ZTRs
Down side is the mountings of the 42" deck are not as robust as they could be but a few of my customers who only do smaller residential blocks are using them commercially with great success.

Got 3 older single female customers with Toro Time Cutters and they love them.
You can fit the heavy duty commercial blade to them and knock over your whole 4 acres without worry.

The whole YTH series Huskies have a silly set up with the clutch/brake pedal which sits on a partial floor below the tractor floor which is difficult to get at.
Crud builds up there which eventually gets thick enough to stop the clutch disengaging or keeps it only partially on and burns out belts in no time flat.
This is accentuated if you mulch.
The pressed decks are not real good and the fabricated decks are unbelievably heavy. The small 3 blade decks have very little blade overlap so blade wear is a problem.