small yard. help appreciated.

[Ric]

Sounds about right, my local dealer shows Dixon ZTR pricing of:
42" Stamped (2012) 16 hp Briggs $2299
42" Fabricated 22hp Kawasaki $3399
46" Stamped 22hp Briggs $2699

IMHO, Dixons are good bang-for-your-buck, just not as high of quality as before Husqvarna bought them out:0(
That being said, though, nothing derogatory because I consider Husqvarna lawn tractors as some of the best for the money and the Husqvarna ZTR's no slouches either(even the ones that are obviously orange painted Dixons:0)
I made an offer last fall on a 52" Dixon DX100 and consider them an excellent entry-level Commercial ZTR.
P.S.
Oooopsss....that was the 42 & 46 " Dixon SpeedZTR(my local dealer doesn't stock the 30":0(

Dj let me ask a question and I'm not trying to get away from the subject of the OP but my question may concern him about his choices. I know you are running the Gravely and I was wondering about the ride quality. What would your opinion be of the ride quality of the mowers the OP is looking at? I'm just asking because I know there are some ZTR mowers that will or can beat you to death and with a bad back would it be a concern. The mowers of choice with the smaller wheels and weighing less kind of make wonder. Trying to find a mower with a suspension or at least a suspension seat may be in his best interest. digitalman I'm sorry I missed that paragraph or I wouldn't have suggested the TM cause with a bad back you don't wanna be pushing around a 167lb mower.

 

[digitalman]

I'm sorry I missed that paragraph or I wouldn't have suggested the TM cause with a bad back you don't wanna be pushing around a 167lb mower.

No worries at all. Sometimes when reading through an entire thread it is easy to overlook something like that. Honestly, I wish I didn't have the issue and could just use my existing toro. Talk about power walking while mowing the lawn.

 

[digitalman]

What would your opinion be of the ride quality of the mowers the OP is looking at? I'm just asking because I know there are some ZTR mowers that will or can beat you to death and with a bad back would it be a concern. The mowers of choice with the smaller wheels and weighing less kind of make wonder. Trying to find a mower with a suspension or at least a suspension seat may be in his best interest..

Thanks for thinking about this. This is exactly the type of info that is helpful to someone who doesn't know much about mowers in general. Granted, I have been reading enough to start to know much more then I did a week ago.

 

[txzrider]

so 17 years ago I was in the same spot... the choices were smaller then... I settled on a yz1333 Snapper Yard Cruiser. It lasted 15 years, had a 33 inch deck(selected it so I could go through a std 36 inch gate.). I had bought a 21 inch snapper the previous year... it was killing me. I decided to buy it(the ztr), told the wife it was going to cost 2600 and she absolutely said no way... after thinking some more i told her had to have it... to make a long story shorter... 2 weeks after I bought it she told it was my best purchase ever!! I dont know if you have a width limitation (you said no larger than 42inches)... but there are some pretty good choices from 2400 to 3k that will probably suite you just fine. I ended up replacing my snapper with a Country clipper (38 inch deck, 20hp) for 2300 via craigslist. It has worked great. You can usually buy them for 3k or less as last years model. They finally dropped the 38 inch deck tho'. In any case with routine care and maintenance, protection from the elements when not in use... you should get 10 plus years out of any of the quality ZTR's in your price range. More importantly than that... you will enjoy mowing your yard. You will do it faster with much less stress and it will look great.

 

[txzrider]

One more thing, you mentioned wanting a single blade deck, I did too at 1st, but I am convinced the blade tip speed was slower on the snapper than on my Country Clipper. The country clipper has 3 blades on a 38 inch deck and judging from how finely the grass is chopped up... it is a much better deck. In any case as you go up in price you are almost guaranteed to get higher blade speeds, with judging from my only 2 examples gives a better cut.

 

[digitalman]

One more thing, you mentioned wanting a single blade deck, I did too at 1st, but I am convinced the blade tip speed was slower on the snapper than on my Country Clipper. The country clipper has 3 blades on a 38 inch deck and judging from how finely the grass is chopped up... it is a much better deck. In any case as you go up in price you are almost guaranteed to get higher blade speeds, with judging from my only 2 examples gives a better cut.

Hmmmmm.... Interesting point. I wonder if this is only true with the snapper or all of the ones I listed. Obviously the country clipper is higher end unit and might be unfair to do a direct comparison.

My thinking for a single blade mower is:
1. Smaller unit / less storage space needed for the mower
2. Better cut.
3. Less expensive
4. Less to go wrong

Though I could be wrong with any of these.

 

[jimrs]

I have to question the ability of any of them to mow a 4ft drop in 17feet. That is truly a steep incline. That is best taken care of by a walk behind mower. Plus the size of the yard is real small for a zero turn or tractor. If you have any thing in your yard or areas that you can't get a rider into. If your back is that bad I would suggest that you keep the guy who is mowing now employeed.

 

[djdicetn]

Dj let me ask a question and I'm not trying to get away from the subject of the OP but my question may concern him about his choices. I know you are running the Gravely and I was wondering about the ride quality. What would your opinion be of the ride quality of the mowers the OP is looking at? I'm just asking because I know there are some ZTR mowers that will or can beat you to death and with a bad back would it be a concern. The mowers of choice with the smaller wheels and weighing less kind of make wonder. Trying to find a mower with a suspension or at least a suspension seat may be in his best interest. digitalman I'm sorry I missed that paragraph or I wouldn't have suggested the TM cause with a bad back you don't wanna be pushing around a 167lb mower.

The full suspension seat on my Gravely provides a much smoother ride that I was accustomed to on my previous lawn tractors. I too, because of my polio, have experienced some lower back problems over the years but it doesn't bother me significantly. I never rally gave that much consideration to ride quality when I was shopping I just knew I wanted a Commercial ZTR and guess I just expected it to have a decent ride. I have never test driven any of the entry-level Residential mowers that the OP is considering, so I can't provide any first-hand knowledge. I would guess, though, that unless they offer an upgraded suspension seat he would just have to keep it at a little slower speed to avoid having it jostle him too much. I would suggest that he tell dealers he needs to demo these mowers on some rough terrain similar to his yard so that he can determine whether that mower's ride quality will be good enough for him.

 

[Carscw]

I would go with a snapper 30 inch. The blade speed is faster enough and the cut is IMO better than any other mower. And as far as the 4 foot drop in 17 feet any mower will cut that with no trouble. Look around on this site how many people come on here needing help to fix there snapper? Not many.

The snapper is easy on your back getting on and off the mower.

(( racing is the only sport that you need two balls ))

 

[digitalman]

So, I'll admit that despite what everyone says about big box vs dealer... my preference was to get a mower at Lowes... since it is so easy to get 10% off there. This weekend we were at my inlaws house. They live on a farm and my father in law has had a lot of equipment over the years.

My wife mentioned to him that I was planning on getting a mower and he and I started talking about it for a little while. I asked him his impression about brands and such and he (not surprisingly said that engine brand matters a lot more then the overall brand). He strongly encouraged me to get a better brand engine.

When we started talking about where to buy his one suggestion about not buying from lowsor home depot; was that when the mower comes out of the "box" they often need a bunch of tweaking. Saving 10% at the store might be a wash once you end up having to bring it to a dealer to get an initial servicing. Why not just develop that relationship right off the bat. Plus a dealer is more inclined to take care of their customers first vs drive up customers.

When I thought about it like that the 10% savings didn't seem to matter as much.

So I spent the last couple of days talking to/visiting a few independent dealers.

Snapper: They were nice though were really trying to push me into buying the only RER mower they had in stock. It looks like it had spent a bit too much time in the rain, because I would swear there was already rust on it. I asked about ordering a different model, and it seemed like it was going to be an inconvenience. In the end I decided to look else where. Plus, I never felt like I was saving money going with a smaller mower.

Cub Cadet: Really liked the dealer. My kids did too. I brought them to the dealer to give my wife a break and the lady gave each of them a nice plastic cup with a magnet and a few lollipops. Really liked the CC, I was seriously considering either the LX1042 or the RZT S 42. The idea of a steering wheel was appealing. While they didn't have any 42" ZTRs in stock they were happy to order it.

Toro: I was really interested in the 30" ZTR and was excited that they had it in stock. When I walked in they guy told me the price was $2300.... I said isn't there a $150 toro promo going on? He said, yeah, we can honor that. Then we started talking about the mower and he suggested I jump up to the 42" since that comes with the kawasaki engine and was only $2600. I said does that one qualify for the $150 off. He seemed like he didn't want to admit that it was.

So while I was thinking this over, I decided to check on the engine in the 42 (something didn't sound right here).... sure enough it was a Kohler. So, I walk back in and the guy "goes on break" and the store manager starts talking to me. He seems more knowledgeable and doesn't seem to be as greedy about giving me the toro promo. Unfortunately for him, by now I am ready to leave.

Husqvarna: Next on the docket was the 30" ZTR from HQ. After talking to the guy a little, he looked up some stuff and found out that there isn't any of them anywhere. He said it could take a month or more to get it. He started to point out the 42" but then said he also carried Gravely. This wasn't a brand I was as familiar with, but in my reading on this forum, it seems to be a well regarded brand.

He mentioned that they also have a 30" model which uses a B&S engine that could be ordered. He then said that he had the 42" in stock, which had a kawasaki engine (yeah, I checked to verify). Said it could be delivered today. This was a lot more then I wanted to spend ($2700), but I think in the long run it will be money well spent. Plus they did 4 years no interest. After a quick check in with my wife, I pulled the trigger.

I will also say that the 2 guys I talked to before buying were nice and i never got the impression that they were pushing me to buy more then I wanted to which is a very different feel from other salesmen I have encountered.

In the end the Gravely ZT42 is much more then I thought I would spend.... but also much more then I would have had. I'll do a mow with it later today and post some pictures.