Stamped Versus Fabricated Decks

[Old Goat]

Old Goat,
Cut quality.....good point in that a lot of people will think they will get the same cut quality spending $3,000 on a ZTR that those who spent $6,000 get. And as far as longevity for those two categories of ZTR's.....two $3,000 ZTR's do NOT = 1 $6,000 ZTR(in the time that 2 $3k's last end-to-end versus the time that 1 $6k lasts either).

Precisely my point DJ.

Attached is a couple of screen shots of the Hustler brochure about their VX4 Commercial machine that I used in deciding on my purchase. It gave me the criteria that I used to formulate my decision to buy a quality product. Deck design and blade tip speed are so important to selection of a ZTR.

The dollars spent on a mower is not to be taken lightly, IE "let's spend the minimum and get a ZTR". Spending $3000 on a big box machine and getting the results shown in my pictures of the neighbors yard has got to be discouraging to say the least. Why do that and get the poor results shown is mind blowing. Spend a bit more and be happy. It doesn't have to be double.

Watching my wife cut grass with the new machine we bought, I am in awe of how fine and far the clippings fly out. That is the best explanation I can see of why we don't find the residue under our ZTR decks that we saw before with the lawn tractors.

Yes, deck design is important!

Charles

 

[djdicetn]

Precisely my point DJ.

Attached is a couple of screen shots of the Hustler brochure about their VX4 Commercial machine that I used in deciding on my purchase. It gave me the criteria that I used to formulate my decision to buy a quality product. Deck design and blade tip speed are so important to selection of a ZTR.

The dollars spent on a mower is not to be taken lightly, IE "let's spend the minimum and get a ZTR". Spending $3000 on a big box machine and getting the results shown in my pictures of the neighbors yard has got to be discouraging to say the least. Why do that and get the poor results shown is mind blowing. Spend a bit more and be happy. It doesn't have to be double.

Watching my wife cut grass with the new machine we bought, I am in awe of how fine and far the clippings fly out. That is the best explanation I can see of why we don't find the residue under our ZTR decks that we saw before with the lawn tractors.

Yes, deck design is important!

Charles

Old Goat,
You know...that deck looks surprisingly similar to the deck on my 52" Gravely. The difference on mine is that it's a little more "pointed" in area "O"; has two anti-scalp wheels in area "J"(similar to the wheels in area "G") instead of the single, wide nose roller and has two additional anti-scalp wheels in area "N"(on each side of the middle area brackets). But all things considered very similar. I would venture to guess that the "Turbo Force" deck that is on the Commercial Toro Z-Masters looks very similar underneath too. Like you said......deck design is a very important feature where cut quality is concerned and you get what you pay for. And yeah, I really thought I would need a mulch kit, like I had on that 54" Craftsman(Husqvarna) lawn tractor with the stamped deck, but the dealer smiled and said "mow with it before you spend that money because this machine is in a different league than that Craftsman". Like you, I've yet to witness the first evidence of grass clippings laying around when I'm finished mowing. The mulch kit would have been useless(except for "maybe" fertilizing my lawn a wee bit better) but pretty well a waste of my money in regard to getting rid of piles of grass clippings.

 

[Old Goat]

I have come to the conclusion that mulching kits are designed primarily for the sales peoples retirement fund.

 

[TnHusky]

I know I've came in a little late but I really consider the deck design on the YTH24K48 to be pretty sturdy in it's design. It has a 10yr warranty just on the deck itself. Here's a picture. And it's the smoothest cut I've ever had in a rider.

 

[djdicetn]

I know I've came in a little late but I really consider the deck design on the YTH24K48 to be pretty sturdy in it's design. It has a 10yr warranty just on the deck itself. Here's a picture. And it's the smoothest cut I've ever had in a rider.

TnHusky,
Yep, for a stamped deck, Husqvarna adding that reinforcement around their decks was a move in the right direction fo adding durability!!!

 

[txzrider]

Guys I find this discussion interesting... I even tried to have this discussion months ago... to me this is not rocket science, assuming a stamped deck is strong enough to provide the stable platform the blades need to rotate at a high enough speed to cut, then and only then would the actual shape matter. Not the stamped vs welded part. I believe it comes down to blade speed, stability and the ability of the deck to move the grass out from under it after it cuts it. In this instance I think a fabbed deck has an advantage since it generally has baffles and contours to move the grass. If you add the baffles to a stamped deck, and drive the blades at the same high speeds... I can't see how it would matter at all. However if you then do something stupid like running both decks into a tree root... I think the fabb'ed deck will always win. I had my 1st ztr for 3 hours when I was mowing around a tree and ran the deck over a root. I killed the engine and after restarting it... would not start the blade. It had actually warped the deck as well as bent the blade and caused the blade to jam on the bottom lip of the deck! I took it to the dealer who promptly showed me what i had done... I used it for anothere 15 years after leveling the spindle with washers and buying a new blade. Since that time I have always made sure I knew what I was about to run the deck over... I think the reason most stamped decks have a worse cut is due to the fact they are on cheaper mowers and have lower blade speeds as well as other cost saving parts. The other thing I believe is... a big reason ztr's (or any mower where the engine is run at max speed) has a better cut than the avg cheap riding mower is the engine speed gives the greatest blade speed and the hydo trans manage's ground speed . I used to use the throttle on my 1st riding mower to manage ground speed and the quality of the cut had to suffer for it. At the time I just did not understand the relationship between engine speed and blade speed.

 

[Ric]

TnHusky,
Yep, for a stamped deck, Husqvarna adding that reinforcement around their decks was a move in the right direction fo adding durability!!!

I really can't see how reinforcing the deck with a 14 gauge welded steel tube for added durability on the trim side is going to improve its durability. I would think as far as wear and durability goes that would come from underneath the deck and not the outside. To me improving the perimeter of the deck against Impact and abuse isn't going to help the wear factor of the deck, the only way you will help that is to increase the thickness of the deck. Most mowers with stamped decks, Push mowers, Riders and ztr's come with skid plates that serve the same purpose.

 

[northcreeek262]

Big Dog R754 @ $4,800
Kubota ZD 326 @ $10,800

Really, I would hope you got something better for $6000 more.

Charles

Yeah, you could have gotten a Jacobsen 628D 4wd and filled the porch with all other comers....

 

[gladiator801]

I have a toro HMR 1600 that is 1989 model with the then commercial deck that was stamped with the heavy duty greaseable cast iron spindles have over 3350 hrs on mower and it still has original spindles and deck but I do take the deck off every year pressure wash it clean [4000 psi 4 gal min] let it dry and prime and paint it and grease spindles every month has been best mower I have ever had. Got a newer toro G3 ztr and there are plus and minus to each mower the G3 is heavy around 1500 lbs so it gets good traction on hills but extra weight burns a lot more fuel more than twice what my 850 lb HMR used. So you have to mow different patterns to no leave ruts. And actually my old HMR mowed better around trees and bushes because it turned on four inch circle .

 

[Ken22]

My dad bought a Husqvarna 42" LT in 2006 and took it back a couple times while still on warranty because of uneven cuts. Blades were lined up with the mower off and at least 1/2" or more difference down the center of the cut ? Got me a Gravely ZTX last year and just love it. My dealer also advised not to buy a mulch kit till I tried without it. Don't need it.