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Suggestions for when current ZTR dies
#1
R
rhosch
R
rhosch
Hope this is the best subforum for this question.
I've got about ~4 acres of mowable "lawn" in Mississippi. We built on this property 5 years ago, Bermuda sod around the house maybe an acre total transitioning to native pasture type grasses farther out. Bahia and a mix of stuff. This property puts a beating on my mower... still find the odd construction debris left during build like a brick that gets unearthed, rebar scraps I think are now mostly gone, there were plenty of small stumps from an inch to a foot from dozens of trees we had thinned/removed. Sloping hills, two ponds in the back that is slipped grass to the edge. Some sand in places, small gravel in a spot or two mixed into grass that occasionally get picked up.
Currently have a Husqvarna MZ54S with 275 hours. Good price at the time, and it's been a trooper. I think this one is similar to current MZ54 but has a reinforced stamped deck instead of fabricated, and a Briggs commercial 25hp. I think transmissions are ZT3100, frame is beefy 3"X2". Deck has taken a beating but is hanging in there. Replaced all 3 spindles once, could stand to be replaced again. I use gator blades and would have to sharpen before every single mowing to have any semblance of sharp blades. Including the original blades, I think I'm probably on my 6th set?
Concerns:
- I suspect this mower won't survive forever!
- Removing blades to sharpen is a royal pain. The bolts seize and I can't remove while under the mower - I resort to pulling the deck out each time to flip over and pull blades. Takes a minute.
- Seems a little underpowered for the grass. I'd love to cut weekly but just can't with my job schedule - probably average right at 2 weeks between cuts. Bahia is tough.
- The deck either doesn't propel clippings well, or blades don't mulch well, or both. I don't bag clippings with that much property, and dealing with clippings when the grass gets pretty high is a challenge.
Ideally, I'd like to be able to either keep blades sharper easier, or have more power so it can deal with the tough grass and clippings better. I'm interested in suggestions. I'm sure if price were no object there's a beast of a mower out there that would be a dream but of course that's never the case. If this died tomorrow and I decided to replace it, ilI wouldn't want to spend over $10k. Lower is better. But getting the lawn mowed faster is better too!
If the best option is to just keep repairing this Husqvarna as needed until it completely falls apart, any suggestions on blades, deck, anything else to ease the burden of sharpening and maybe deal better with thick clippings?
If I'd be much happier by buying a more appropriate machine that's more powerful and/or easier to service blades that doesn't break the bank I'm open to suggestions.
I've got about ~4 acres of mowable "lawn" in Mississippi. We built on this property 5 years ago, Bermuda sod around the house maybe an acre total transitioning to native pasture type grasses farther out. Bahia and a mix of stuff. This property puts a beating on my mower... still find the odd construction debris left during build like a brick that gets unearthed, rebar scraps I think are now mostly gone, there were plenty of small stumps from an inch to a foot from dozens of trees we had thinned/removed. Sloping hills, two ponds in the back that is slipped grass to the edge. Some sand in places, small gravel in a spot or two mixed into grass that occasionally get picked up.
Currently have a Husqvarna MZ54S with 275 hours. Good price at the time, and it's been a trooper. I think this one is similar to current MZ54 but has a reinforced stamped deck instead of fabricated, and a Briggs commercial 25hp. I think transmissions are ZT3100, frame is beefy 3"X2". Deck has taken a beating but is hanging in there. Replaced all 3 spindles once, could stand to be replaced again. I use gator blades and would have to sharpen before every single mowing to have any semblance of sharp blades. Including the original blades, I think I'm probably on my 6th set?
Concerns:
- I suspect this mower won't survive forever!
- Removing blades to sharpen is a royal pain. The bolts seize and I can't remove while under the mower - I resort to pulling the deck out each time to flip over and pull blades. Takes a minute.
- Seems a little underpowered for the grass. I'd love to cut weekly but just can't with my job schedule - probably average right at 2 weeks between cuts. Bahia is tough.
- The deck either doesn't propel clippings well, or blades don't mulch well, or both. I don't bag clippings with that much property, and dealing with clippings when the grass gets pretty high is a challenge.
Ideally, I'd like to be able to either keep blades sharper easier, or have more power so it can deal with the tough grass and clippings better. I'm interested in suggestions. I'm sure if price were no object there's a beast of a mower out there that would be a dream but of course that's never the case. If this died tomorrow and I decided to replace it, ilI wouldn't want to spend over $10k. Lower is better. But getting the lawn mowed faster is better too!
If the best option is to just keep repairing this Husqvarna as needed until it completely falls apart, any suggestions on blades, deck, anything else to ease the burden of sharpening and maybe deal better with thick clippings?
If I'd be much happier by buying a more appropriate machine that's more powerful and/or easier to service blades that doesn't break the bank I'm open to suggestions.