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I've got about 1 acre of land that has some rough patches, dips and bumps. When I first moved to this property and I hit a dip or a bump, it would give me quite a jolt. I've learned to go slower over those areas, but I'm wondering if I should hire a company to smooth out the land. The best quote I got was $5,000 for that, so it's not exactly an easy decision. If my mower will be durable enough to handle the terrain as long as I don't try to rush each cut, will it last me?

Get a trailer for you mower then search the locals for "free fill"
Usually there a ton of it around
Then slowly fill in the holes, no more than 1" at a time so the soil micro boem can migrate to the surface again.
Better still would be to make a lot of compost and use that as fill but that will take a very long time
As it is only 5 acres you could also buy a cheap used stand on loader and slowly do a cut & fill.
Same story, keep it shallow or you will have to top dress with new soil which will be expensive .

Make your own drag. Just like at the ballpark. Some cinder blocks and go to town. Will be slow, just keep driving over the high spots in many different angles. Much cheaper than hauling in dirt. Even better get a blade on the front.

This chassis is engineered for 5-7 year lifespan, unfortunately. The S240 was given a better engine, transmission, and mower deck, which should last at least 7-10 years, but it still has the frame of the S100 series you find at Lowe's and Home Depot. That frame isn't made to take a lot of abuse, so just take it easy. I second Bert's advice above and try and fill in those worst areas first so your mower will last longer. Good luck!

Will1988 said:

This chassis is engineered for 5-7 year lifespan, unfortunately. The S240 was given a better engine, transmission, and mower deck, which should last at least 7-10 years, but it still has the frame of the S100 series you find at Lowe's and Home Depot. That frame isn't made to take a lot of abuse, so just take it easy. I second Bert's advice above and try and fill in those worst areas first so your mower will last longer. Good luck!

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I've never heard mowers have any year value of life. If the general public knew this, they wouldn't sell any.

Every thing has a design life Slowie
And the master of manipulating this was one Henry Ford.
You may have heard of him.
He made cars
Famous for totally falling apart after 12 months because every part was downgraded till they all failed at about the same time .
The EU have a compulsory rating called the durability index so if hyawatha15 bought his JD in Italy it would have a card that read "Durability , Frame = 7 years, Engine = 10 years Transmission = 10 years ,deck = 10 years for domestic lite use .
They can also specify it in operating hours .
The EU brought this in when they brought in end of life recycling at cost to the manufacturer so the manufacturers then had a reason to make consumer durables, more durable.
This is why almost any European product will run for 4 to 10 times longer than any USA product .
e were looking at "disposal tax" to be added to all consumer products which is reverse proportional to the service life to make long life products cheaper compared to throw away products . This is easier for us because we don't have senators & senior public servants in the pockets of Ford , GM . B & S , JD , Bezos, Walton family, Coke Brothers or even Prince Rupet wo want us to buy new every year .
The 100 series JD's are built to the same design as all of the AYP mowers to the point that a lot of the parts are interchangable
However the first thing I noticed was the 100's frame was pressed from heavier steel than the AYP Garden Tractors
Where a shaft went through the JD frame it had a plastic bush , the AYP runs directly on the frame
To make the frame last longer you either back spin the hole so it has spiggot in place of punching the hole or tacking a stiffener inside the hole to strengthen it .
Then there is the grade of steel,
All of these things drastically alter the service life

I'd be displeased when I found out my new 0-turn at $10-$15 grand only last 3-5 years now.

I don't think the S 240 is any where near $ 15 G
But as you know commercial grade mowers will last longer than domestic ones because they were designed to have a longer service life.
With modern computers you can design things to fail almost to the second of operation
People by & large want to have it all for as little amount of money as possible
Rolls Royce make cars virtually guaranteed never to break down and if they do RR fixes them no cost for as long as the original owner, or their direct descendants own the car
Thus they are the best value vehicle on the planet
They have also been bankrupted 3 times and the founders died penny less
Ford made garbage that was lucky to make it out of the showroom under it's own power making them the worst value car ever made but because they were cheap Henry made millions & set his family up to be some of the wealthiest people on the planet till the company was listed & sold down to shareholders .
just about all of the really good value long life mowers are gone .
The names live on but the quality has gone taken over by garbage makers like MTD or AYP .

slomo said:

I'd be displeased when I found out my new 0-turn at $10-$15 grand only last 3-5 years now.

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Just think I had a customer that paid $17,000 cash for a Hustler Super Z and he has three of them. What worst he ccan't even get decent support from that dealer. The previous owner/chief mechanic sold out to a woman that has no idea how to repair the equipment and techs has given him several different diagnostic results for the current one in my shop as of yesterday. First is was a blown engine, thane it a worn cylinder, and a couple days ago it was a bad cylinder head.

Well I got to go and use the mower to find out the real problem(s) with it but I got the check the valve adjustments as there is oil at both rocker covers. My first FX1000 Kawasaki to work on.

slomo said:

I'd be displeased when I found out my new 0-turn at $10-$15 grand only last 3-5 years now.

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You're taking this way out of context, buddy. We were only talking about the S240 on a bumpy lawn. Deere makes the S100 and S200 series to compete against the 'cheapies', i.e. MTD built machines. In that market, apples to apples, the S240 will outlast anything MTD makes. Please don't confuse this information with the dealer exclusive lines of lawn tractor and zero turn mowers, which are still built to the John Deere quality and reliability.

slomo said:

I've never heard mowers have any year value of life. If the general public knew this, they wouldn't sell any.

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If you work in the industry long enough, you will learn that everything is engineered for a life expectancy. Usually a customer, who religiously services their machine and doesn't abuse it, will have no problem exceeding the manufacturers life expectancy. For example, we have many 100 series John Deere tractors over 10 years old and still going strong. But someone who runs them on steep hills or rough terrain will expect to have to replace them sooner.