More Mowers ...

[Digital Prophet]

... than you can shake a stick at.

Ok so here is the deal. I need a new mower for the farm. Right now I am looking at these mowers and need some feedback. Why? Because the two that I have already bought were both CRAP!

1. John Deere EZTrack Z225
2. John Deere X-300
3. Cub Cadet RZT 50

Now I am not set on a 0 turn radius mower. But they are cool. What I need is something that is going to mow 3 (somewhat uneven) acres every other week reliably and that I can get replacement parts off the shelf the same day I need them.

Don't ask. The last mower was a bad experience.

I am open to input and opinions.

Prophet out.

[riteflyt]

why not buy a quad and get a pull behind, I know the cost is a bit more but the comfort and versatility are hard to beat!

I have a Honda Rancher, I have seen pull behind mowers with 50 inch decks. here is a link I found. http://www.biggameproshop.com/atv_equipment.htm

[CanonShooter]

If you can swing a little more money the Cub Cadet Enforcer line is built very well, their entry level commercial line. They have a stronger deck than the RZT and the frames use heavier metal. Of course if you want to go all out the Cub Cadet Tank line is the top of the line but the price is ^^^^!

The Cub Cadet RZT with the Kawasaki motor runs smooth, quite and has lots of power and it's very confortable. We have only had two theat came back since the store started selling them and one just needed to have a linkage adjusted and the other looked like it hade been used to mow a pasture, poor thing looked like it had been to h#!! and back. I really like the way the Kawasaki motor sounds over the Briggs or Kohler engines. We have a few of these in stock right now, I just put a 48" and a 50" together today for the showroom.

John Deere has always made some great lawn tractors but I personally don't care for their Zero turns. They just don't seem to have the build quality that their lawn tractors have. The X-300 shoud e a good one but ot's hard to beat the zero turns for speed and fetting around those tight spots.

Another to concider is the Skag brand. They are some very well built mowers but then again the price goes up with the quality.

Pm me on the best prices you have found on the Cubs and I'll check and see if our store can beat them. It might be a pretty good drive but if you can save a few hundred it would be worth it. The store I work at is a private owned dealership and they offer some good prices. We had a man drive all the way from Vicksburg, Mississippi last week to buy a MacCormick tractor because we beat the price by a couple thousand $$$. When you let me know the prices I'll talk to the owner and see if she can beat them and by how much.

In my opinion from what I have had to work on I would stay away from the Woods and GrassHopper brands. We have had quite a few come through with bearing problems and drive motor problems. I can't say how hard they were used but they didn't look in that bad of shape for th problems they had.

[raevyncent]

Check this month Consumer Reports ( or was it last month?). They tested all kinds of mowers, including ZT. If I recall, the JD scored much higher than the Cub Cadet -no offense Jon, just relaying what I saw. Don't get the Craftsman ZT; the other tractors they make are great, and scored well (one was a best buy), but the Craftsman ZT is dismal. I think Toro was up top of the list too.

[CanonShooter]

No problem. I read the consumer reports just about anytime I start to buy something. Most of the time they are pretty accurate but sometimes they are off. It deppends on how many of each brand they tested, they all produce a lemon or two. and they might have gotten one when they did the test. Cub had a recall a few months ago on the deck cables. They got a bad batch and the ends of the cables were coming uncrimped but ti wasn't dangerous or anything, just made one side of the deck set about a 1/4" lower but that made it mow uneven. They cleared all of this up and the bad ones were recalled to be replaced with new ones. If you buy the JD or the Cud be sure and always by their brand of blades, the aftermarket blades suck. We have customers come in and they don't want to pay for the name brand blades but the next time they come in they fork over the extra cash, the aftermarket ones are to thin and don't last half as long as the good ones.

[smoothassilk]

I use the ZG23 Kubota ZTR 54" cut every week to cut 13 acers of church property, can do it in 5hrs.
It is an awesome machine. Before that I used a Dixon ZTR 44" cut it was not as heavy duty as the kubota and took twice as long too cut all 13 acers.
The ZTR's are a lot faster to use than the regular tractors. Just my .02, hope it helps. What ever you buy, tell them to let you try it first.

[Adcox]

I have an Ex-mark Lazer Z. Yes it's expensive but they have pretty good payment plans. I've had mine for two years and I can't say enough good things about it. I actually look forward to mowing the grass!
Stay far away from the lawn tractors. I have 1 1/4 acres to mow and I get it done in 45 minutes or less. When I see my neighbor on his lawn tractor mowing his yard I'll give him a 45 minute head start and I'll be done before he has half of his yard done.
When I bought my Lazer Z the guy asked me how many properties I had to mow. I told him just mine. He asked how many acres I had and when I told him an acre and a quarter he said my new mower wouldn't even break a sweat on that. He said that my mower was designed to work every day all day. He was right. It rocks!

Mark is right, with higher end mowers they will deliver a mower to your property so you can test drive one on your own lawn.

http://www.exmark.com/ride.htm

[Digital Prophet]

I appreciate all the great feedback. But after much comtemplation I decided the time had come to face the music and do the deed.

So I bought a tractor.

You can't begin to imagine my own surprise. I never thought the day would come that I would drive a tractor. Or an SUV. Or own a horse. Or two horses. Or power tools.

Now that I think about ... how did I get myself into this?

Prophet out.

[Killeenguy]

i'm glad you got the tractor...and by tractor you mean the big piece of equipment that you can play in the dirt with??

[PhotoByLeal]

Originally Posted by Digital Prophet

I appreciate all the great feedback. But after much comtemplation I decided the time had come to face the music and do the deed.

So I bought a tractor.

You can't begin to imagine my own surprise. I never thought the day would come that I would drive a tractor. Or an SUV. Or own a horse. Or two horses. Or power tools.

Now that I think about ... how did I get myself into this?

Prophet out.

What brand of Tractor?

[Torrey]

Isn't this a photography forum? Where are the pictures?

[Digital Prophet]

We went ahead and bought a Kubota L2800. It hasn't been delivered yet so no photos.

Although I have been thinking about doing "Pika's Farming Adventure". No decisions yet. But Pika and I are in negotiations.

Prophet out.

[Terrancelee]

Kubotas are good tractors, although I've never had one of the baby ones. ;) I had both a 4700 and a larger cab 8800 before heading to TX. When I go back to farming, I'll buy another Kubota. I think you'll like it just fine.