Self Reliance

[GearHead_1]

I had some work done on my foot back in October and things didn't go as smoothly as I'd hoped. It's taken a long time to heal and I'm still not in a position to get out and walk. I've had to call my son to come and take care of my lawn. It's really hit its stride and is growing very fast. My son is new husband, works and is going to school, he's eager to help but he's busy and I hate to keep dominating his time.

My yard isn't tiny, it takes me about 5 hours from start to finish to cut and trim using a commercial walk behind mower. Trying to get back a little of my self reliance I've been looking at Zero Radius Turn mowers for a few weeks. Got one ordered today and it should be here on Tuesday. Ordered both the mulching and bagging kits for it too. Of course the bagging kit is on back order but I was going to start mulching with it anyway. Got a bottle of old DP sealant that needs to be used up and wanted to give it a little protection from the get go. It comes in the crate with plastics on it. This should be a perfect application for the product. Here's a picture of the mower and a link to the description. I would be interested in your thoughts on ZRT mowers.


https://m.toro.com/en/homeowner/riding-mowers/timecutter-mx4250-74760

 

[ShaneB]

I had the opportunity to use a commercial grade zero turn mower a lot last summer. Not sure how they compare to the smaller units cause I know the one I used was well over $10k new. They are a different animal. There's a bit of a learning curve with them but once you get the hang of it they are very fast and efficient. If the engine is powerful enough you shouldn't need to worry about mulching or bagging but that's from my experience using one with I believe over 30hp. They are fun though, a lot more fun than a regular riding mower

 

[GearHead_1]

I spent a lot of time in the seat of a BobCat. I'm hoping this makes the learning curve a bit of a non issue. Some of the machines I looked at got up into the price range you mentioned but the reality is I'm cutting betwee 5/8 and 3/4 of an acre of lawn each week and most of it isn't straight lines. Make no mistake this is a homeowner version though what I considered to be some of the essential pieces are used on their commercial versions (i.e. engine, transmissions, deck etc.). 42" just seemed to be about the right size deck for tight spaces and frequent turns. Once the mulching kit is on and the side discharge chute is removed it's pretty sleek. Putting the bag kit on is another story but I've tried to mulch the majority of the season the past few years. There are those time (leaves in the fall) when you just need a bag but I'm thinking that will be the exception in my case. The bagging kit comes with weights to put on the front end to offset the weight in the bags when insalled, it costs way more than it is worth.

I looked at several other manufacturers, John Deere, Scag, Cub Cadet, Husquavarna, X-Mark and a few others including the commercial Toro line. Scag may have been the standout commercial version I looked at but I really couldn't justify the expense. These can get pricey in a hurry and it's kind of difficult determining just how much you really need. The mower I got has an optional braking kit available, needed for side hills and adds over $1000 just like that. Getting one with a roll bar everything else virtually the same puts another $600 on the price.

As far as a home owner versions go, the Toro gave me the most bang for my buck as my father still has some buyig influence with a distributor on that product line from his small engine repair days. He still repairs them but doesn't sell them any longer. I'm hoping this one will be just enough without getting into the ultra heavy duty commercia mowers. This one does use an engineered deck as opposed to a stamped steel one and is heavier gauge chasis than many of the others I looked at. It comes in at 24.5 H.P. , I'm hoping that will be good number for a 42" swath. I also liked a couple of the available accesories Toro offered, particularly the spring tooth thatcher. I alread use these on my Snapper walk behinds and really like them when combined with regular arriation.

 

[ShaneB]

Is say you went with the right brand. Going off of what I see all the professionals use, ex mark tops the list by a lot, then toro, then I was spotting some bob cats as well.

As long as there is some kind of damper on the controls it should be easy to get a hang of, especially if you have experience. I used a mower last year that had about an inch of travel on the handles between stopped and full speed. It was such a pain in the ass to use. That was the backup mower when the other guy was on the ex mark 60"

 

[JSFM35X]

I think a good write up of the detail using your favorite coatings would be in order-LOL.

Feel better my friend.

 

[Setec Astronomy]

I had some work done on my foot back in October and things didn't go as smoothly as I'd hoped. It's taken a long time to heal and I'm still not in a position to get out and walk.

I had a relative who had some pretty serious foot surgery that got all botched up, it just sucks when you go for a surgery that's supposed to help you and it doesn't make you better (hopefully you are going to get better, and it's just a matter of time). I don't remember exactly what you said you had to have done, but I've been having some tendon problems and it seems like eventually I'm going to be in the position of looking at surgery--it just seems like you seldom hear success stories (or maybe we only hear about the bad outcomes). Hope you are able to fully recover.

On a side note there's some wear and tear things with your body I wish doctors or somebody would tell you about before things happen to you that you can't reverse. I mean they tell you if you don't brush your teeth they'll fall out, smoking is bad for you, they don't seem to say too much about your feet and then you wind up having surgery.