Since the Zero, the Tractor Sits

[DK35vince]

I was mowing my yard with my Wheel Horse 314-8 for probably 17 years, at 2 hours each session. Second gear was too slow for me, 3rd was too fast! I had a cyclone rake for it for leaf duty.

Finally bought a Toro Timecutter HD zero turn in 2018 and cut my mowing time down to 45 minutes. Then bought the bagger kit that fall after selling the Cyclone Rake. That definitely helped speed up fall cleanup.

I used to mow at a local property using the owner’s John Deere SCUT. He had a loader on it, 72” mower, and ballast box full of rocks. Quite the unwieldy piece of equipment for the size of the place and amount of obstacles. I ended up removing the ballast box and loader just to make it more maneuverable. Plus it didn’t tear stuff up so bad. When I bought my Massey GC2410, I decided not to get a mower deck based on experience with the JD SCUT.


since my dad died in 2022, I’ve been hauling my Toro up there every week to mow their lawn. He had a JD X380 to mow with. I don’t even take the snow blower off of it now. I can zip around their lawn and be done in an hour versus 2 on the tractor. And it looks better when I’m done.


I’ll never go back to tractor mowing again.

I mow an 8 acre lawn.
For years I mowed it with my 35 hp compact tractor with an 84" rear mount finish mower.
10 or 11 years ago I bought a 35 hp, 72" commercial zero turn.
Cut an hour from my mowing time.
Still amazes me how fast it will mow.

 

[TractorNoob85]

I love my zero turn but it beats the hell out of me on rough fields. I also notice my shoulders get a bit soar holding the sticks forward for 5+ hours at a time. A tractor is nice in that regard. Just set the speed and roll along. I'll gladly take an extra hour mowing if I'm more comfortable.

 

[bigtiller]

I love my zero turn but it beats the hell out of me on rough fields. I also notice my shoulders get a bit soar holding the sticks forward for 5+ hours at a time. A tractor is nice in that regard. Just set the speed and roll along. I'll gladly take an extra hour mowing if I'm more comfortable.

The same here. I trim with the Z and put it away. Then I sit in an air conditioned cab to mow the yard.

 

[robertm]

Lots of great replies. I think my major problem is the Original Cab I put on it. It is preventing me from using the tractor as much as I could. Since installed, I can’t access my yard well due to overhanging limbs. So, I am looking at modifying the cab to pull it off easily each spring, as well as cutting up limbs up higher so I will use the BX more. I’m a big guy and I feel like Hagrid riding a broomstick. I have to say I don’t like loader work with the BX. It’s just too narrow and light. The ballast box loaded with pea stone still doesn’t seem to do much against a loader full of black dirt. If I could reasonably trade up to a B-Series now that the primary use is loader work, I would consider it. As much as I think I’d like to have the MMM for those “just in case” moments, I think I’d pass. Just like my BX bagger. Now that the ZT wipes out my fall leaf issue, the bagger sits. Two years collecting dust.

 

[BleedingOrange]

When I am using the loader on my BX2370, I fill my ballast box with cement blocks. Very easy to put in, and remove when I want to take the ballast box off.

 

[crazyjake8493]

Lots of great replies. I think my major problem is the Original Cab I put on it. It is preventing me from using the tractor as much as I could. Since installed, I can’t access my yard well due to overhanging limbs. So, I am looking at modifying the cab to pull it off easily each spring, as well as cutting up limbs up higher so I will use the BX more. I’m a big guy and I feel like Hagrid riding a broomstick. I have to say I don’t like loader work with the BX. It’s just too narrow and light. The ballast box loaded with pea stone still doesn’t seem to do much against a loader full of black dirt. If I could reasonably trade up to a B-Series now that the primary use is loader work, I would consider it. As much as I think I’d like to have the MMM for those “just in case” moments, I think I’d pass. Just like my BX bagger. Now that the ZT wipes out my fall leaf issue, the bagger sits. Two years collecting dust.

Everyone I see online loves their cab but I think 95% of the time it would be more of a hinderance than a help - the other 5% being for snowblowing. I plan to add a soft cab to my tractor before next winter.

Belly mowers on small tractors are terrible and I'm surprised they sell as many as they do. A zero turn beats a tractor 10 times out of 10 for mowing a yard. When you get into brush or field mowing then the tractor wins if you're using a brush hog or flail mower.

All summer long my tractor is tied up with different implements and it would be a pain to remove them every single time I need to mow the lawn. I'd have to remove the loader as well to fit in some tight areas.

 

[not2old]

My excuse for a zero turn is that I'm lazy. It only cost a few more dollars, and with my yard, I would have to remove the hoe and loader each cutting. That takes longer than the time mowing my one acre property.

 

[71bronco]

My yard is so wet in the spring a zero turn would be stuck all the time. I have a Kubota 1850 and have to use 4 wheel drive in the spring or my yard would be out of control. With power steering it can go around obstacles fairly fast.

Jeff

 

[stevem5215]

A wide tire ZTR will help float over the soaked sod underneath the tires. I have a very wet area that unless it's got water showing on top I can cut there without getting stuck. My previous Ford 1900 with a 73" mower deck would trench it up badly and while it never got stuck I never would even attempt to get close to the same areas I can cut with the Simplicity Citation XL 61" deck due to the rear tires being so wide. That makes it more stable on hills and easier on the turf all around including the muddy swampy area we have. (which sometimes as mentioned I don't cut it for weeks due to the water showing)