Bad Boy or Ferris ZTR

[NOTV8]

When I did my shopping... I tried lots of them. Then I tried the Bad Boy Lightning.... and I went home with it. Have it going 3 years now. I have the
60" Lightning with Kawasaki Liquid cool motor. Dealer include the first year maintenance, the wing, touch up paint, t-shirt, and a set of blades. I like it so much I made it as my avatar :thumbsup:. My suggestion is try whatever you can and decide from there.

 

[PossumHound]

Have any of you used a Ferris mower? I'm in the market also, and I'm curious how that 4 point suspension system works- Ferris claims it improves cut, but I'm most interested in ride comfort.

Toro has the G3 series that I've looked over closely:

Toro Z Master Commercial Zero-Turn Mowers

It's available with a very nice seat mounted on a 4 point rubber seat suspension system that looks good in the showroom, but I can't demo it beyond around the parking lot.

Great responses so far y'all - thanks for the valuable info.

PH

 

[om21braz]

The Bad Boy mowers may be good units. They appear to be made from decent quality components and seem to be fairly easy to work on, but they are a no-frills type machine. They do not have the fit/finish nor the overall engineering involved in their design as the Ferris does. IMHO, I'd go demo each if possible and see which I was comfortable with.

 

[Carl_NH]

Possumhound,

I run the Ferris IS2000 with 4 wheel suspension - works great, ride is smooth over rough ground. Look at the video on the Ferris web site.. and see my comments and others earlier in this post about Ferris too.

Also Simplicity is made by Ferris.

 

[nomad289]

Ferris suspension is superb. With suspension, the jarring stress of a non-suspended frame does not get transferred through the frame to the operator, so a slightly lighter frame is probably fine from a design/durability point of view.

 

[OrangeGuy]

I demoed a Ferris IS2500 with 61" mower and Yanmar diesel engine this weekend. I had intended to purchase a Kubota ZTR, but after having operated the Ferris I think I am sold on it. I mow about 4 acres at home and as much out at the farm. My lawn at home is 30 years old and has developed a roughness that made it difficult to drive my current Kubota F2260 much over 3 to 4 MPH. The four acres generally took about 3 hours with the F2260. I mowed it yesterday with the Ferris in less than two and believe the time will come down as I get used to operating the zero turn. The Ferris is substantially lower in price than the Kubota; about $3K. I am little torn over the possible decision to go with the Ferris, because my 1998 Kubota F2260 with almost 1200 hours on it has been absolutely perfect for the last 13 years.

Ahhh...what to do?

OrangeGuy

 

[CAB/AIR5225]

Never demoed a Ferris, just sat on one..but bought a BadBoy ZT 60" the other day..its very nicely built...like a tank!...I am sure the Ferris would ride nicer though. I just couldn't justify the extra $. I have the Kholer 27 horse engine, and the only thing that bugs me is how much fuel it uses...roughly 2.5 gallons an hour...is that out of control or what? Wondered why they put a 14 gallon tank on it!

 

[Chuck52]

Never demoed a Ferris, just sat on one..but bought a BadBoy ZT 60" the other day..its very nicely built...like a tank!...I am sure the Ferris would ride nicer though. I just couldn't justify the extra $. I have the Kholer 27 horse engine, and the only thing that bugs me is how much fuel it uses...roughly 2.5 gallons an hour...is that out of control or what? Wondered why they put a 14 gallon tank on it!

I have the 27HP Kawasaki on my HD60 Gravely and it has two 3.5 gallon tanks. Takes me about 2.5 hours to do my mowing and if I start with a full tank I still have gas when I finish, so less than 3.5 gallons in 2.5 hours.... from topping such a tank up I think I'm using less than 3 gallons for the mowing. Who'd have ever thought we'd even care how much gas it takes to mow the grass? Last time I tried to fill my 5 gallon can after filling my F150 I ran into the $100 limit on the pump. Good thing my memory is going. Soon I will no longer remember gas for less than $1/gal.

Chuck

 

[OrangeGuy]

Well, I purchased the Ferris IS2500 with 24 HP Yanmar engine. I don't know if there is a Bad Boy dealer in Minnesota. I will take the demo unit back tomorrow and pickup a brand new one right out of the crate. I decided to keep the Kubota F2260 to use down at the farm. After 13 years, I just didn't have the heart to trade it in. Besides it fits in so nicely with my collection of Allis Chalmers tractors. My hope is that the Ferris will be as trouble free after 13 years. If not, it will probably end up on my Kubota dealers lot.

OrangeGuy