Bought myself a Grasshopper

[Birdhunter1]

My wife and I just moved out to the family farm I grew up on, finished the house up along with an 1800' driveway, 30x50 shop, and all the utilities. I used to do a fair bit of commercial lawnmowing with mid mount mowers and always wanted a Grasshopper just never bought one. Since I am only using it for my place and will be mowing about 2 acres between the yard and along the driveway I wanted a mower to hold up for 20 or more years. While I wanted a diesel powered front deck I didn't want to pay for one. I shopped Craigslist, ebay and anywhere else I could find and finally called up the local grasshopper dealer and told him the deck size I was wanting and he said "I have the perfect mower." It belonged to his dad, his dad traded it in because he wanted a powerfold deck, can't say that I blame him at 94 years old. The shop owner said 1/2 the hours were put on as use as a vehicle rather than mowing, he'd put trash bags on the deck and cart them to the dumpster, drive it to the garden, down the street.....

All I can say is that it does not show its 500 hours, all service records on it were available and it got services whether his dad said it needed it or not. I think I got a good one, 2005 model 723K, 52" deck, 23 hp Kohler Command, ROPS, a 'Team Stihl' black hat (out of Grasshopper hats), a T shirt for the wife, and a Grasshopper coloring book for the 2 year old. Needless to say my 2 year old likes the mower rides more than the coloring book.
Now I just have to get grass to grow around my new place. I didn't do the gradework till the last week of November so I planted grass about a month ago. It won't be the best stand but like my dad said they've been trying to prevent grass growing where my house is for hundreds of years with no luck (edge of cornfield) so I will have green vegetation of some sort.

 

[Verticaltrx]

Looks good, Grasshoppers are great mowers. I think they are often overlooked in favor of the newer flashier brands, but Grasshoppers are commercial grade machines in the truest sense. I like the way they ride smoother with the out front deck and also being able to push the deck up under trees and bushes.


We have a '92 614 (48") and a '02 725K (60"), both have grass collectors. The 614, although just being a homeowner grade machine, has well over 2000hrs on it now and has required nothing but routine maintenance. The 725K only has a few hundred hours but has also been trouble free.

 

[Birdhunter1]

He had a better looking 616 in the shop on consignment with a 48" deck that I was seriously thinking about buying, but driving it around his lot I felt it was bouncier than the 723K and the power to deck ratio I thought was a bit low.

 

[Verticaltrx]

Our 614 only has a 14hp v-twin, but handles the 48" deck and grass collector pretty well in all but the heaviest grass. I agree on the ride, the 725K does ride a lot better, but it also has the dual/wide rear axle which really makes it ride good (also helps with the added weight of a full grass catcher.)