looking for the right Zero Turn

[MESSMAKER]

I bought my JD 727 Z-turn used from a guy who did exactly what you are talking about with the mower. The mower had about 400 hrs on it when I got it. It has a 54" deck with a 23hp Kawasaki engine, which I feel is slightly underpowered for anything but level lawn mowing. It was obvious that it had been worked hard, but it has worked fine for me for the last 5 years. The seller replaced the JD with a Kubota diesel Z-turn and he said it worked much better. He said the Kubota with the diesel doesn't bog down at all and I think he said it was shaft drive to the deck. But now you are talking about a $14+K machine.

Would love to have one, but too many $$$. I am starting to think that a sub-cut with a belly mower might be best. I have seen a24hp John Deere destroy an overgrown field in one pass at a pretty good speed. I can get one of them for about 7 grand. That is more than I hoped to spend.

 

[NoTrespassing]

For grass that tall I would be thinking flail mower.

Kevin

 

[arlen4720]

I bought my JD 727 Z-turn used from a guy who did exactly what you are talking about with the mower. The mower had about 400 hrs on it when I got it. It has a 54" deck with a 23hp Kawasaki engine, which I feel is slightly underpowered for anything but level lawn mowing. It was obvious that it had been worked hard, but it has worked fine for me for the last 5 years. The seller replaced the JD with a Kubota diesel Z-turn and he said it worked much better. He said the Kubota with the diesel doesn't bog down at all and I think he said it was shaft drive to the deck. But now you are talking about a $14+K machine.

I've mowed down some pretty rough and tall stuff with my 997, like the Kubota, it's a diesel (31 HP) and has a shaft drive deck. At 1700 pounds, it is a nearly indestructable tank. If the OP doesn't like the price of your 727, I don't think he would like the price of my 997, but I sure like it.

 

[dbear]

Sounds like you need a Hustler Hog. It was a ztr brush mower. the only problem is they haven't made it in years. Here's a used one:

http://www.tractorhouse.com/listingsdetail/detail.aspx?OHID=8213777

You mention "building lots" but not their size(s). If <1 acre, a machine with a deck greater than 48" might be a little cumbersome. Not to mention that a smaller deck might have an easier time discharging large amounts of clippings. I think I'd be looking long and hard at commercial units with heavy, 2 bladed decks.

A major strength of any Z is its speed. If you knocked your lots down to 5"-6", instead of letting them get out of control, you could mow more frequently so you're only asking the machine to cut a couple of inches at most. My guess is that more cuts with a ztr would actually add up to less time and money spent than fewer when it would have to creep to get thru it.

 

[rvtech]

My BadBoy AOS will do,it with no sweat. It's a 72" welded deck with a 32 H.P. vanguard. Mine os a 2005. The new ones have some improvements including even more power. This thing mows anything at any speed.

 

[LD1]

I guess my question would be, what is your truck and trailer set-up like?

The whole reason you are wanting this is to "save wear and tear" on your truck/trailer and save some fuel.

Just guessing but with the tractor, hog, and trailer, you are probably towing 5-6k

Going to a ZTR may only save a few thousand pounds. That dont equate to much fuel savings at all. Unless you plan on getting another lighter duty landscape trailer. And what fuel may be saved, will probably be burnt by running a ZTR to max capacity. They are way more thirsty than a small diesel tractor and rotary mower. Not to mention the ZTR will take longer to do the job in the conditions you describe.

And if you are running within your truck and trailer capacity, dropping drom towing a 6k load down to a 3500-4k load 25% of the time dont equate to enough "wear and tear" savings to justify another $8k piece of equipment IMO.

 

[Carl_NH]

A commercial ZTR will handle it but you are looking at $7-12K and the max height though is 5" on most machines.

I tend to agree with you - get a used compact tractor - here's one https://louisville.craigslist.org/grd/4314889470.html

This could cut a field, and optionally you could pull a 4' rotary cutter if you wanted.

 

[MESSMAKER]

For grass that tall I would be thinking flail mower.

Kevin

I would still need to haul tractor to use flail mower. Might as well stick with the rotary mower and tractor that I am using now.