Comparison which zero turn mower will cut knee high or taller , grass without leaving half uncut

[boggen]

if you have a zero turn or regular old riding lawn mower, then ya next best thing most likely a "pull behind rtv / utv" rotatory cutter (brush hog) that has its own mower on it. majorty of the rtv like pull behinds have a (beh forget name) tow bar that allows ya to swing it out to one side.

this does a couple things for ya...
1. you can cut the tall stuff.
2. if you maintain the blade on it more like a finishing mower blade, you can hop onto riding lawn mower, and toss this on behind ya. and mow some extra width, when regularly cutting grass.
3. if grass is a tad tall for zero turn / riding mower, set the pull behind a little higher, for cutting, and zero turn/riding mower deck to were you want it. so ya making kinda of a double pass, in a single pass.

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your higher end commercial zero turn mowers. (larger beefer engine most likely a diesel engine on it) will more likely handle tall stuff. but the issue still comes back to finishing mower blades, vs a rotatory single blade. and how the blades are driven. most finish mowers are driven via a belt. and when ya get into tall weeds, those weeds will just wrap right around finishing mower blades and clog it up and burn up belts.

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you have a city size riding lawn mowers, then a beefer garden tractor, then you get into SCUT (sub compact utilty tractors), then into CUT (compact utilty tractors)

a garden tractor, with a bit more engine, more likely wider deck. if you set the deck as high as possible, and only take 1/3 to 1/2 the deck width of a cut of the tall stuff. you might get away with it. BUT!! i am going to advise remove belt shield on one side (opposite side were grass shoots out of deck), this is rather dangerous, if your foot slips down, or like, you may end loosing a foot or worse. this is so you can actually look down at the spindels / pulleys to see if they are rotating or not. this can help save your belts some, by being able to stop / turn off garden tractor, and clean out the clogged up weeds under the deck, before the belts heat up / melt and break.

riding lawn mowers kinda of a pain in rear to check the middle finishing blade / pulley to see if it is turning or not. and ya need some ears on ya, and paying attention, with some experience under ya belt. to figure out if middle blade is clogged up or not with weeds.

when cutting tall weeds, always blow crud away from what you are going to cut on next path.

the little chut were grass comes out, wire it up (bungie cord or like) so grass / weeds come out easier.

your finishing mower blades will take a beating from this. and you will most likely want "straight" finishing mower blades, there is no bends/twists in the blades. unlike mulching blades, that may have some extra twists / bends in blade.

 

[corl]

Tall grass and little saplings can be handled quite nicely in a single pass with a flail mower. If you are not familiar with this solution look up flail mower at (Temporarily blocked due to reports of company closure) and look at Ted's video. When I was in High School all the sport fields were mowed with a flail mower. It took care of the buckhorn problem that the reel mowers couldn't handle. PENDOT uses them to cut the grass along the roads. They may only cut it 2 times a year so there is some tall grass involved. They are a more expensive solution but if time is money then they are an economical solution. A single pass and you get to determine how often you want to mow your place and what it looks like.

 

[yomax4]

If you do go ZT.. At least look at a Gravely. I mow Golden Rods, Rag Weed and host of other weeds as well as 2' grass. I gust mowed a spot for a cam outing,, 18" fox tails. Ate them right up.. I previously had a Bad Boy, Skag and Cub ZT. All did better than the POS Husqvarna lawn tractor I still have because no-one will buy it.. What ever you do, Do Not buy anything Husqvarna to cut grass. A lot of lawn Tractors have Huge engines but the blade RPM is too low to utilize the HP. With industrial mowers ( Not Sears ) You get better gear ratio because they are heavy duty and can handle the extra RPM's. If you are a Husqvarna person maybe the ZT is ok but I have the 60" 25hp and it's Junk. Wont back up worth a crap and the whole thing shakes all the bolts out.. I continuously work on this POS.

 

[balreadysaid]

I run ztr mower my whole life. Husqvarna/dixon makes decks that are very high capacity. scag is also good for deep grass. everride is meant for deep grass dont know if they are still available. old exmarks with triton high capacity deck are supposed to be able to cut deep but i never tried one. Bobcat zero turn mowers are the same as woods and they are supposed to be good in deep dry grass. my pick would be for a husqvarna 60 inch or 54inch with more than 25hp. HUSQVARNA PZ 54 - Zero turn mowers
i had a used one forsale near me with 400hrs for $5600 i almost bought it but ended up buying a the last dk40 cab they had on the lot and i am happier than a pig in **** that i did.

 

[Rocky Hoffler]

the wife and I like to jump in the truck and tote the AS trailer all over north America ( mexico NOT ) and might be meandering around for two months at a time , and the weeds tend to be a bit overgrown when we get back , depending on the rain . Maybe get someone to cut it while gone that way when you get back don't have to worry about how your going to cut it. and enjoy your time

 

[dannydimitt]

the wife and I like to jump in the truck and tote the AS trailer all over north America ( mexico NOT ) and might be meandering around for two months at a time , and the weeds tend to be a bit overgrown when we get back , depending on the rain . Maybe get someone to cut it while gone that way when you get back don't have to worry about how your going to cut it. and enjoy your time

I do get my daughter to cut the easy " fairly level " stuff up front as needed , but NOT the outback , where deep gulleys and a drop off into the creek could be fatal if not done in a certain way . Sure don't want a disaster because of weeds needing to be cut .

 

[Gary Fowler]

I am thinking that your cheapest route is a DR trail mower that is pulled behind your riding mower or atv. It can be offset to one side so it mows the weeds before you run over them. A good used one would work well for less than $1000

 

[RoyJackson]

I am thinking that your cheapest route is a DR trail mower that is pulled behind your riding mower or atv. It can be offset to one side so it mows the weeds before you run over them. A good used one would work well for less than $1000

Probably a lot cheaper then that on Craigslist...
The walk-behind models are on CL quite frequently. I've only seen a couple of the ATV/Lawn Tractor pulled models.

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

I am thinking that your cheapest route is a DR trail mower that is pulled behind your riding mower or atv. It can be offset to one side so it mows the weeds before you run over them. A good used one would work well for less than $1000

That might be a good option, but I wonder how clean they cut.

Also, while the DR may be a good mower, I keep reading bad reviews of the Swisher trail mowers. So if I was gonna buy a trail mower, it would probably be a DR. Plus, don't they have a money back satisfaction guarantee?

 

[RoyJackson]

That might be a good option, but I wonder how clean they cut.

Also, while the DR may be a good mower, I keep reading bad reviews of the Swisher trail mowers. So if I was gonna buy a trail mower, it would probably be a DR. Plus, don't they have a money back satisfaction guarantee?

Yes they do...in fact, unless it's a clearance item, you've got about 6 months to decide.