Ride-On Lawnmowers

[rnelson955]

Afternoon PSB,

I'm in the market for a ride-on mower and after some recommendations from people that have experience with them. Stuff I'm mainly interested in:

• Zero Turn or standard tractor type better?
• Preferred brands.
• Preferred technology type (hydrostatic, friction drive, CVT etc)
• Brands to stay away from?
• Shops to stay away from?

Looking to keep about 2 acres in good condition; mostly flat so no hills to deal with. Budget up to about $5k but ideally around $3k.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[Paraletic]

firstly, when you say good condition do you mean 'keeping grass and weeds short' or 'Golf course pristine, carefully selected grass species'?

i am not up to date on the latest offerings, but there is a massive range.
-zero turn Reel/Drum style mower, best for pristene lawns, soft leaf, vertical growing. will not handle long grass, and a bit delicate i think.
-tractor style with the single or twin (better) rotary blades under the centre of the chassis, will handle more aggressive terrain and gress varieties. the finnish is generally not so good, but has medium slashing capacity if you plan on letting it grow more than a few weeks, but nothing too woody. medium turning circle.
-Small Tractor. best for slashing and coarse cutting. Most versatile. turning circle suffers but is made up by being able to reverse slasher into corners and along edges. these are out of your price rance.

hydrostatic = expensive.
friction drive is fine untill you hit hills.

for 3K, and to keep grass short and neatish, i would look for a second hand tractor type. Briggs and stratton 12HP ish engine (or honda but $$$), with pull start as secondary. for a better finnish go for a twin rotary set up if you can find one, otherwise single works well and handles more rocks and crap. preferably one with a couple of gears so your not holding in a pedal all the time (some have only a fwd/rev pedal).

for $5K you will get something reasonably nice.

[al.ramsay]

Im looking for a similar thing and was checking out the John Deere site... No idea on pricing but there is some lovely gear on there AND on special at present

[EPB]

Build your own:

http://www.bikesales.com.au/news/201...ad-mower-37814

[EPB]

Zero turn mowers are the benchmark for quality of cut and speed. Anything reasonable is out of your price range, so just leave that one go.

Buy new. People tend to buy mowers and run them into the ground. You will be lucky to find anything reliable second hand.

$3-5k will buy you a reasonable tractor type mower. My recommendation would be one of the smaller John Deere’s or Husquvarna. Excellent build quality on both, so it depends on the closest dealer with the best deal. Hydrostatic drive wins hands down if you have a number of turns or obstacles. Your coverage will be significantly faster than friction drive and although a bigger expense if you do have a problem, they are much less day to day hassle than belts.

If you plan on keeping on top of it regularly (cutting no more than 1/3 of the height at any time) and on well drained soil then try the mulching packages that close the deck and push the clippings back down into the turf.

In general try and keep the cut fairly high – a bit more length in the lawn will hide the clippings, prevent scalping and generally help you with a more easily maintainable look. Keep a good hand mower for the lower cut around your house.

[truewheel]

and to keep grass short and neatish...

No.

Im looking for a similar thing...

No.

In general try and keep the cut fairly high...

No.

Yes.

[al.ramsay]

Hahaha. I was browsing gumtree earlier in the hope I could find a ride-on that had a blown/broken/average motor and re-power it with something more "suitable".

[truewheel]

Oops. Was just having a laff, didn't intend to kill the thread.

Carry on ride on mower heads

[boeman]

How much lawn does one require to qualify for a ride on?

Of my 700m2, I would say a good 600m2 is lawn. Plus I love lawn and can think of nothing better than sitting on my ride on mower for an afternoon. Is it worthwhile (backyard below, front is similar and just another big square)?

Moving in around June 2014 and lawn is my top priority.

[/URL]

[shmoo]

How much lawn does one require to qualify for a ride on?

Of my 700m2, I would say a good 600m2 is lawn. Plus I love lawn and can think of nothing better than sitting on my ride on mower for an afternoon. Is it worthwhile (backyard below, front is similar and just another big square)?

Moving in around June 2014 and lawn is my top priority.

[/URL]

Any lawn is enough to get a ride on.

and you need to operate it shirtless, with a terry towelling hat on.

Also rig up a beer holder.

[boeman]

Also rig up a beer holder.

So get the missus as a pillion?

[AliastheJester]

Get an actual tractor with a PTO driven mower attachment
Bonus points if it is a Lamborghini.

Thread reminds me of this show

[rnelson955]

Paraletic; thanks for the advice. I believe you can also get zero turn that has rotary type blades rather than reel style which is what I'm leaning towards but not sure if will fit within my budget.
The area I'm mowing is below so leaning towards a zero turn to get around all the trees and stuff easily; they're supposed to be considerably more maneuverable.

EPB & Truewheel; I like your thinking. EPB; any thoughts on Cox or Hustler as brands?

boeman; that's a pretty good sized piece of lawn but you may have some issues maneuvering a ride on around the block. (not to mention storage for the ride-on etc, could take up valuable bike storage space!) ) A self propelled reel mower would also be significantly cheaper and would do that area easily but if budget is no barrier ride-ons seem to have pretty good resale also.

[Morgs]

Mate, you need to get this sorted for the house warming

[rnelson955]

Mate, you need to get this sorted for the house warming

I'm thinking something like a fancy dress party but everyone comes dressed up as a lawnmower man. With a lawnmower in tow. Whaddya think?