[familyguy]

For you folks heavy into the mowing end of things:

How many hours can one expect from a zero turn mower and from a hydro walk behind.

(please, just an average OR..... your experience would be highly preferred; just NOT a lengthy explanation of how one should take care of their equipment. Let's assume average care for the thread's sake.)

I know this stuff is probly on an information page but I'd rather hear it from you guys. Sometimes you find in the small print at the end of the articles about this sort of thing, that the manufacturer of mowers are the writers of the articles.

[Matt Kulp]

Depends on the engine, but very well maintained 2-6 machine company will normally get 1,600-2,000 hours before you start loosing money. Large fleets will get 1,300 to 1,700. I have seen schools and Municipality mowers that have over 3,000 for gas and over 5,000 for diesel. Most of these have very routine maintenance at the dealer. My mowers are getting about 1,400 and then they start nickel and diming us. I try and put them on a rotation to get traded by 2,000 hours, because I can get a good trade price and I usually don't have a whole lot of repair cost racked up.

My hydro walkbehind has 1,600 hours and nothing has went except for belts and the cheap switches (blade, ignition, etc...). I will run this until it dies... I am buying 3 more this fall.

I think it depends on the machine, and the amount of maintenance you put into them. I worked for a company about 7 years ago that were going through the same machines in 1,000 hours and they looked like they had 3,000 more hours then they actually did.

We are looking at a fuel injected system for our 08' season buy, I have heard that they are getting some high hours in the test markets.

[nylan]

A general rule of thumb is 100 hours per horse power.

[cutntrim]

My gear-drive WB's don't have hour-meters on them, but I've run them since 1999 full-time. They have 15hp Kohlers and I'm sure have 3,500hrs on each. Very reliable machines, but I'll be replacing them with easier-to-operate hydros.

My first rider also in 1999 was a Toro and it lasted 1500hrs before both hydro pumps blew. I sold it for $500 and replaced it with another rider - a Ransome Bobcat (same as my WB's). It has 1200hrs on it now, and will need either a new motor or a rebuild on the current one. It's belching black 15hrs after each oil change now and is on it's last legs (20hp Kohler). I bought another Ransome rider (same 48" 20hp) last fall. It's been hard-starting for a month-or-so now, and I changed the battery but it still has to be choke-started every time...even when warmed-up.

[Pelican]

I traded my Scag hydro at 2100 hours. The whole machine was very tired, hydro pumps were weak, motor smoked and the frame was cracked in a number of places. For some reason I got $1600 on trade with it, that was double what I expected.

I'm a stickler for maintenance, but a lot of our terrain is pretty rough.

[familyguy]

Nylan-

100 hours per horsepower is interesting to me as I never heard that before. Is that strictly for mowers or are you of the opinion that you could use that on any piece of equipment.

(I ask because I recently heard a guy say his new JD loader would be good for 10,000 hours he figured. Just happens to have almost 100hp and got me thinking about your comment)

[nylan]

I heard this rule from an old gravely salesman. He has been selling mowers for over 30 years and he said it holds true to most equipment. But like anything else, it depends on the maintenance and the operator. One guy will get 5 years out of a honda push mower while the next guy will have it worn out after 2. I have a friend that bought 3 toro mowers 4 years ago and they all died this year within a 2 week period. ( consistant ?, strange! ) When I was growing up back in the 1970's my Dad bought a silver/grey craftsman push mower, he still has it and it still starts on the second pull everytime.?.?!! I think if you buy a machine and you are happy with it (controls, weight, ease of operation, purchase price, etc.) you will take good care of it. If you end up buying a piece of equipment that (you are unsure of, got a great deal, think you might have got screwed on the deal, not what you wanted or needed but all you could afford, etc.) you will rarely be happy with it and you wont maintain it like "its your baby" and you will continuosly push the machine harder and harder trying test the limits and trying to convince yourself that you did the right thing. I bought a hustler fasttrac this year to mow my yard ( I dont do commercial mowing, I have an acre and a half of grass at home.) I treat it a lot better than I did my Craftsman tractor.