[Bullfrog]

I am going to be getting back into maintenance after dropping it for a while to just do construction.

I am going to be buying a lawn tractor and push mower, trimmer blower, and I was wondering what equipment everyone would recommend?

I will be doing a lot of bagging as I am in a resort area.

The terrain can be quite hilly.

Also very important is the bagging system must handle intermittent rain showers and not clog, (It will need a blower)

I used to use Honda push mowers, but they went downhill with their hydros as I recall. And I had a cub cadet lawn tractor. but I have heard some bad things about breakdowns with them lately.

Thanks

[4seasons]

bullfrog we like to use the walker mowers easy to handle on hills has a good bagging system. if the grass is wet and you take alittle bit of extra time the blower handles the wet grass pretty well

[Pelican]

Don't bother looking at lawn tractors, you want a commercial mower if you are going to see any production. Walker, Skag and a few other manufacturers off units with built in bagging systems, plus there are aftermarket versions to fit almost any model besides. A commercial mower will mow circles around a lawn tractor.

[Lanelle]

Definitely look at commercial mowers. Whether its a Z-turn rider or a walk behind with a velke, you should get much better production as well as better stability on slopes. In regards to bagging the clippings, also consider using mulching blades and a mulching kit for most of the season. The early, cool spring and late fall may require bagging. The rest of the time, if the grass is mowed frequently, it should be mulched into such small pieces that it doesn't lay on the surface of the turf.

[Bullfrog]

Thanks for all the input. So, the general consensus is ZTRs are the way to go, but what if you don't want to throw 7 grand into a machine that will probably only work one day a week for the first year and then progressively more after that after I get some more contracts. Would you still go with a ZTR?

And what about 21 inch trim mowers, I will need one of those this fall yet.

As for the mulching blades, I used to have customers here in the past that under no circustances would they allow me to mulch. see most of my work would be residential, and most of those would be summer vacation homes, where they come over for a weekend and lay out in the grass.

So if there was a mulching system on a ZTR that had a good report I would consisder that, but I couldn't eliminate the bagging system.

There is no getting around using two mowers, one of the large commercial walk behinds won't do me any good because they are too big for a lot of the yards.

So, I guess I still have a couple of questions?

One. Which brand, model of push/trim mower would everyone reccomend?

Two. Would you still go with a Walker, or other comparable ZTR?
given a low use situation?

And I have to be honest, here in my area of the northwest, most professionals use simply a garden tractor, I don't know why, but they do.

thanks again

[Pelican]

I would guess that lawn tractors are used to save a few bucks up front. The quality of cut and speed at which you will complete lawns will put you out ahead of your competition. I would NEVER consider a lawn tractor under any circumstance for grass cutting, even if I used it only once a week cutting my own lawn. The time savings is so tremendous it's foolish in my opinion to go any other way.

If you don't want to lay out the cash for a ZTR, look into a hydro driven walk behind. A few dollars less than the ZTR, but still much more efficient than a lawn tractor and it will leave behind a much better cut. You can get aftermarket bagging systems installed on them too.

21" trim mower? I haven't used one of those since I was a teen! When I have areas I can't service with my 52" walk behind, we use string trimmers to cut.

[GLAN]

21" machine....................Snapper..........it's all we use. A far better bagging machine than anything else out there.....can mulch with it to if needed.

I agree with the others regarding a walkbehind. Hydro is real nice

[Tim C.]

We use lawnboy or Toro for our 21 in. mowers. I prefer the two- cycle ones and they both do an excellent job bagging. We also have a 44 in. hydro drive Toro walk behind with bagger that cuts alot better than our ZTR"s.

[Lanelle]

For those narrow backyard gates, look for the Exmark 32" cut.

[Bill Schwab]

Each manufacturer makes mowers that will work better than the next for various operations. If you have alot of tight turning, a ZTR is the way to go. If you have open spaces, there is no brand that will out workk, outperform and outlast a Toro Groundsmaster, but you are going to pay for it dearly. There is no such thing as an inexpensive and efficient mower. If you are getting back into grounds management, get the best equipment made, and hire or train the best people to run them, and pay the piper. Otherwise the only thing getting back into maintenance will do for you is cause you to loose hair and get wrinkles.

[Bullfrog]

well I think I get the drift.

I will look into a ZTR or a walk-behind with a hydro,


Pelican-
I know it may sound silly to some of you but there is no way out of a 21" mower. people here just seem to like to plant little grasss paths down to the lake with anoth patch there?

thank for the info everyone

[rjlmob1]

So what's the best 32-36" walk behind Scag, Exmark, other?? as for the small ones, I love my Snapper!

[Pelican]

I was just noting the differences in our operations. Around here lawns are usually 1 acre minimum, lots of space for maneuvering.

I used to have a 21" mower, I forget the brand, but it had an aluminum deck with oversized rear wheels and a rear discharge chute molded in. Real heavy duty!! It took more time unloading and loading it though than doing the small patches with the string trimmer. I still have it, just don't load it on the truck anymore.

[NeedCoffee]

I would have to agree with the comments on buying commercial equipment, but for some of us commercial prices (and the quality that comes with these) are beyond our means.
I will be using a tractor, since I already have one. A ZTR is not within my tiny budget constraints. Gotta start somewhere right?
I plan to supplement the lack of "production" from the tractor by offering aerating, spreading, dethatching, spraying and lawn sweeping (in the fall). All these can be performed with tractor attachments which are very moderately priced. This way I can maximize the productivity of the tractor (multitasking) until I have enough cash to get the ZTR and other equipment.
Just my humble thoughts.
ET

[Bill Schwab]

I have to say....We had Scag, Ransomes, and Kees.
Then a kashwacki aonther engine blew with only 67 hours on it and I put my foot down. The dealer took it in to do a forensics exam on it. In other words, Kashwacki would dismantle the engine and look at all the bad parts they made before they created an excuse as to why this is my fault and they cannot honor a warranty rather than just simply tell me it was abuse without even looking at it.
What this meant is my mower was downed for a 3 week minimum. So, I needed a mower. On the showroom floor of the dealer was a brand new Snapper hydro he sold to me for $3600.00. I was worried about it actually...Well, it proived my worries for naught. This thing ran 3 full seasons in Illinois, one full season here, and after I got out of manitenance I sold it to a very nice guy who had just become a citizen, who, has run it for 3 seasons after I sold it.

If I was getting back into larger turf lawned areas, I would buy another Snapper hydro in a New York minute. We pulled a charriot behind it on the big properties, and walked on the smaller ones. Biggest pain was the air in the front tires. We goober gooped them and never had a flat since.