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Zero Turn Mowers- Good, Bad, Expensive....

Blugreenformula said:
Bought a Bad Boy ZT Elite 60" last year. Had about 300 hours on it and out the door price was 3k. Absolutely love it, and will not ever own a shit mower again.
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I bought one when they first came out, before the ZT got the suspension (2013) :homer: and I couldn't afford a Ferris.
After a few years of beating my kidneys I finally hack fucked the factory rear suspension onto mine and did a semi custom IFS (kinda Ferris'ish). MUCH better.
The shit Kohler decided to sludge up and die on me after only 250hrs though :flipoff:

I'll never own anything without suspension again though
 
TennPass said:
I bought one when they first came out, before the ZT got the suspension (2013) :homer: and I couldn't afford a Ferris.
After a few years of beating my kidneys I finally hack fucked the factory rear suspension onto mine and did a semi custom IFS (kinda Ferris'ish). MUCH better.
The shit Kohler decided to sludge up and die on me after only 250hrs though :flipoff:

I'll never own anything without suspension again though
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I bought suspension for my seat. It was $250 and made in the USA and worth every penny.

Kawasaki is superior to Kohler. My Kohler Command is still running after 400 hard hours, but that’s peanuts to a good commercial engine that sees 7,000+.
 
Lurker said:
My opinion, big box mowers suck after owning a decent ztr. Cheapest ztr worth buying new is the bad boy 5k mower. Thats what I have, its far from the best mower out there, but its the best for 5k new. I would only replace it with a nice used professional mower like ferris, scag, walker $$, commercial gravely, deere, etc.

My yard is .5 AC, it takes 17 min 😂😂 I also mow my grandmothers 1.5 acre. She has a homowner ztr but I trailer the badboy to her house every time. The 42" deck and super shitty controls (no return to center) make it slower than a rider.

I helped a buddy start a mowing business, thats the reason I own the bad boy in the first place. I ended up with $5k of used lawn equipment and didnt lose my ass money wise. Now I love mowing in 17 min.
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I bought my Bad Boy for $5K. Built welded deck just sub-commercial rated. It is a freaking TIME MACHINE! I went from 1.5 hours to 40 minutes foe my front door to my front door.
 
You guys and your half acres. :laughing:

I went from 6 hours to 1.4 hours. Mowing around 5.5 acres with almost 60 obstacles. The zero turn saves me sooooooooooo much time. Mowing at 9mph is also great.

17 mph would be even better. :smokin:
 
I bought a sweeper for when I don’t get the grass cut often enough for the mulching blades to do their job correctly. Big timesaver over a traditional bag system. I’m cutting just over a half acre and only have to dump the collector 3 times max.

Other than that I’m still running a Koehler craftsman rider. About 1.5 hours including sweeping. 1 if just mowing.
 
Are the newer Bad Boy mowers holding up? A guy I know bought one of their earlier 60" commercial mowers new and had nothing but trouble early on. Including multiple failures of the front steering fork bearings which were much smaller than on the Dixon mower that he also had. He was using it commercially though.
 
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eraser5 said:
I bought my Bad Boy for $5K. Built welded deck just sub-commercial rated. It is a freaking TIME MACHINE! I went from 1.5 hours to 40 minutes foe my front door to my front door.
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FleshEater said:
You guys and your half acres. :laughing:

I went from 6 hours to 1.4 hours. Mowing around 5.5 acres with almost 60 obstacles. The zero turn saves me sooooooooooo much time. Mowing at 9mph is also great.

17 mph would be even better. :smokin:
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I went from 4 hours to to 3 just switching from the 60" cub to the 61" Grasshopper. Tons of obstacles and weird shapes and the grasshopper just gets in to them better.

I can't even imagine how long it would take to do with a regular rider. :shaking:



FleshEater said:
I bought suspension for my seat. It was $250 and made in the USA and worth every penny.

Kawasaki is superior to Kohler. My Kohler Command is still running after 400 hard hours, but that’s peanuts to a good commercial engine that sees 7,000+.
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What suspension did you get? Made for the specific mower or universal aftermarket?


The big bubble tires on on mine help a lot, but a suspension seat would still be nice.
 
bgaidan said:
I went from 4 hours to to 3 just switching from the 60" cub to the 61" Grasshopper. Tons of obstacles and weird shapes and the grasshopper just gets in to them better.

I can't even imagine how long it would take to do with a regular rider. :shaking:




What suspension did you get? Made for the specific mower or universal aftermarket?


The big bubble tires on on mine help a lot, but a suspension seat would still be nice.
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I had to drill mine out, because Hustler changed their bolt pattern.

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I can mow full throttle with this.
 
bgaidan said:
What suspension did you get? Made for the specific mower or universal aftermarket?
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I got the Grammar seat that Grasshoper sells. When they brought mowers out to demo they made sure to point out one with the seat and without. To say the difference was "noticeable" is an understatement. I think it was around $1k but worth every penny.
 
Austin said:
I got the Grammar seat that Grasshoper sells. When they brought mowers out to demo they made sure to point out one with the seat and without. To say the difference was "noticeable" is an understatement. I think it was around $1k but worth every penny.
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My Kioti has a Grammar and they are worth every cent.

The Trac Seat is great, but not Grammar great.
 
FleshEater said:
I bought suspension for my seat. It was $250 and made in the USA and worth every penny.

Kawasaki is superior to Kohler. My Kohler Command is still running after 400 hard hours, but that’s peanuts to a good commercial engine that sees 7,000+.
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I bought Bad Boyz seat they put on the current Maverick or Renegade. it seems all the manufactures use the same suspension seat (in that price range) with different covers, and it could be found generically at NorthernTool and other places for much less than the branded one.

As for the motor. I don't know what happened. It had a fresh oil change on it, wife was mowing, she had about 3 strips left and I hear the motor start sounding... different... I start walking to her and it locked up on her. Pulled it into the barn and the motor was HOT AS FAWK and externally smoking. Tried to drain oil and nothing came out.
Pulled the motor and removed the drain hose and it was sludged up bad, and about half the oil I put in came out, the rest was sludge in the motor. :confused: I always used good filters and oil. :dunno: Internet said the Kohlers were known for that type of shit.
 
I had a bad boy mz48, decent mower. At 2500 hours it started needing parts every other time I mowed. Deck would not stay adjusted, basically it was a residential mower that made it to almost 3,000 hours before I gave up on it. I got a cub cadet zt2 now. 60" deck and kawasaki engine. Same 4 acres takes less time, but biggest difference is fuel usage. New mower uses 1.5 gallons less fuel to do the same job.
 
Austin said:
I got the Grammar seat that Grasshoper sells. When they brought mowers out to demo they made sure to point out one with the seat and without. To say the difference was "noticeable" is an understatement. I think it was around $1k but worth every penny.
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$1300 for mine. :eek:

Don't think I can stomach that on a mower I paid $3500 for :laughing:


I did go demo a Grasshopper with all the bells and whistles after you recommended them in a thread last year. I was really trying to justify dropping $16k on a mower but no fucking way right now.

I had to settle for the 15 year-old base model.


FleshEater said:
I had to drill mine out, because Hustler changed their bolt pattern.

tracseats.com

TRAC SEATS

Best Quality, Comfort, and Service - FREE Same Day Shipping! Shop our tractor seats, suspension seats, and lawn mower seats today! TRAC SEATS
tracseats.com tracseats.com

I can mow full throttle with this.
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$175 for mine. I can handle that.


With the big tires (and disabled safety switch) on the grasshopper I can usually run it wide open. The old homeowner grade Cub would buck me off and trip the seat sensor if I wen too fast. :laughing:
 
Austin said:
I got the Grammar seat that Grasshoper sells. When they brought mowers out to demo they made sure to point out one with the seat and without. To say the difference was "noticeable" is an understatement. I think it was around $1k but worth every penny.
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damn... :eek::eek::eek:
 
bgaidan said:
I had to settle for the 15 year-old base model.
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Base model? lolno
they got ones with a gas motor and you set the deck height with washers under the swivel casters out front

they still kick ass though, you can run flat out running speed and it's still cutting everything nice and even
 
[486] said:
Base model? lolno
they got ones with a gas motor and you set the deck height with washers under the swivel casters out front

they still kick ass though, you can run flat out running speed and it's still cutting everything nice and even
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Well, base in that it doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the fully loaded 721. No electric deck flip or lift, no bouncy seat. Not even a real fucking beer cup holder.


But yeah, it's a Cadillac compared to the last few ZTs I've owned.


I wouldn't touch a used one with a gas engine though. I figured 2k hours on a kubota was just broken in. And even it if it needs to be rebuilt down the line, a full rebuild kit is like $600.


Best part is this thing is at least 15 years old and pretty much all parts are still available for it.
 
Having a Kubota Z422 54" with Kawasaki motor delivered tomorrow. My wife mows 90% of the time. Got the air ride seat for her. I told the salesman we really need an air ride cup holder so she's not sloshing her wine around.
 
Learn to run the mower with one hand. Only time I have to set my beer down is going tight around trees.
 
I checked out a Spartan mower a couple days ago. I guess they are a spin off of some sort from Bad Boy mowers. The Spartan looked pretty good. Looks like most components are repairable. The Spartan had a nice price point for how heavily built it is.

I mow with an 84" Land Pride off the back of my cab tractor with the a/c blasting.
 
I'm using this on about 2, its not that fast, but it will cut small trees! But it beats me to death and tries to throw me off every time I hit a bump. Oh and it has a SS deck so it wont ever rust out.
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scrolling through marketplace last night, a fresh listing for a 1yr old Ferris 61” with 58 hrs listed, close by caught my attention And I fired off a lowball offer. It followed me home this morning for right at half of msrp.:smokin:

never ridden a Ferris before, but the ride is night &day better than my fixed wheel commercial toro Zmaster.

there were a lot more listings for higher end mowers in decent condition than I typically see, so this might be the beginning stages of the market Returning to a more normal state.
 
WTF? said:
scrolling through marketplace last night, a fresh listing for a 1yr old Ferris 61” with 58 hrs listed, close by caught my attention And I fired off a lowball offer. It followed me home this morning for right at half of msrp.:smokin:

never ridden a Ferris before, but the ride is night &day better than my fixed wheel commercial toro Zmaster.

there were a lot more listings for higher end mowers in decent condition than I typically see, so this might be the beginning stages of the market Returning to a more normal state.
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Ferris's are nice, I like the suspension ride.
 
Juztyn00 said:
Ferris's are nice, I like the suspension ride.
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It’s a very different feeling After being accustomed to solid mount axles- you anticipate bumps/ jolts that ultimately never happen/ are not felt.
 
WTF? said:
scrolling through marketplace last night, a fresh listing for a 1yr old Ferris 61” with 58 hrs listed, close by caught my attention And I fired off a lowball offer. It followed me home this morning for right at half of msrp.:smokin:

never ridden a Ferris before, but the ride is night &day better than my fixed wheel commercial toro Zmaster.

there were a lot more listings for higher end mowers in decent condition than I typically see, so this might be the beginning stages of the market Returning to a more normal state.
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Which ferris is it? The solid pinned front axle that just articulates, or the one that actually has IFS?
 
OHV Wildcat said:
Which ferris is it? The solid pinned front axle that just articulates, or the one that actually has IFS?
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The one in the lineup right before they switch to IFS. And I think I might prefer that for simplicity/ reduced number of grease/wear points..
 
We have the independent suspension as well as the air ride seat. It is really comfy for a mower
 
Just picked up a Scag Cheetah II with Kawa 38HP FX engine.

Ready to mow but its fucking raining all day so gonna hit up waffle house and mow some waffles instead. Did get to mow some dog shit and and huge ant piles in the yard yesterday when I got it home. Felt pretty solid.
 
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