Question About Lawn Tractors

I'm not a fan of zero turn mowers, especially on soft, damp, and/or hilly ground. My brother in law has a lawn service that uses them. They have all but destroyed his yard. They may turn on a dime, but when they do it at high speeds they leave marks similar to turning a skid loader. The wheel on the inside of the turn leaves a nice big gouge in a finished lawn. In addition the "turf saver" tires have a tendency to spin on uphill grades especially if the grass is damp. For some reason it seems like everybody I see using these machines has to run them at full speed regardless of the terrain. It's more like lawnmower racing than mowing lawn. It might be a function of the operators more than the machines, but the end results are pretty dismal.

The operators may well be getting their information on how to operate them from some TV adds. I recently saw a JD one where the theme was "It's not how fast you mow, It's how well you mow fast". All the time during the add I think the operators spent at least half the time in the air bouncing off the seat. I can't imagine what the lawn looked like, or how long the machine would last doing that all day.

My JD445 AWS has a pedal (red button) on the right running board to lock the differential. Rather than having a tire spin and rip up the lawn I just depress the pedal and both rear wheels are powered. With both wheels powered I've yet to loose traction and tear up a lawn. It doesn't turn as sharp as a zero turn, but with the all wheel steering it's pretty close.
 
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This all may be academic in the not too distant future. California passed a new law this year that limits water usage to 50 gallons per person per day. Fines are reported to be up to $1,000 per day per violation. Once this law is phased in no one will be able to have a lawn in California. I would look for ways to get rid of the lawn.
 
mickri said:
This all may be academic in the not too distant future. California passed a new law this year that limits water usage to 50 gallons per person per day. Fines are reported to be up to $1,000 per day per violation. Once this law is phased in no one will be able to have a lawn in California. I would look for ways to get rid of the lawn.
Click to expand...

The good news is this property in NOT is California. One of the reasons we are buying it.
 
You lucky dog to be able to get out of California. I am stuck here. Not going to leave my kids and grandkids and no way that they will ever be able to leave California.
 
Just to reset here. the OP said that he only had to cut his acreage perhaps twice a year. I would think and hour here or there would not be a significant reason to up grade if the current mower is in good condition.,

David
 
Well as it turns out the owner decided to leave the lawn tractor and a DR mower with the property. I dont think her kids want to deal with them. According to them they both run and are in good condition and the lawn tractor has a new battery.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 
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