How many hours do you have on your mowers & how long can I expect mine to last?

Re: How many hours do you have on your mowers & how long can I expect mine to last?

1985 Ingersoll GT 448 2nd engine, 2,000 hours, sold in 2010.
1989 Ingersoll GT 4018 2nd engine 2,400 hours still own it.
2008 Scag Tiger Cub ZTR 2nd engine 520 hours, 43 since new engine.
All above machines have collection systems installed.
2012 Hustler X-ONE ZTR 80 hours.
No idea of time on smaller equipment, but I upgrade every 5-6 years.
Mad Mackie in CT

Re: How many hours do you have on your mowers & how long can I expect mine to last?

My grandfathers mower which was a craftsman from the good days it would guess about 1500 hours on it only problem we had was steering last year then I sold it this year with the motor still running great take care of any mower they should last a while :thumbsup:

Re: How many hours do you have on your mowers & how long can I expect mine to last?

650 hrs on my 13 year old Toro Wheelhorse 268H and it's still going strong except for the front wheels being towed out (instead of slightly in) from hitting a tree head on, and a cracked hood (same tree).

My new Bob-cat Fastcat Pro will outlive me (I'm 58) as the price of mowers has gone up so much that I simply must take better care of this one.

Re: How many hours do you have on your mowers & how long can I expect mine to last?

nate81 said:

Whats the average amount of hours for a residential mower before it needs to be replaced? commercial?

I'm asking because I have a early 1990s John Deere 320 Lawn tractor that has about 506 hours on it....this mower is almost 20 years old and has 500 hours...to me, that seems wayyyyy under par. I'm wondering how many more years (if any) i can expect out of this type of lawn tractor.

On the same level...what make/model do you have, and how many hours on it? I'd love to hear!

Click to expand...

I have a JD x320 2006 model with 1760 hrs. No problems yet, bought this second hand, been told if taken care off they have seen these engines go 3000 hrs.

Re: How many hours do you have on your mowers & how long can I expect mine to last?

Well I have a 1966 8/30 Rover Rancher 2 with an up front 28" slasher.
Still on original motor & 3 speed Peerless ( prior to tecumseh ) box.
I got it from a market gardener & orchardist who used it to mow under the trees & fences + spray weeds.

Had to weld every pivot hole closed & redrill them so a lot of hours went into that but that machine does 100 hours of very hard work clearing lantana, blackberries, privite & other unwanted undergrowth from 8 km of fence line then mowing the other side plus under the fence.

As the boys have already noted it is the type of use, conditions of use and quality of maintenance that makes the difference.
Regular sharpening & changing blades will add hundreds if not thousands of hours to a machine as sharp blades take a lot of load off not only the engine but all of the deck mounting points & height mechanism spindle bushes & bearings.
Replacing pivot pins when they just start to wear insed of waiting till they break in 1/2 and fall off makes a big difference.
Dotto for springs and a little spot of weld on spring mounts before they elongate to the point of being usless also makes a big difference to the longevity.

A few drops of oil to ALL the places shown in the owners manual really does make a big difference.

I get a lot of mowers in with major repair problems because the owners did their own maintenance which they considered was naught more than changing the oil & filters.

Then they get bills in the order of $ 450 to replace the steering fan gear & bush because they never lubed it & think I am a thief.

There are a lot of Great Danes on my run but only 1 owner allows me to do proper maintenance and his mower has worked all day 6 days a week for 12 years and never missed an hour.
It is almost as good as new save some ovality in the anti scalp roller axels.
I tell him what needs to be repaired at its bi-annual service and he always OK's every thing, I buy in the parts & fit them on the next scheduled service.
The service usually go around $ 600 now that I bypass the local dealers & buy parts direct from the USA.

The others do scheduled grease, oil & filters but never replace anything till it actually brakes , their mowers are junk and a 2 week down time repair is not uncommon.