Zero Turn Riding Mowers

Rose

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I've been a great deal of research on buying a new ride on mower, or ride on tractor/mower. I see a lot of ads for Zero Turn Riding Mowers. What are Zero Turn Riding Mowers. I can imagine how you could have such a thing. Do they work better? Are they more efficient?
 

rhonda42

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A zero turn riding mower has a pivitol front axle and a floating mower fixture. You tend to see these in use on golf courses. They are expensive, but follow the contour of the ground surface much better than traditional mowers.
 
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I've been a great deal of research on buying a new ride on mower, or ride on tractor/mower. I see a lot of ads for Zero Turn Riding Mowers. What are Zero Turn Riding Mowers. I can imagine how you could have such a thing. Do they work better? Are they more efficient?

In addition to the response above, one of the main advantages of the zero turn mower is the speed at which you can mow an area where there are a lot of obstacles, such as trees flower beds etc. As the name suggests the zero turn mower can turn without leaving any uncut areas, thus enabling the lawn to be cut with fewer passes of the mower.

The steering is controlled with levers rather than a traditional steering wheel. The levers allow the the power to each rear wheel to delivered individually, thus enabling the machine to be maneouvered through 180 degrees.

In answer to your questions - they can be more efficient for large flattish areas and areas requiring lots of turns. If the terrain is rough, uneven and hilly, they may not be such a good bet. But as usual, it depends what model you choos ea nd what you want it to do.

Hope this helps
 

Rose

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Your responses have been just great. I now flatter myself that I am pretty sure I know what a zero turn mower is. The next thing I need to look up is if I can get this option with a small tractor/mower. That is the product that I have to buy for my new farm. I will only have about 4 acres of lawn area, and it is in a fairly rolling country side. I am making an assumption from your comment rhonda42, that you see them on golf coarses, that I might be able to get the functionality in my size of product.
 

Ric

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Your responses have been just great. I now flatter myself that I am pretty sure I know what a zero turn mower is. The next thing I need to look up is if I can get this option with a small tractor/mower. That is the product that I have to buy for my new farm. I will only have about 4 acres of lawn area, and it is in a fairly rolling country side. I am making an assumption from your comment rhonda42, that you see them on golf coarses, that I might be able to get the functionality in my size of product.

They do make the zero Turn mowers in a tractor. Cub Cadet has the iseries tractor Cub Cadet - Zero Turn Riding Mowers - iSeries Tractors The problem with the tractor type ZTR is that it takes a lot more effort to use that type with the steering wheel instead of the regular type ZTR with the adjustable lap bars and for the money difference between the two the I series just didn't make sense to buy, at least to me anyway.

BTW if they use a zero turn on a golf course you really don't want that type because it's a reel type mower (not rotary) that's used for cutting Bermuda grass and I don't believe you want to go that way :smile:
 
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Rose, you could look at a 4 wheel steer model like the John Deere x304 or the John Deere x324. They tend to turn more tightly than the normal tractors.
 

Berniep

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Your responses have been just great. I now flatter myself that I am pretty sure I know what a zero turn mower is. The next thing I need to look up is if I can get this option with a small tractor/mower. That is the product that I have to buy for my new farm. I will only have about 4 acres of lawn area, and it is in a fairly rolling country side. I am making an assumption from your comment rhonda42, that you see them on golf coarses, that I might be able to get the functionality in my size of product.
What exactly is the farm like?
Will you be growing crops or livestock?
If so you will need a dedicated tractor. You can get fairly large tractors with mowers on them but with 4 acres to mow I would recommend a zero turn mower, generally they are only used for mowing and nothing else, even the ones that look like tractors.
 
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