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Spartan Mowers, Good? Bad? Not really ugly...

#1

C

CraftsmanOwner

Hello everyone, I am in the market for a new mower and I have about $7,000 to play with. It's mainly residential mowing but I was wanting to upgrade to a commercial unit for longevity and durability. Has anyone heard anything that would turn them completely off about the Spartan zero turns? Have you used one or own one? Can you tell me if it's a good buy? I've seen the basic ones with out bells and whistles listed from $4,000 and chromed out ones as much as $12,000.


#2

B

bertsmobile1

If nothing else the kids will love it.
Looks like a real life transformer.
lots of nice ideas gone into it from what I can see from the brouchures.
PIA to keep clean, lots of wedge places when tall grass is going to get stuck and the deck looks like a bugger to change belts on.
OTOH it might have a better belt mounting system which is not as prone to throwing off.
Almost no ZTR's have belt retainers at the engine relying purely on the tension to keep them on which is why so many posts here are about belts .
Locally made with a good waranty that they can not afford to renigue on would be good buying points.


#3

C

CraftsmanOwner

bertsmobile1 said:
If nothing else the kids will love it.
Looks like a real life transformer.
lots of nice ideas gone into it from what I can see from the brouchures.
PIA to keep clean, lots of wedge places when tall grass is going to get stuck and the deck looks like a bugger to change belts on.
OTOH it might have a better belt mounting system which is not as prone to throwing off.
Almost no ZTR's have belt retainers at the engine relying purely on the tension to keep them on which is why so many posts here are about belts .
Locally made with a good waranty that they can not afford to renigue on would be good buying points.
Click to expand...

You're right, they definitely look great. I will be headed over to Kingston, Oklahoma tomorrow to check them out. As far as dealers around Ardmore, we have a John Deere, bad boy and kubota. Kingstons about 30/45 minute drive, so it's not terribly far and they also have a SCAG dealer as well as the Spartan dealer. So on my drive over tomorrow I will check out both SCAG and Spartan. I don't want anything John Deere (sorry folks), and I've never liked Kubota. I have been reading up on SCAG, they look like good mowers.


#4

BlazNT

BlazNT

Spartan is made by the original owners of Bad Boy mowers. After they sold out to Hustler they got upset with what was happening to their pride and joy. They set out to make an even better mower this time. I have been thinking about buying one this winter. I have looked at them on the ground and up on a lift. They are built solid. I have no idea on longevity but it looks good.


#5

G

Gabbyp

This is the first time I heard that Bad Boy sold out to Hustler (Excel Industries).
Hustler also owns Big Dog so why would they need another product line to complete
with existing products.
Is there a time line when this happened?


#6

BlazNT

BlazNT

Spartan address 1 Bad Boy Blvd., Batesville, AR 72501
Look at the Raptor.


#7

C

CraftsmanOwner

BlazNT said:
Spartan address 1 Bad Boy Blvd., Batesville, AR 72501
Look at the Raptor.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure about that. According to what I've read was Spartan owner/creator used to be a partner in Bad Boy. After an argument inside the company, the owner of Spartan separated and split the company building their office right next door. Now, part of the split conditions were that Spartan couldn't make mowers to compete (speculation). So they marketed the UTV's instead. But the owner always lived mowers and developed one in his garage. He then unveiled the spartan mower. Bad boy was upset and took him to court saying he copied their design and used his knowledge with out Bad Boy's permission.


#8

BlazNT

BlazNT

I am going to have to agree with you. I must have gotten names confused. Not the first time I have been wrong.


#9

1slow5point0h

1slow5point0h

I've been looking at them myself. I think unless something else comes out that just catches my eye, I'll probably be picking up a Spartan when I part ways with my Hustler Raptor SD.


#10

W

War Eagle

Does anyone know who manufactures/markets the soft side radial rear tires on Spartan mowers and what tire sizes might be available for other mowers, if any?


#11

BlazNT

BlazNT

What I heard from a dealer is they are exclusive to Spartin for 5 years.You can only buy from a dealer and only if you have a Spartin. I do not know if it is true or not.


#12

W

War Eagle

BlazNT said:
What I heard from a dealer is they are exclusive to Spartin for 5 years.You can only buy from a dealer and only if you have a Spartin. I do not know if it is true or not.
Click to expand...
Thanks. Do you know how many years we are into that 5-year exclusive? Maybe 2 years in, 3 to go? Just curious....


#13

BlazNT

BlazNT

2018 is the start of the third year.


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