Zer turn or rider. Need advice and education

[Chad1971]

I have about 1.2 acres of lawn. There are some hills and somewhat steep incline over a mound system and sides of the house (exposed basement). I currently have a cub cadet 1046 with a 46" deck that I got at a Home Depot. It's got about 200 hours on it. I cut once a week sometimes twice and it takes about 1.5 hours each time.

I am looking for something that cuts a little nicer, live in a neighborhood where most people have lawn services so the lawn has to look good or you stand out. I want to be proud of the work so to speak. My cub scrapes the top of the hills down to the dirt and it will fail at some point because it works hard on the hills and side hills.

I am looking for a 46" or 48" deck or 50" max. (Garage space). Should I be looking for a ZT or a lawn tractor ? Would like to cut down on the time I spend, get a better cut and something that can handle hills. I have a few trees but usually trim them with a weed whacker.

I have about $2600 to spend. Don't know about brands or the difference between a tractor or zero turn and what the strengths and weaknesses are of each. I have a JD, Toro dealer in town and can get most of the major brands. Lots of Lowes, HD and husky dealers around.

Can you help me decide?

 

[shiftsuper175607]

I have about 1.2 acres of lawn. There are some hills and somewhat steep incline over a mound system and sides of the house (exposed basement). I currently have a cub cadet 1046 with a 46" deck that I got at a Home Depot. It's got about 200 hours on it. I cut once a week sometimes twice and it takes about 1.5 hours each time.

I am looking for something that cuts a little nicer, live in a neighborhood where most people have lawn services so the lawn has to look good or you stand out. I want to be proud of the work so to speak. My cub scrapes the top of the hills down to the dirt and it will fail at some point because it works hard on the hills and side hills.

I am looking for a 46" or 48" deck or 50" max. (Garage space). Should I be looking for a ZT or a lawn tractor ? Would like to cut down on the time I spend, get a better cut and something that can handle hills. I have a few trees but usually trim them with a weed whacker.

I have about $2600 to spend. Don't know about brands or the difference between a tractor or zero turn and what the strengths and weaknesses are of each. I have a JD, Toro dealer in town and can get most of the major brands. Lots of Lowes, HD and husky dealers around.

Can you help me decide?

You can put some anti-scalping wheels on you deck so it won't scrape the ground. this would be a cheap try.

 

[Shughes717]

I have about 1.2 acres of lawn. There are some hills and somewhat steep incline over a mound system and sides of the house (exposed basement). I currently have a cub cadet 1046 with a 46" deck that I got at a Home Depot. It's got about 200 hours on it. I cut once a week sometimes twice and it takes about 1.5 hours each time.

I am looking for something that cuts a little nicer, live in a neighborhood where most people have lawn services so the lawn has to look good or you stand out. I want to be proud of the work so to speak. My cub scrapes the top of the hills down to the dirt and it will fail at some point because it works hard on the hills and side hills.

I am looking for a 46" or 48" deck or 50" max. (Garage space). Should I be looking for a ZT or a lawn tractor ? Would like to cut down on the time I spend, get a better cut and something that can handle hills. I have a few trees but usually trim them with a weed whacker.

I have about $2600 to spend. Don't know about brands or the difference between a tractor or zero turn and what the strengths and weaknesses are of each. I have a JD, Toro dealer in town and can get most of the major brands. Lots of Lowes, HD and husky dealers around.

Can you help me decide?

You aren't going to find a new 48" ztr mower for $2600. I agree with the earlier post about the anti scalping wheels. Anti scalping wheels there are on the mower deck helps prevent the blades from coming into contact with the ground. Sounds like you may be mowing your grass too low also. If you aren't mowing your grasss too low, then you should look for mower that has a deck with anti scalping on the front and back (at least on the front because you mow more forward than in reverse). If the hills are so steep that your lawn tractor is having trouble, then a low end ($3k) ztr mower isn't what you need. If you want something that will give you a higher quality cut, then you will either have to increase your budget to get a new mower with a higher blade tip speed, or buy a used low to mid level commercial mower. If you want to save mowing time and you have steep hills, then a used stand on mower would probably benefit you more than a ztr or lt. The stand on is about as fast as a ztr mower, and can handle hills as well as a lawn tractor.

 

[Ric]

I have about 1.2 acres of lawn. There are some hills and somewhat steep incline over a mound system and sides of the house (exposed basement). I currently have a cub cadet 1046 with a 46" deck that I got at a Home Depot. It's got about 200 hours on it. I cut once a week sometimes twice and it takes about 1.5 hours each time.

I am looking for something that cuts a little nicer, live in a neighborhood where most people have lawn services so the lawn has to look good or you stand out. I want to be proud of the work so to speak. My cub scrapes the top of the hills down to the dirt and it will fail at some point because it works hard on the hills and side hills.

I am looking for a 46" or 48" deck or 50" max. (Garage space). Should I be looking for a ZT or a lawn tractor ? Would like to cut down on the time I spend, get a better cut and something that can handle hills. I have a few trees but usually trim them with a weed whacker.

I have about $2600 to spend. Don't know about brands or the difference between a tractor or zero turn and what the strengths and weaknesses are of each. I have a JD, Toro dealer in town and can get most of the major brands. Lots of Lowes, HD and husky dealers around.

Can you help me decide?

You can get the Hustler Raptor in the price range your talking about, it's $2799 and depending on the size deck you get blade tip speed will range from 16,600 to 18,600. There not the best mower in the world but for the money there hard to beat. Deck sizes range from a 36" to a 52" It's probably the best built mower in that price range. It runs the Kawasaki FR engine and they have the Fab decks.
If your already mowing with the LT 1046 the raptor would improve your productivity a lot and there pretty simple to learn and use. The stander would be faster than a ztr depending on who's using it but if your not really into mowing I wouldn't recommended one because there to much money for a home owner to use 4 times a month. The Toro's start at around 8K new and if your lucky enough to find one used with 7 or 800 hrs your still looking at 4to 6K

 

[LoCo86]

You can get the Hustler Raptor in the price range your talking about, it's $2799 and depending on the size deck you get blade tip speed will range from 16,600 to 18,600. There not the best mower in the world but for the money there hard to beat. Deck sizes range from a 36" to a 52" It's probably the best built mower in that price range. It runs the Kawasaki FR engine and they have the Fab decks. If your already mowing with the LT 1046 the raptor would improve your productivity a lot and there pretty simple to learn and use. The stander would be faster than a ztr depending on who's using it but if your not really into mowing I wouldn't recommended one because there to much money for a home owner to use 4 times a month. The Toro's start at around 8K new and if your lucky enough to find one used with 7 or 800 hrs your still looking at 4to 6K

I've got a toro grandstand 52" deck that has 70 hrs on it that I can't sell for $4,500. So maybe your area places more of a value on them than mine.

 

[Ric]

I've got a toro grandstand 52" deck that has 70 hrs on it that I can't sell for $4,500. So maybe your area places more of a value on them than mine.

If you were close you wouldn't have it long, it would be on my trailer.

 

[Shughes717]

You can get the Hustler Raptor in the price range your talking about, it's $2799 and depending on the size deck you get blade tip speed will range from 16,600 to 18,600. There not the best mower in the world but for the money there hard to beat. Deck sizes range from a 36" to a 52" It's probably the best built mower in that price range. It runs the Kawasaki FR engine and they have the Fab decks.
If your already mowing with the LT 1046 the raptor would improve your productivity a lot and there pretty simple to learn and use. The stander would be faster than a ztr depending on who's using it but if your not really into mowing I wouldn't recommended one because there to much money for a home owner to use 4 times a month. The Toro's start at around 8K new and if your lucky enough to find one used with 7 or 800 hrs your still looking at 4to 6K

The op can get a 42" raptor for that price, but not the 52". He was looking at a 46" and up. I agree that it would be faster than what he has and probably leave a better cut, but it is not good on steep hills at all. If the lawn tractor the op currently has is having trouble with the inclines on his lawn then the raptor won't do well either. Still think a used stand on would be a better option to suit the op's needs.

 

[Ric]

The op can get a 42" raptor for that price, but not the 52". He was looking at a 46" and up. I agree that it would be faster than what he has and probably leave a better cut, but it is not good on steep hills at all. If the lawn tractor the op currently has is having trouble with the inclines on his lawn then the raptor won't do well either. Still think a used stand on would be a better option to suit the op's needs.

I said he could get the raptor in that price range, the 52" is $200 more.

 

[Shughes717]

I said he could get the raptor in that price range, the 52" is $200 more.

Which is $3k and $400 over the budget the op set. As I initially said in my first post. It just doesn't sound as though a low end ztr mower is what the op needs, unless maybe the op wants to take a look at the cub cadet rzt s series. It looks like it could handle the hills better than a regular low end ztr mower. Appears to be designed for hilly terrain. It will also run in the $3k range though.

 

[Ric]

Which is $3k and $400 over the budget the op set. As I initially said in my first post. It just doesn't sound as though a low end ztr mower is what the op needs, unless maybe the op wants to take a look at the cub cadet rzt s series. It looks like it could handle the hills better than a regular low end ztr mower. Appears to be designed for hilly terrain. It will also run in the $3k range though.

To sacrifice The quality of the Raptor SD for a Cub Cadet RZT over $400 would be ridiculous. Besides that I'm sure he could probably go to a Hustler dealer and by the SD for the money he wants to spend because he will get it for less. The dealer will come down on the msrp They always do. He could buy the SD for $2700 OTD.