Everride Warrior, Kubota 121S, Ferris, or CC ZForce

jmak said:

I have about 1.5 acres I'm mowing with sloped areas and some wet areas. I have looked at and driven the following models:

2009 Everride Warrior 60" $4000 Neighbor's commercial grade home mower with 600 hrs KW 25hp
Kubota Z121S48 $5400 KH 21 720 ZT3100
Ferris IS600Z48 $5748 BS Comm 25hp ZT3400
Ferris IS700Z52 $6503 BS Comm 27hp ZT3400
2015 CC Z Force SZ60 $5130 KW 24hp ZT2800
2015 CC Z Force Comm SZ60 $5939 KH 23.5hp ZT3100
2016 CC Z Force SX54 $6100 KW 24hp ZT3100

The Everride is discontinued and my local dealer carries CC, Ferris, and Kubota. My neighbor easily navigated up and across my slopes with the Everride but I have very limited experience with lab bar drive and am nervous on the slopes. I think I will eventually get comfortable with more experience. I don't have any issues using it on flat ground.



I like the heavy duty build and price of the Everride but am concerned about getting parts for it. I like the suspension on the Ferris and like the larger tires on the 700. The Kubota was rough riding and has odd size rear tires. I may want to switch from turf tires to the Carlile AT101s and would have to buy new wheels for the Kubota. I am also looking at the steering wheel CCs. I am more familiar with the controls on these and you can steer them if you start sliding down slopes.

I am looking for opinions on which of these will work best for my lawn and which one is the best overall deal? I think I have it narrowed it down to the Everride, Ferris IS700Z52, or the 2016 CC SX54 but am open to suggestions.

Thanks a lot,
jmak

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Shughes717 said:

The Ferris IS600 and IS700 have the same size tires. They also have the same size hydros, and the engine options are the same. Why do you feel the need to look at spending an extra $800 for a 60" deck for 1.5 acres? I mow over 4 acres with a 48" commercial mower and still get the job done in a little over 2 hours. Even if you took your time, you could mow your lawn in about an hour with a 48" commercial ztr mower. All of the mowers you mentioned are very well made, and could easily handle your job. If those are the only options you are looking at, then I think the Ferris IS600v would be a good choice.

However, if your lawn stays fairly damp, then I would suggest looking into a mower with 12" wide rear tires. I am very happy with my mower, but if there was one thing I would change on it, it would be changing the rear tires to 23x12 (currently have 22x10). What is frustrating about that is that snapper pro did put 23x12 tires on their 2013 s150xt models and newer (mine is a 2012 model). The reason I mention this is, because the mowers you have mentioned are commercial mowers. They are heavy. The ferris mowers, for instance, weigh around 1100 lbs. They will leave slight ruts on soil that is a little damp. The benefit to the mowers being heavier is the weight plus the commercial hydros help them stay on slopes better than lighter residential ztr mowers.

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jmak said:

Thanks for the reply Shughes717. The models that I listed are what my dealer has in stock and is willing to negotiate price. I could easily get by with a 48" deck.The Ferris 600 and the Kubota both have the 11 x 4 inch front tires instead of the 13 x 6 or 13 x 6.5 tires on the other models and my concern is that they could sink in the wet turf easier. I drove both of the Ferris and the 700 rode a lot smoother than the 600. I don't know if that's due to the better seat or if the suspension works better on the 700. The 1200lb EverRide has 24 x 12 tires and only left minimal ruts in my lawn. It did a decent job on the slopes but struggled a little when going up the hill with the mower engaged.

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