Hopefully picking up a Zero Turn Saturday

Interesting. Those front wheels are each independent so I would not have called that gray bar an axle .... do you notice a difference if you switch from rigid to moveable? Makes it sounds like independent suspension (which I would assume you already had)

The movable axle makes it a little easier on you with somewhat bumpy ground.

OhioTC18 said:

The movable axle makes it a little easier on you with somewhat bumpy ground.

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So why would you ever want rigid axle?

Doc said:

So why would you ever want rigid axle?

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Wheelies of course!

Doc said:

So why would you ever want rigid axle?

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Don't really know.

Now, I finally have some time to give my opinion of operating this zero turn.

It starts very easily but has glow plugs for chilly days. The lift for the deck is hydraulic. It seems very harsh operating. There are 2 foot pedals up and down. When you raise or lower it, it is very quick and seems to slam down or up. The deck is adjusted with a twist control on the right side. It adjusts from 1"-5" in 1/4" increments. I had Gator Blades installed and they worked very well. Except for one issue. It seems that some Gators may be a tad longer than the OEM blades. That was what I ran into. The blades occasionally either hit each other or hit the baffles. The dealer didn't get a chance to try it out after they put the blades on. Nothing a little 4" grinder didn't take care of. I have no idea how the OEM blades work, they are still laying in the floor of the truck. The deck is very stout. It is a 6 1/2" deep fabricated deck versus a stamped deck. The blades are spinning at 18,100 FPM. The deck is shaft powered.

The speed control levers are easy to operate for this ZTR newbie. Yes I did put a few divots in the yard. You'll notice I said yard and not lawn, so it didn't matter too much to me. It got easier to control with just a few minutes of operation. The seat is pretty comfy. It has a suspension adjustment on it and made a lot of difference when I turned it to a softer ride. The arm rests adjust somewhat, titling up or down. It has a lumbar adjustment on it as well. The seat back tilts too, I think. Oh Yeah..............it has a cup holder too!!! My insulated coffee mug fit in very well.

Now on to the cutting. It had rained here for 2 days before I tried to mow. My front yard stays very wet after a rain. I tried a couple of strips and I could see mud being left behind, so I moved to the rear yard. The cut was great, not may clippings left visible except for way out back. It had been knocked down a few times this year with the tractor so it was pretty high and thick. I'd say it was probably 10-12". I still had the deck at about 3 1/2" and realized it was a lot of work on the deck and motor. When I raised it to 4 1/2" it cut and ran smooth. The Mid mower on the tractor would never have cut it. The RFM would have done it if I went very slow. But this mower plowed right through it. Not at full speed, but you can't go all out back anyway there because of the rough terrain. With the suspension seat I was comfortable, unlike on the tractor.

I measured my outbuilding several times when I first started looking to make sure the Kubota would fit in there with my New Holland along with my other toys. Something had to sit outside. That would be the 17 yr old Craftsman rider, until I get rid of it. I won't need that anymore.

Overall, I love it. On a scale of 1-10 I'd give it a 9.8. There's always room for improvement on any machine.

Damn, I forgot the neatest thing about it, the maintenance lift on the front. When the blades needed some fine tuning I got the chance to try it. You open the front cover Doc asked about before. There are two pins in there that can be used to make the front axle rigid. But they are also used to lift the front end for access to the deck. Make sure the pins are not being used to make it a rigid axle first. Remove one pin and use it to lock the right front wheel. Unhook the lift crank and swivel it back and start cranking. Magically the front starts to raise while the right front wheel rolls towards the center. When it's up all the way, put the second pin in it's holes to keep the front end from coming down. I had plenty of room to get under there and work on the blades. The manual says to lock both front wheels but the mechanic mentioned to me that he only locks the right one and uses the second pin to keep it from somehow coming back down.

Glad to hear you like it Jerry. Kewl that it would plow through the tall stuff.

Sweet! Nice write-up as well.

Some things to consider giving a try.
Once you get used to the noises, you'll start to notice when the deck is clogging. It's also evident (when not using gator blades) when you see little to no grass shooting out. When this happens, I pull off to the side a bit then kill the mower deck and lower the engine RPMs fully at the same time (basically, an immediate shut-down). When doing this, all that grass that's being pushed upwards by the mower blade pitch comes crashing down and clears the deck. Pull forward out of the mess and restart the mower deck. It's nice and clear again.

To avoid the deck from caking or clogging, clean thoroughly then hit with a coat of Fluid Film. Grass just doesn't seem to stick to that stuff.

Oh, got a ditch or puddle you can drive in? To clean your deck, pull into an area that has a couple inches of water, turn on your mower deck (full RPM) then lower the deck slowly towards the water until a nice, wet green spray comes shooting out. The engine will bog down a bit when you're doing it right. Let it run there until the spray shooting out is clear. Your deck is now clean. Let drip dry then put away.

I've heard that getting water on a spindle that's hot is not a good thing. Any truth?

That's the same method I use to unclog the pathetic deck on the New Holland MMM

I don't believe my spindles get hot enough to make a difference. I don't reach in there much but don't think they get above "warm".

I've never had a problem.

Not sure how I missed this thread. Congrats Jerry, I am so jealous of you right now. There for awhile I was worried that you got rid of the New Holland. BTW, I'm still using my original New Holland battery. I'm now at 9 years old.

Jim, I had to replace my battery late last year. I think we got our tractors about the same time.

OhioTC18 said:

Jim, I had to replace my battery late last year. I think we got our tractors about the same time.

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Me to. I had to replace the battery in my ZTR last October. It died while I was mowing. I hauled it all the way to the dealer and was pleasantly surprised to find out it was just the battery. I bought the Scag in the spring of 05, so my battery did not last as long as yous guys. Did either of you trickle charge your battery during the off season?

Never charged it at all Doc. Had to jump it a time or two with a portable jump starter though

I've never charged it. Had to jump it once when Addyson was out "mowing" with it and left the key on, but that has been it. I figure at this point the battery is "done" and I'm getting a bonus right now.