ZTR Learning Curve

Here is a question for the new or not so new ZTR owners (operators) to admit how quickly (or not) they learned how to operate their machines.

I have a friend (heavy equipment operator by trade) who bought one of these and wound up making his wife run it because every time he tried, all he did was rut/tear up the lawn.

Anyone man enough to admit this too?

Well, it really did not take long to get used to my Scag ZTR. 10 minutes max. But after mowing with it 1+ years all the sudden I'm scuffing up the yard like crazy. I had to slow down a lot to prevent scuffing. After a couple mowings like that I checked the air in the tires. They were way low. Once I added air the scuffing stopped.
So, note to all ZTR owners, proper air pressure in your tires will help prevent scuffing.

It only took me a few minutes as well.
Mine has a joystick who's position is almost identical to where my FEL control is on the tractor so the movement was already a natural act.

For driving, remembering to slow down on corners was the first thing I needed to remember.

When doing a U-turn, assuring both tires were turning (one backward, one forward) was the hardest thing to get used to but that only took a couple minutes. Don't pivot on one tire as it'll rip the grass off.

On a day-to-day basis, the hardest thing is going around certain obstacles.
E.g.
I going sideways across a hill and there's a tree that I need to go around (on the low side).
When the steer the front of the ZTR down the hill to go on the low side, you need to be careful when spinning yourself back uphill after the tree. The inside (tree side) tire will skid or stop of you don't do it exactly right.

It didn't take me too long to get used to it. What's sort of funny to me is watching people operate it for the first time. Haha.

Jamie said:

It didn't take me too long to get used to it. What's sort of funny to me is watching people operate it for the first time. Haha.

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The new neighbor bought the gas version of my zd326, its was a riot watching him this summer. The first time he got it out one of the other neighbors and I were watching him while having a cold one, the guy had both kids on it with him and drove straight out into the yard, i said "ya know hes going to get stuck right about now" and he did. the set both kids off in the mud, had the wife come pull him out and did it again about 30 feet from the first spot. and she drug him through the yard this time. There is a learning curve but as long as you pay attention you get it pretty quick.

Well, getting stuck is another story. I knew how to drive it just fine, but sometimes you forget it's not a 4x4. I have an area that holds water, and I was bound and determined to get that grass mowed (I had skipped it the previous mowing). I got one wheel spinning and thought I could rock it out. Nope. Had to get the ATV to pull it out. I did learn. I've only pulled that stunt once.

Doc said:

Well, getting stuck is another story.

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One of my neighbors bought a scag tiger a couple of years ago. He has some low places that don't drain very well and I've had to pull him out several times.

I told him he should have bought a Kubota

They do have a more aggressive tread that you can put on your ZTR, I've seen them on some of the landscapers trailers. But then you will also tear up your turf more. You find out real quick that turf tires don't do so well in wet or muddy terrain, even independent 2wd types. But I found they can dig a 6 to 8 inch hole and make a muddy mess.

spring around here is very wet, i was stuck countless times until i took the rear tire psi down to around 12, that seemed to give me a better foot print on the yards, smoother ride, and did help alot with getting stuck. 1 thing i always did was watch the ffront tire when it came up wet i would stop mowing in that area because i knew what was about to happen. A lawn tractor does alot better in the wet i asume because of the weight distrubution but when its not wet a ztr will smoke a lawn tractor . At 1800 lbs my ztr is not just alot of fun to pull out of the yard, usually involved my b3030 dragging it out.
have fun all mowing season is getting closser every day

I had to lower the air pressure a bit on mine. It took 2 or 3 mows to get "good". I still tear up the lawn every so often when I'm in a hurry. I have to slow down if I want a "good" cut. Most of the time I just want a fast cut. My lawn recovers quickly from the tears. Growing is not something that my lawn has problems doing.