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Riding mower deck size

Discussion in 'General' started by pefrey, Jul 12, 2019.

  1. ducnut

    ducnut Well-Known Member

    Local lawn guy has two of the 11’ models. He can sure cover the ground, when they’re running. :D
     
  2. R Acree

    R Acree Banned

    Size does matter.
     
    ducnut likes this.
  3. Dan Dubeau

    Dan Dubeau Well-Known Member

    The "internet" says the older models that are in my price range (328d ~$3-6k) are pretty bullet proof. I hope the "internet" is right. I'm pretty hard on mowers, and the swisher is starting to complain.... The Toro's seems a lot more robust in the areas that matter, and the 30hp Mitsubishi diesels seem to have a pretty good reputation for longevity. We'll see. I've looked at 1 already but it was a bit too beat up for even my standards, and am trying to tee up another one this weekend but the guy doesn't seem to want to sell it for some reason......

    A front deck rear steer is the right mower for my property (3+acres mowable currently). It's hilly, and wet in places, and a zero turn just isn't the right tool for the job. It's taken me 9 years and 4 mowers to come to that conclusion lol.
     
  4. ducnut

    ducnut Well-Known Member

    It’s hard to find any Groundsmaster in decent shape, because of the theater they operate in. For sure, Toro have perfected that lineup of mowers. Just be aware of their weight, in diesel configuration. And, yes, they’re good for hilly terrain. You may look at an Altoz TRX, as well. There isn’t a hill or swamp they can’t manage, I don’t believe. But, you’re not going to find one in your price range. However, you can snag 0% interest, at certain times of the year. They’re an amazingly well-built mower.

    Look through the TRX videos here:
    https://m.facebook.com/MaconRentalCo/
     
  5. Rebel635

    Rebel635 Well-Known Member

    This. A bigger deck won’t deal as well with dips and curves. A 42” will serve your 1 acre fine. I have a 52” ariens zero turn and do scallop curves of hills n shit.

     
  6. ducnut

    ducnut Well-Known Member

    You shouldn’t be scalping with that width, depending on your cut height.

    I’ve not scalped with my 60”, but, I have a rear anti-scalp roller and don’t mow shorter than 3-3/4”. Also, I always keep my foot on the deck pedal and float the deck over areas where I think I may get close.
     
  7. acorn27

    acorn27 4 out of 3 people in the world struggle with math

    I have one acre to mow and use a 46" Simplicity Broadmoor. My lot is pretty flat, any hills are very gradual so no risk of scalping anywhere. The nice thing about the Simplicity deck is you get the cool striping effect from the rollers (if that's your thing)
     
  8. G 97

    G 97 Garth

    One other advantage with a wider deck size is the ability to cut closer to any given object resulting in less trimming.
     
  9. Metalhead

    Metalhead Dong pilot

    Get the big one.
     
  10. ducnut

    ducnut Well-Known Member

    Your idea of a mower doesn’t count. :crackup:

    D6C4C5BF-1A2D-414C-9BAE-E46689867BA1.jpeg
     
    TurboBlew, G 97 and Banditracer like this.
  11. speedluvn

    speedluvn Man card Issuer

    You still referring to mowers? :Poke:
     
  12. Riders Discount

    Riders Discount 866-931-6644 ext 817

    I've used a 60" deck on my last 3 mowers. I had a Kubota sub-compact (BX2660) for 4 years that I mowed 2.5 acres with and it took just over 2 hours. I moved up to a Kubota B series and picked up an Exmark zero turn for doing the lawn. The same width deck, but because of the speed at which you can mow I cut my time on the mower by half.

    Here is a good chart that shows the relation in deck size and speed to acres per hour.

    https://www.exmark.com/Exmark-Advantage/Mower-Productivity-Chart
     
  13. Banditracer

    Banditracer Dogs - because people suck

    You can mow an acre a minute with that rig. Watched it on Youtube.
     
  14. R Acree

    R Acree Banned

    ducnut likes this.
  15. pefrey

    pefrey Well-Known Member

    So quick question, why is a Zero Turn faster than a tractor? I'm leaning towards a tractor but will not rule out a zero turn if it really is a big difference.
     
  16. Banditracer

    Banditracer Dogs - because people suck

    You don't waste as much time turning, it makes a big difference.
     
  17. ChemGuy

    ChemGuy Harden The F%@# Up!

    Trimming...pfft. Liquid trimmer FTW...
    If i cant get it with the rider it stays or gets glyphosate.

    [​IMG]
     
  18. ducnut

    ducnut Well-Known Member

    If all you’re going to do is mow, a ZTR is the only way. If you only have an occasional need for tractor, rent or borrow one. There’s no way I’d give up time every mow, with buying a tractor.

    As mentioned, time savings turning around is huge. Also, you can run a ZTR all the way to the end of a run (one deck width from the end), 3-point turn, and head straight back in a matter of seconds. Likewise, a ZTR can be ran up into corners, back up, and shoot off another direction (think Battle Bots). There are a lot of little timesaving tricks, an experienced operator can show you. Something as simple as how one sets up their mowing pattern can pay substantial time dividends.

    Deck size isn’t everything. Chassis and tire size are crucial to efficiency, as well. A 600lb homeowner mower on 18” tires is going to ride rougher, have less rear wheel traction, less rear wheel leverage over the length of the mower (wider track-to-length ratio gives more leverage), and a few other things. A commercial mower is going to be 1300lbs, ride on 24” or 26” tires, have a nicer seat, and so forth. They ride so much nicer, which allows for higher average ground speeds.

    Homeowner mowers have deck depths of 4” to 4-1/2”, whereas commercial decks are going to be 5” and up. The reason this is important is for deck vacuum, material processing ability, and baffle adjustability. A homeowner deck isn’t tall enough to allow high-lift blades and really high volumes of air, to pull the grass up and cut it off. A commercial deck will leave a nicer finish. No homeowner deck is going to be able to process 60” of grass clippings, with any speed. There’s simply not enough deck volume and outlet to flow it. Commercial decks being taller allow for adjustable baffles underneath, to change airflow characteristics. That can be advantageous, depending on type of grass one primarily cuts.

    Lastly, above ~9mph, no mower cuts great. The federal government limits tip speed to 19K feet/minute. That means nobody’s deck is cutting any faster than anyone else’s. What they can do is process differently (better suction, finish, wet grass capability, etc) and/or faster (clearing out clippings). Anybody that says they mow full-stick is just knocking over the grass, which leaves stragglers and inconsistent finish, and outright does shitty work. And, the company that claims “the world’s fastest mowers” is just talking shit. In fact, their mowers leave one of the worst finishes in the industry and are one of the biggest POS in the industry.
     
    Riders Discount likes this.
  19. SuddenBraking

    SuddenBraking The Iron Price

    Any links or anything you could shed light on this with? I generally consider myself fairly adept at problem solving but in the 6.5 years I've lived at my house I've never put time into optimizing my cutting route/pattern and find myself tweaking it weekly (I have two general routes which run perpendicular to each other).

    BTW, thanks again for the recommendation on whatever mower jack I bought (the obnoxious yellow one) - got a flat tire the other day and what would've been a PITA previously was a two minute fix because of that jack.
     
    ducnut likes this.
  20. Dan Dubeau

    Dan Dubeau Well-Known Member

    That altoz is quite a rig. Not sure I'd need to go that extreme. But it sure is cool. I have 0% interest in making payments on a mower though. I'd rather have a tracked skid steer with a hydraulic quick attach mower althouh tracks would be overkill for my place.

    I was pretty close to pulling the trigger on a JD zero turn after my neighbor bought a big commercial JD a couple years ago. He brought it over here to show me how great is was, and promptly got stuck in a mildly soft area lol. He gets stuck at his place all the time too, and it's what soured me on the whole ZTR for my needs. They cut great and are FAST, but only good for about 3/4 of the area I cut. I think a front deck will be what I need. I've looked into older JD, and ford/NH units too, but the Toro's seem to be more plentiful. At least around here.

    Had to laugh about your mowing pattern suggestion though. Being a machinist/cnc programmer "toolpath" optimization is something that's always on my mind when cutting lol.
     
    GRH and ducnut like this.

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