Zero-Turn or Traditional Mower for small but 'complicated' yard

16 years ago

I am looking to buy my first riding lawn mower. My current push mower is heavy (self propelled with a broken transmission so I just push it) and slow to cut with. My yard is just a bit too big to want to mow this way so I end up not doing it as often as I should.

My yard is about 3/4 of an acre so its not terribly big, but it is not a big flat expanse of grass. I have a number of trees, and a couple of somewhat steep grades to contend with, so there are not a lot of large areas where I can just cut on through without turning.

I am debating if its better to go with a cheaper riding tractor like the Craftsman YT 4000 (42" 24 hp B&S 2-cyl) for $1600, or if I would find it easier to mow with something like the Craftsman 28986 (42" 21 hp B&S 1-cyl), which is a zero-turn radius mower.

I do not have any special love for craftsman, it just seems that they have some decent deals (quality vs. price) on their tractors. If I am off track here feel free to let me know.

One concern I have is the fact that the more expensive Z-turn mower is only a one-cylinder engine. I have been reading up on mowers for a couple days now (by no means an expert obviously) and heard a lot of people saying these are noisier and cause more vibrations. This seems obvious, but my question is how bad is it really? Should I be concerned about this? Will it overly affect engine life?

I really do not want to go much above $2500 at this time for a lawn mower, but could go a BIT higher if there were a good reason to. I seem to wind up on this forum a lot in my internet travels, so I was hoping someone out there would have some good advice for me. Thanks!

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Comments (7)

buzzard_flats
16 years ago
Don't know your situation but I just bought a 20HP Ariens from Home Depot, using the $250 "bath" cupon code, had to add a cart to the deal to get the coupon, but with free shipping to my door (cross country in 7-8 days) an almost free cart and the fact that the Sears and Ariens are all made by Husqvarna in the same factory, it seems like a good deal.

A zero turn will get almost into corners but for the price of the yard tractor???

Down side is that Home Depot has very little customer support for this, upside the Agri-fab brand front tractor scoop from sears (and Husqvarna) bolted right up and from calling a Husqvarna dealer who measured the rims on the rear it seems Husqvarna wheel weights are a direct bolt on option.

With free shipping, at under $1400 bucks, I just don't know.

I used to be a Craftsman fan BUT the quality and customer service today stinks, mostly the customer service which we used to depend on, all thing being equal I would not buy from Sears again, I only bought the scoop as it was on sale and over $100 less than the local Husqvarna dealer wanted for it.

$1000 more for zero turn (trust me you will still need to trim with a mower or string trimmer) or a std lawn tractor is all up to you.
krnuttle
16 years ago
You may wish to consider what other jobs you will find for your "mower". I have a half acre with flower beds, trees, driveway, buildings, etc. While the zero turn may do a better job mowing in the difficult areas, there are other things that you can do with a lawn tractor. The biggest is hauling stuff in the trailer. With 3/4 of an acre I am sure you have stuff to haul.

My trees drop a lot of branches. This spring I hooked the trailer to the tractor, and went around picking up and cutting up the small limbs that had fallen during the winter. Each spring and fall there are at least two loads of deck tools to move to and from the deck. I have used my tractor and trailer to move dirt, move materials to and from the pond, move paver stones from the Van to the place where I was putting in a path through he flower bed. With all of those limbs, I must rent a chipper, and it produces a lot of wood chips that have to be spread around the yard.
Move tools to where I was trimming trees and bushes.

As I said there are a lot of other uses for a lawn tractor, in addition to mowing the yard.
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dynamike59
16 years ago
Buzzard_Flats
I'am sorta confused, when you mention "scoop" in your numerous post about new Ariens do you mean "front blade".
Scoop to me means Johnny Bucket and Johnny Bucket doesn't make a front bucket for your small LT.
buzzard_flats
16 years ago
Scoop as in sears 486.248474 'front tractor scoop' also sold by Husqvarna but made by Agri-Fab. Not quite a JB and I am not expecting to do waht a JB would do but it does a great job moving loose soil or gravel around. I may even get more lazy and get a 12V actuator from Surplus Center in NB and power the lift function. I may drill the front scraper edge and add a wear edge if I start using it a lot, and that would also allow attaching some teeth which would help a lot in compacted dirt.

So I guess the short answer is 'scoop' not really ground engaging as would be a front plow blade where your pushing a load of dirt/snow in front but more of a lift and carry thing with a dump function.
moerrr
16 years ago
Look at used commercial ZTR mowers in your area. You may find a good one under $2500. You won't be sorry.
dynamike59
16 years ago
Thanks Buzz
I did alot of digging at Sears before I found the item # yesterday.
Did not know that Sears sold a scoop.
Looked at some reviews and the owners were really complaining about how hard it was to assemble and the mods they had to do to get it to work right.
Be gentle with your new bucket , you don't have a big GT behind it so your Ariens is going to get some abuse.
buzzard_flats
16 years ago
Mike,

Yes I am not going to do like some of the reviews said and run top speed into a pile of compacted soil. I also noticed the complaint of the dump pin bracket shifting, they could have included a few star washers to lock it up rather than flat washers. I think once it's in position I'll perhaps drill & tap for a couple 1/4-20 bolts to fix it in place.

The assembly would not be bad if they didn't keep turning the view around or at least put and arrow saying front in each picture. Some or most the spring clips included were way too big and just fall all the way through the pins. So I went to the hardware and bought the right size clips, a few cotterpins and fixed that. Like most assembly manuals this seems written by a tech writer who asked a few questions, wrote it up and never had a test subject work through it.