1/3 acre Mower Suggestions

16 years ago

Hi all. New to the site have a question. At the beginning of last mowing season, I baught a John Deere JS40 walk-behind. I went with the JD because my dad and all of his friends have had their JD riders for years without any problems. This particular machine has a 21" blade and a 6.74HP B&S. This was my first house so I wanted to buy a mower that would last.

After giving it a year and a half, I have to say I really don't care for this particular mower. It seems to leave strips of uncut grass in the wheel path. I have to overlap the next pass by a good 3-4" to ensure that I get everything cut. The rear plastic wheels make a squeeking sound in which JD could not fix (took it in before the warranty was up). Just last week I have noticed that the self-propelled gearing is starting to slip. The self-propelled part is not a huge deal to me, but when you pay $400 for a push mower, I expect it to work.

I work 45+hrs per week and at the beginning of this summer I started graduate school. My lot is a little over 1/3 acre and it takes me (don't laugh) 1hr 15-20min to mow. Since my time is limited, I would rather not spend my days off mowing. I also don't want to pay someone $20 a week to mow it for me.

I have discussed getting a new mower with my wife with concern about cutting my mowing time down. We thought a riding tractor would be ideal because we could get a wider deck to save time and possibly a snow plow to eliminate buying a snow blower. Although it seems to have a couple of benefits, I think it might be a little too hard to manuver around my place and more $$$. A zero-turn sounded more ideal, but I didn't want to spend $2800. I noticed that CubCadet makes a 33" wide walk-behind that is a little pricy but do-able. I also noticed that Craftsman makes a similar, if not the same mower with different paint for $999. My theory about the 33" is that its 1/3 larger than my current mower, so I would be able to cut 1/3 time off of the job.

With you guy's and gal's experience will buying a 33" walk-behind save a significant ammount of time? Which is the better mower, or is there a better one than the two mentioned? Are there any other options out there I am missing?

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

Featured Answer

mattv21

16 years ago

Yes, your logic about saving time with the 33" mower is sound - that is about 57% more mowing width. I'm seriously considering moving to that size in the future for my .43-acre yard, which takes me well over one hour of mowing each week, not including trimming (it's not just a flat rectangle...). I don't think it's unreasonable at all to consider upsizing from a 21" mower for a lot that's larger than 1/3 acre.

That Cub/Craftsman mower (same mower) has a long thread about here, with pretty favorable feedback about it so far. Search for that and you'll get a very good idea of what you get when you buy it. I think a few people here got it on sale for $999 or even $899, at which point it's a pretty good value. Two other 33" mowers that somewhat compete with it are the Sutech Stealth and the Billy Goat finish mower. Like the Craftsman, both of these have mechanical single drive. But instead of two blades they have three, and should theoretically give a better cut. They are also more compact lengthwise because of this. And they are more expensive - somewhere in the $1500-1900 range, I think.

Another possibility would be any of the several 26" mowers, all of which still use a single blade but belt drive from the engine to the blade. Snapper and Toro/Metro have them, and another one I can't remember (MTD or Troy Bilt, maybe?). These might not be a ton cheaper than the Craftsman 33", however.

Another option might be to shop for good used 36" pro walk-behinds, from Toro, Exmark, Ferris, Scag, Gravely, etc. These will be dual-drive models, meaning you use differential drive speeds to turn them. Some are mechanical drive and the really fancy ones are hydraulic drives. I've seen decent _looking_ ones for sale on craigslist and eBay for $1000 or even less, but keep in mind that most have been used heavily by professional crews. If you find one being sold by a residential user who is moving to a smaller house, that's the one to check out. These mowers aren't as compact as any of the others I've dicussed, but they are pretty slick in operation.

Finally, in between the pro dual-drives and the 33" single-drive mowers is the Quick 36. This is a 36", three-blade, single-drive mower but it uses a very stout hydro drive. So it's as compact as the Billy Goat or Sutech but has a more heavy-duty and slick-working drive system. It's a "tweener" as I see it. But it isn't cheap: prices start at around $2300 and go up. A key might be to search for a gently used one. I've recently seen a couple of them in my area.

I hope this is helpful. Basically I've just written down here what I've been thinking about for myself. Maybe next year...

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Comments (8)

buckeyeguy
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks Matt. I appreciate the feedback. This afternoon, I went to my local tractor and mower store and saw the Sutech Stealth. I really liked the wider caster wheels and thought that it was extremely easy to turn. The guy told me that this was a commercial model and the deck was welded. One thing I noticed is that there was no overlap on the 3 serraded blades. Another thing he said that sounded a little off to me was that I should reduce my mowing time to 30-40min (40% of my normal time). He had it in the store marked down to $1299 and said he would sell it for $1200. He also said he would only give me $150 for my JD and that he could only sell it for $100.

Is the only differece between residential and commercial mowers how tuff they build them? I take care of my stuff, so I'm not sure if I can justify spending an extra $200. But, if the commercial is supposed to last longer, the $200 could be money well spent.
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bill_kapaun
16 years ago
"that I should reduce my mowing time to 30-40min (40% of my normal time)"
Maybe a higher ground speed? Can you keep up? :-)

Also keep in mind that most of us overlap about an inch? Therefore our 21" mowers are only mowing 20" (give or take)
ERGO, 32/20 = 60% wider cut with a 33" mower.
mattv21
16 years ago
Let me clarify about the blade overlap. No, the blades' cutting circumferences do not intersect at all. That's a good thing: there is no "timing" of the blades to worry about, and no chance of their hitting each other. But their _cutting swaths_ do overlap, which is why the middle blade is "in formation" ahead of the other two. Check the picture of the deck's underside in the link below and imagine the whole deck moving forward. You'll see the overlap of the blades cutting swaths - not much, but enough to make sure all the grass gets cut. At the 33" size, I'm not sure if there really is a demarcation of "residential" vs "commercial." I don't know enough about the Craftsman, Sutech, or Billy Goat to say. Maybe there is a difference in the frame assembly (welded vs bolted?) or the deck design. I'm not sure. I think overall, what you gain with the extra cash is the advantages conferred by a 3-blade deck. These include a shorter mower, lack of required timing between the blades, and less load on each spindle bearing.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.sutechusa.com/ssd33B13.htm
metal
16 years ago
If you decide to buy it, don't trade your JD in. You can get twice that by selling it in the paper or Craigslist. Or, for that amount you may just want to keep it in case your new mower ever breaks down or you need to bag for some reason.
buckeyeguy
Original Author
16 years ago
Matt, thanks for clearing that up. I was under the assumption that when guys would talk about the overlap they were talking about the blades being timed and literally overlaped. The Quick 36 walk behind that looked nice, but it was $2100. When I started doing a little research on the Sutech, one review I read was the three speeds were slow, too fast and Oh My God!

Afer seing the hydrostatic, I think I might live with the JD for the rest of the mowing season and look into the hydros next spring.

metal, when he told me $150, I thought that I would keep it before I sold it for that price. Made by JD or not, it's still a decent mower.
buckeyeguy
Original Author
16 years ago
mattv21, if you haven't already, check out the Quick 36 web site. Under the FAQs, there is s 'calculator' that will help figure how long it should take you to do a lawn. I would have to imagine at 5mph you would have to have a rider attatchment or a good pair of Nike.

I was kind of impressed by their web site. They show a few pictures of lawns they have cut with their mowers. You don't see many, if any, other manufacturers do that. There is also a video that shows a guy turning corners with it. It's pretty impressive. I have a feeling come next spring I might have a Quick 36 in the garage.

Here is a link that might be useful: Better Outdoor Products:
mattv21
16 years ago
Yeah, I've been to that site for the Quick 36. It's definitely an impressive looking mower. I think the only way to know about the discrete speeds on a Sutech would be to try it. If you read this forum long enough, you realize that what is fast for some is really slow for others. I think (from memory) that the Billy Goat has 5 speeds, so maybe some more choices to get a correct speed. But the hydro drive on the Quick 36 definitely solves that problem. And it's a 3" wider cut to boot. I just don't know if I can swing the cost. I've seen a couple barely used ones come up locally here, but they still want over $2k for them.

1/3 acre Mower Suggestions

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