For that kind of money you ZTR should have suspension seat or suspension at the wheels or both to cushion your ride. 6K plus commerical machines will take it and some will mow 10 mph or more and do it all day long. For that kind of money I would test drive them to see if that's what you want. We can recomend all we want but it you that's got to be satisfied and dropping the dime.

Go to your local tool rental joint and try one out.

A friend loaned me his zero turn for a day and I found that I prefer a tractor for a rough, wooded lot.

Hey! I've got to say you're looking at a very good z-rider being a Bad Boy Pup! I got a Pup 52 inch with a 30 hp Kohler last June. I mow 5 acres of rough pasture land with trees, slopes, pot holes, with Bahia Grass. The Pup does the job. Grass along a septic drain field is a different story. Wet grass that grow as fast as the sun shines is just going to be hard for anything to mow it. I know because I've mowed my neighbors field line a few times. The ground is soft. The grass is full of moisture that sticks and clogs the deck. And grows right back in 3 days. No body has an answer for that. But for dry grounds, the Pup does a great job. What use to take me 8 to 12 hours. I've got the mow down to 3 hours. And that's not wide open. I've got pictures if you really want to see them.

I'm High On Bad Boy! One Tough Mower!

ms

I been using Dixie chopper to cut what you cutting 60 inch deck 28 hp efi engine. batterys belts blades and tire patches all problems I had. Taking real easy I cut 3 acres every hour it will cut 7.1 acres hour but spinning around speed at 65 years old to fast I always want mower to fast for my liking. It cut wide open clean cut anything under 2 foot tall thats because 60 inch deck 3 foot tall it leave some stems but not all. There other mowers that do about same but give me Dixie Chopper anyday for cutting in south drive system dixie different than all others. Spindles are different on dixie chopper. discharge bigger on dixie chopper so what cut gets out faster. Tires on dixie chopper different they take mud better than other mowers I bog about 6 inches and keep going.

Scag Freedom Z-$5000.

Thanks for the replies. I've talked to several dealers on the phone and gotten some pricing and suggestions on which models will meet my needs, now I need to go test a few of them out. So far, I'm considering Bad Boy, Hustler, and want to check on the Scag and Dixie Cutter. All dealers are about 25 miles away, so I'll do that Friday or Saturday.

Would have considered Ferris because of the suspension, but the nearest dealer is about 75 miles away.

Smart! Look at them all. That's what I did. I'm not a big fan of trans axle drives on a ztr. They do ok, but no where near as strong as separate hydro pumps and wheel motors with a 5 gallon oil tank. The pumps and motors stay cooler, and have more power. Then too it's a lot cheaper to change out 1 pump, or 1 motor. Out of the 4 you listed, I would love to have a Dixie Chopper. But I'm happy with the Bad Boy Pup because of the toughness, the good relationship with the Bad Boy Co., they're a phone call away with help and parts, that brings me to the ease of maintenance and repair. I can get to and touch every part on my Bad Boy. I can call and have a part at my door the next morning. I know this because it's already happened. Nothing big. Just a rubber discharge deflector, that Bad Boy just gave a me a new one, and an hour meter that a few digits stopped working. Bad Boy sent me another one on them. Oh! I could go to the dealer. But I for one don't want to be dealer dependent. I'd rather do my own repairs if and when they do come about. Bad Boy Tech Support is top notch. Give them a call and ask any questions you can think of. They'll give you and answer. And that was before I even bought my Pup.

Heck you got me wanting to go mow.

See Ya!

MS

When I bought mine in 99' it was $7000, I was going to trade in and go bigger with a grass and leaf handling system, but the up grade price was too great.

My first question to you is why do you put up with the rough terrain, 3-4 hours on a rented Small Utility tractor with a tiller on it would do away with all your rough places and get rid of the worst nasty weeds. Then re seed.

Then get your ZTR and pull a roller as you mow and you will have a nice smooth cutting surface in no time.

I would recommend that you have every one that you are interested in brought out and use it on your property. They are trying to sell you a quality piece of equipment. You should not make that decision driving one around the show room parking lot.

I had 20 different mowers brought out before I decided on mine. It will mow hills, it will mow rough, it pulls things well, and it has all sorts of attachments for it.

Tom...

Here is a link that might be useful: Here is mine.

I've never seen even before. But they look slick as all get out. I've watched youtube videos about Walkers. Like I said, SLICK LOOKING!

Tom - I have a Kubota tractor and implements, and have done a lot of brush clearing and leveling. It's not perfect, and there's still areas I haven't got to yet, but it looks a whole lot better than it did when we bought the property. Hogs and armadillos also tend to mess things up, so it's an ongoing process.

I also seeded the front pasture with bermuda year before last, but the rain turned off right after I got it out. The areas that did take were pretty much killed off with last summer's drought. This spring we've had decent amounts of rain, but the grass isn't there to take advantage of it.

As far as the dealers bringing out a demo, that apparently doesn't happen around here. If you're lucky, they may have a demo machine at their store you can mow with, otherwise you get to drive it around the parking lot. An alternative is to contact their previous buyers in your area to see if you can demo their machine, which I'll probably end up doing. I really want a good hands-on feel for a machine before I lay out what is a substantial amount of cash for us!

I've heard of Walker's and seen them mentioned in forums, but have never seen one around here. I don't think there are any dealers around here either.

MS - I've got the Dixie Chopper on my list, but as of now it's lower down due to my lack of knowledge of the engines offered on the ones at my price point. I'm not familiar with Generac at all, and the Briggs Pro series is also a new one to me. I'm still doing the research trying to get as much information as I can before I make a decision.

I found a BB Pup 48" w/30 hp Kohler for $6200, which seems pretty decent. I've got mixed feelings on the Kohler Command as I have a 15 hp on my sawmill which has been great, and a 27 hp twin in the Craftsman, which I have had some issues with. I will admit though, after doing a thorough tuneup last week, I think it ran better than it did when it was new, and seemed to get better fuel economy. Any issues with your Kohler?

I still have to do the test drives, so it will be a while before I actually buy. Thanks again for your input.

Andy

~~~ My first question to you is why do you put up with the rough terrain, 3-4 hours on a rented Small Utility tractor with a tiller on it would do away with all your rough places and get rid of the worst nasty weeds. Then re seed. ~~~

This sounds easy but on a lot full of mature trees, isn't. It depends on what you value. I like living in the woods but the trade off is a rougher lot to mow. Put some grade on it and its pretty tuff to be picture perfect ever.

First of all, any tilling inside of the drip line of a tree, risks damage to the feeder roots, as does bringing in very much new soil or any compacting. You can bring in some new soil for spot treatments of the worst areas with very little risk but any seeding needs to be done early in the year only, due to light restrictions once leafout occurs, which happens to coincide here, with fairly severe rain and late freeze risk.

It can be done in pieces but doing the whole thing in one shot will kill some trees and with a rainy spring, could wash a bunch of money and soil to the streams. Stapling down the straw mats when working on much of a slope is money well spent IMO.

My 30hp Kohler is doing pretty good so far. It's only got 35 hours on it until tomorrow. I did a lot of research between the 30 hp Kohler & the 31 hp KAWASAKI. The 31 hp KAWASAKI is impressive. It was my first choice. It's a big block engine, where the 30 hp Kohler is a small block engine. But to get into the KAWASAKI it was going to cost me $1,000 more. My wife being a grand daughter of a master mechanic got involved. She did research. She called small engine shops asking their mechanic questions and advice. Well with a lack of local engine support for KAWASAKI the Kohler was in. It's been a fine engine. When it was very new it smoked just a little at first start up. But that went away at about 25 hours or so. It seems to be running stronger on every mowing session. In my research I have found that the 30 hp Kohler had a few problems when it first came out. But that was fixed after the first running year. There are a bunch of Kohlers running after 2,000 hours or more. There's a lot of Kohlers running with 3,000 to 5,000 hours. I changed the oil at 5 hours. I'm ready to give the Kohler another oil and filter change at the 50 hour mark. Then every 50 hours after that. I'm more than happy with the Kohler. I pray I'm one of the jockeys that gets 5,000 hours out of mine. Would I buy another Kohler? You Bet Ya! More than likely one with EFI rather than a carburetor. But Bad Boy dosen't offer a EFI Kohler engine.

Good Luck!

MS