Zero Turn vs Garden Tractor

[mcleargrounds]

Hello. I am looking at purchasing my first mower. I have limited funds and see that I can get a garden tractor for much cheaper - however, I hear that the benefits of a zero turn are much grater.. Any advice?

[bjccrew]

Lawn care business tips

zero turn hands down. We started off with a Toro residential 50in. Never any issues what so ever. Had it for 4 years and used it on about 15 of our customers weekly. I have used a garden tractor and they are not easy to maneuver. It takes twice as long with a garden tractor. Look on craigslist and find good deals or go to home depot or lowes and spend $3000 for a 50in. My 2 cents. Lata

[mcleargrounds]

Thank you, I was looking at the Toro Timesaver SS at Home Depot 50' for 2999. I think that is what I will go with.

[picframer]

If you only want to mow, then a ZTR will be the cheapest route, you will find residential tractor mowers for your budget however you won't find a garden tractor in that range.

I have run GT's and ZTR's in the business, I opted for the John Deere X749's as they will mow and turn almost as tight as a ZTR and go places a ZTR will not think of as they are all wheel drive and all wheel steer. Mowing is a small percentage of what we do, I opted almost two years ago to focus services on consumer demand that offered the greatest return on my investment.

[mcleargrounds]

Well I am looking at providing a variety of services. Dethatching / Mulch / Areation etc... Can a ZTR do that type of work?

[Steve]

You can get a dethatcher and aerator unit for your ztr.

[wandfsmall]

Originally Posted by Steve

You can get a dethatcher and aerator unit for your ztr.

I would not hook any of that up to a timesaver, it will likely bend the frame. Those are residential units not designed for that kind of weight on the front. You might get by with a Badboy MZ or a Hustler sport for a while though.

[picframer]

For Aeration we use Natres Lawn Care (Aerify) it's a spray that works very, very well, it is a solution to clay and compacted soils whereas I see core aeration as a patch.

For dethatch I also have a spray to brake down dead grass or sometimes we we use the Agrifab smart sweet which works great for this.

As for using the ZTR for other functions, many will. I had the John Deere 997's however they were only used for mowing. We use garden tractors for just about everything in the book, tilling, pulling large wood chippers to locations on the clients property, spraying using the 3pt hitch, in landscaping they will pull a box blade, rear blade and 6 foot landscape rake, rollers etc.

[JMADEWELL09]

well for me I like the garden tractors, we can tow a trailer with them and have assories and all our clients likes there lawns baged. I used to own a old ramoes zero turn it looked like the walker mower, the engie through a rod so i went to a garden tractor. The advantage for me using garden tractors i can get them at sears which a store is about 30 mins from my house. Sears also sells a nice zero turn which i like. but i live in the desert and and most people dont have much grass i do have a few customers that have 1-2 acres but for me buying a zero trun for 3-5 thousand dosent make sence cause mowing the ten yards that require a big mower i wouldnt break even till like 5-7 years. But if i spend 1,500 and used it to haul stuff and use the spreader and other attachments then i can make a profit with it.

[Steve]

I would not hook any of that up to a timesaver, it will likely bend the frame. Those are residential units not designed for that kind of weight on the front. You might get by with a Badboy MZ or a Hustler sport for a while though.

Would it be better to not go with any front mounted devices like that? Is it better to pull them behind a mower or just not use them with a ztr at all?