My New "cheese" Inspired Ztr

[psparaco]

OK I moved the post to a new thread since the original thread was irrevelent. Orginally I was asked to look at a craftsman 50 inch ztr but after dealing with a craftsman 30 inch tractor for 8 years off and on. I seriously do not want to deal with that company no more. After 4-5 yrs they discontinue their products. Finding parts for the thing was a challenge. The reason i upgraded was the tractor blew a piston rod last thursday and yet I had a 3/4 full of oil in the crankcase. tractor was a 2003, 13.5 HP briggs and stratton engine, no oil filter, fuel filter, 1.1 gallon gas tank, top speed of 3.5-4 mph. When my fiance can push a push mower faster than the tractor. ITS SLOWWWWW. the only advantage is it cut 30 inches wide. I chose the model cheese selected based on that inspiring video he made and lucked out finding it accidently. Originally Posted by CHEESE2009 I am so excited to see it!!! You will have a lot of fun with it, it's a great machine! If you want to use the side discharge, lift the chute up as high as possible using a bungee cord... Tie the chute to the bottom notch of the height adjustment system so that it is lifted. If you leave the chute as is, it can leave a mess (grass trail). If you do it my way, the grass spreads evenly and doesn't leave clumps or trails of grass. It gives a lawn a very clean look. *** Always raise the deck to the highest height when going up the trailer ramp*** My only concern with rigging the chute up with a bungee is if I hit any object that isnt leaves or grass will become a high velocity (speed) projectile and with the chute up allows it to take out someone's car or house window or better yet their face. Maybe I only use it up when it isnt facing the street or a house or any bystanders within 500 feet. I can't wait til I get to use it. It has been raining since sunday this week. I swear I hate rain when its this much. This may be my first week where people's lawns need it and I can't cut due to a monsoon of rain during the week. I did test it out on the day I got it last saturday before all the rain came on my parent's yard and my own which is right next door plus the property I also cut behind us. So total I had roughly 26,000 square feet to play around on between lots of trees and other obstacles to practice around. I warned my parents , " DO NOT EXPECT STRAIGHT LINES FOR AWHILE" I've never driven a ZTR ever. I am used to a steering wheel. My dad says its like driving a M-1 Tank, minus the torret and catapillar tread. Imagine a ZTR with those specs on it lol. What!!! You do not want to hire us to cut your lawn. BOOM!!! who's next lol. jk. I have several properties that it took me 45-65 minutes to cut, trim/edge and cleanup using the 30 inch craftsman tractor and push mower combo. If I had to guesstimate. It should take me 15-30 minutes total time to complete the job and since the ZTR manuevers better. I may not need the push mower except on slopes near water or greater then 20 degrees. Things I need to buy or have already bought ( for the ZTR): (1) 5 gallon gas can. the 2.5 and 2 gallon wont cut it for the ztr since it has a 3 gallon tank. speaking of which.... Cheese how often do you have to fill the blooody thing up? (2) Hour meter (already bought) The ZTR did not have one installed. I was going to pay someone to install it until i realized... I know how to read electrical schematics and do simple wiring. I intend to install it today. How else is anyone supposed to know when to do maintenance on it. My fiance said " Cant you do it every 3 months? no not mowers. it goes by hours dear" lmao. (3) The bagging system sometime next year. Ok I think i wrote another book again sorry all. Paul. P.S. As soon as I get the hour meter installed and if it isn't raining out I will pull it out and snap a few pics of it and post it. to a new thread.

[Hedgemaster]

Lawn care business tips

That's a lot of typing, but I don't think you ever mentioned what you bought! LOL

[psparaco]

OH YEA DOH!

2010 Toro Timecutter Z series Z4235 Model# 74366
-3 gallon gas tank
-42 inch twin blade deck
-22 horsepower kawasaki engine
-hydrostatic drive
-Belt deck drive
-600lbs operating weight
-dimensions 78"L x 54"W x 38"H
-no hour meter yet. Have it just haven't installed it yet. Sometime today or tomorrow depending on my schedule and my part time job schedule. I hate rain. when it rains for more than 2 days straight.

Paul

[wandfsmall]

It is easy to install an hour meter you would not even have to read the wire diagram most likely. Good luck with your mower, and smart move not going with the craftsman ztr they are a pain to work on.

[CHEESE2009]

I can't give you a real answer on how often it needs to be filled up, but trust me when I say it's rare. You can get a lot done with this baby before it gets thirsty!


As for raising the chute, I've never had a problem with flinging objects. Usually when I'm on a lawn, I do the perimeter so that the chute is facing the inside of the lawn, then I make my stripes in a way so that it's always aiming towards the lawn.

Even then, the grass kind of floats in place. It doesn't really go all that far. Just be careful when the grass is wet, it'll plaster all over walls/cars LOL.

I've gone over a few rocks, but they tend to fling into the ground and never get any height.


-


Damn I wanna see your tractor lol..

[Hedgemaster]

Originally Posted by psparaco

OH YEA DOH!

2010 Toro Timecutter Z series Z4235 Model# 74366
-3 gallon gas tank
-42 inch twin blade deck
-22 horsepower kawasaki engine
-hydrostatic drive
-Belt deck drive
-600lbs operating weight
-dimensions 78"L x 54"W x 38"H
-no hour meter yet. Have it just haven't installed it yet. Sometime today or tomorrow depending on my schedule and my part time job schedule. I hate rain. when it rains for more than 2 days straight.

Paul

I'm just starting to look into getting either a walk behind or a ZTR, so I'm not real familiar with them, or price ranges... is that a "homeowner" model? That's what it's looking like on the Toro website.


I saw a Craftsman "Professional Series" 36" walk behind at the outlet store the other day for $1,859 (reg. $3,099) Someone returned it - it's obviously been used, but I looked at teh air filter and it's still clean, so must not have been used much. "Hmmmm..." I thought, as I pictured all of the lawns I cut that are killing me with my 21" Toro. The "Craftsman" part scares me though.

Now you have me wondering... a ZTR for under $3,000? Again, I say "Hmmmm..."

[wandfsmall]

Originally Posted by Hedgemaster

I'm just starting to look into getting either a walk behind or a ZTR, so I'm not real familiar with them, or price ranges... is that a "homeowner" model? That's what it's looking like on the Toro website.


I saw a Craftsman "Professional Series" 36" walk behind at the outlet store the other day for $1,859 (reg. $3,099) Someone returned it - it's obviously been used, but I looked at teh air filter and it's still clean, so must not have been used much. "Hmmmm..." I thought, as I pictured all of the lawns I cut that are killing me with my 21" Toro. The "Craftsman" part scares me though.

Now you have me wondering... a ZTR for under $3,000? Again, I say "Hmmmm..."

yes that is a homeowner unit, honestly you would be better off buying something like a Hustler sport with a Kawasaki engine but even a homeowner with a briggs or kohler courage should last long enough to make a little money. A GOOD commercial ztr will up your productivity and lower your costs though.

[CHEESE2009]

A machine is a machine. All will run fine!

A lot of your competition will be checking out your quality. My competition spends a fortune on brand new equipment and they still prefer the tractor I use.


It's either the machine is great, or the competition doesn't know how to cut grass with what they've got... lol



Remember, it's a machine - it'll last.

[Hedgemaster]

Hey Cheese, is that the same ZTR you own?

I really would like to invest in "something" to get my jobs done faster next season, but some of the prices for commercial equipment are just outrageous - I mean, I know that you get what you pay for, but I'm not wiping my a$$ with twenty dollar bills, if you know what I mean.

wandfsmall mentioned the Hustler Sport. It's funny, because I was out of town last month and saw a huge dealership with tons of inventory on display, and they had one of those outside. It caught my eye because it was "small", and I figured it may be worth looking at as an "entry level" ZTR. I didn't realize it was a "homeowner" model until later when I looked it up online.
I'm going to stop again on Saturday when they are open to see how much they cost and get some info on them.

I never knew they made "homeowner" ZTR mowers. The price of a commercial grade walk behind nearly made me choke, so when I think about the possibility of RIDING a mower for the same cost as a walk behind, again, I say, "Hmmmm..."

[psparaco]

Personally I don't see the point of blowing $6000+ on a commerical ZTR when a homeowner model is all the same. As long as you do the maintenance on it as required and keep it clean and working, it'll last you as long if not longer then a commerical mower. I have been using a 22 inch weedeater push mower for 6 years. 3 years for my own place and 3 years on 25-40 properties a week. again if you take care of it. it'll last a long time. I have another mower i just retired after my first year. I used it for my business back when i was a kid and had my own business then (1991-1997). I used it on about 15 lawns a week for 6 years straight and 2009 for my business this time around. 1997 - 2008 seasons it was used on just my parent's and grandmother's lawns. The routine maintenance was performed on it as required. the only reason i retired it was due to rust holes through the frame. If it wasn't for that.... belts, wheels, oil, spark plug, cables, etc can all be replaced. My toro ztr cost was $2,599.00 plus maryland 6% sales tax ($155.94), $2,754.94 total.

Just my opinion.

P.s. Scott. I haven't been able to take any pics nor install the hour meter yet. Since it had been raining off and on for 5 days now. I told my part time job boss I can work extra hours if needed. I worked today 6am-2pm and 5pm-8pm and work tomororw 6am-2pm. He knows the lawn business will be resuming on monday so I work then 6am-10am then off to cut a boat load of lawns. PRaying for sunshine this weekend to dry it all out. I hope

Paul