My equipment

[wat5150]

Just use a rubber cord with a hook on each end.(Like a bungee cord) Just lift up your guard and hook one end to it. Hook the other end to your deck adjust handle. Thats what I do.

[xandrew245x]

Lawn care business tips

Thanks, sounds like a pretty good idea.

[jrayb39667]

Originally Posted by wat5150

Just use a rubber cord with a hook on each end.(Like a bungee cord) Just lift up your guard and hook one end to it. Hook the other end to your deck adjust handle. Thats what I do.

if you do this, make sure if you're in an area with a lot of rocks / debris and close to a house to lower your chute to protect from breaking windows from thrown debris.

[xandrew245x]

Yep, I just wanted something to hold it up when loading it, trying to steer with one hand is tricky, I tried using rubberbands but they ended up breaking.

[CHEESE2009]

TIP:

Use a bungee cord like I do, to keep the chute up.


Also, screw in a strip of wood to the floor of your trailer, to keep the tractor from moving. Works really well.



.

Most importantly, be careful going up curbs with your tractor, it's the newer model and it's kind of sketch, but it's a beast.

[xandrew245x]

What do you mean going up curbs?

My mower doesn't move to much on my trailer, but my push mower does, so I think i'll do the board method for that and hopefully it stays put.

[CHEESE2009]

Originally Posted by xandrew245x

What do you mean going up curbs?

I have two of those tractors, one is the older model, and the new one is like yours. The new one has 'bigger' tires, but they also have no grip for climbing which is very upsetting for me.

For example, if you need to get onto a lawn from the street, normally you would press the tires against the curb, slowly, and expect the wheels to crawl on top the the curb, while the rear tires force their way up later on.

This tractor has a very tough time doing that, and you might lose control if the tractor decides to slide.

If you can avoid curbs, then this machine is still worth all the money in the world. Good job!

[xandrew245x]

Thats good to hear! I don't think I will have to many jobs, if any that will involve curbs, and if there is, i'll find another way up.

I was looking at a john deere zero turn, but the toro had much better reviews and was cheaper, so it was a no brainer, its good to hear that its a good mower from someone else too!

[Godslapper]

I must be doing something wrong. Maybe you guys can help me see the light.

I have 3 trucks 2 F-550 4x4 dump trucks with 7.3 turbo. and my small plow truck that really does everything. That's an F-250 4x4 with a dump insert.

I have these trucks because I can't seem to find customers that are ok with not bagging. In the spring it seems that I have to bag every one of them untill we get a drought. Some have dump spots but most don't. In may if I didn't bag the lawn would look like crap or I would have to go over it two or three times'. huge waste of time. In the fall I can fill my dump truck beds with leaves every day and I put very high sids on them.

What about mulch jobs ? I do about one to two hundred yards a season.

If I could figure out how to make money with out having to bag grass and leaves I would love it. Around here if I only took on customers that were cool with not bagging my drive time would be about half my day. Please tell me the secret.

Cheese is that little Toro what you use to mow with ? I'm at a compleat loss. In April I bought a new Toro for $ 12,000 bucks. Because I can't see how you could do what we do with anything less, but I guess I was wrong. Help me !

[Hedgemaster]

^^^

Simple. Not everyone lives in the same place, uses the same equipment, or cuts the same types of lawns.

If I had to bag every lawn, I'd find something else to do because as a solo operator, it would take so much extra time it wouldn't be worthwhile.
Between stopping every two passes to empty a bag and dragging all of it to the truck, then driving it to the dump every other day, I just can't see how to make a profit considering people complain about prices the way they are now.

I bag in early spring on the lawns that truly need it, but for the most part, I mulch.