New Toy

Bill Arnold

1974
Staff member
Messages
8,622
Location
Thomasville, GA
Not the shop kind, though. Our faithful John Deere riding mower gave up Friday. Some checking on parts cost showed no less than $500 for repairs, which probably means somewhat more. LOML quickly told me to look for a good ZTR (she wanted me to get a ZTR before but I cheaped out on the JD). We did some online research, then drove to Lowe's and looked at their offerings. After that, we drove farther into town to Hoyt's, a locally-owned shop. We looked at Snapper, Ferris and Skag and settled on the Snapper 550Z with 61" deck. I signed the papers and 30 minutes later it was delivered to our home. Needless to say, I got distracted from any wood shop time this weekend! While the operation of one of these critters is pretty straight-forward, I felt like a dummy until I finally started to get a better feel for how much to push or pull on the control arms!

550Z.jpg
 
Nice! I cheaped out & bought a used 50" cub cadet ZTR to see if I'd like it. I don't know why I ever bought a tractor mower... lol

Now I'm looking at raptors and hoping this one lasts until I save up enough $$...
 
Nice, you'll love how much time it saves you. May need to mulch around the trees if you don't have them done already, not found one yet that the tires aren't a little hard on the grass turning around them.
 
I like the idea of the 60" deck... mine is only a 42" tractor and I'm pretty sure it's out of balance now, but I can't use the ZTR on my yard... the back yard is way too steep, by the time I get to the far back side of the yard, I'm at an elevation that's higher than the house.... and I have another hill behind the house between the house and shop that about a 15 or 20% grade, plus the side yard drops off about the same degree into a ditch that I couldn't mow with the ZTR... I'm relatively comfortable mowing these with the riding tractor, even if I do hold my breath about half the time... I never need to ride a roller coaster as just mowing the yard is enough thrill riding for me.
 
... I can't use the ZTR on my yard... the back yard is way too steep ...

Our one acre lot is relatively flat - a gradual slope of a couple of feet over a 250' run from street to back line, then another 2-3' to the far corner that's about 400'. My only issue is dodging a bunch of pine trees!
 
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