your thoughts on the Best mower

Ahh yes, Walker's! Very nice floating deck.

 

i'm gonna say toro cause i left mine outdoors for 3+ years and it fired every time and worked great. Treated it like shit, never did anything with oil.. just filled it with gas and expected it to blow up.. but never did. ended up leaving it in norcal with the new renters when i moved down here.

 

Yeah. I love it. I used my walkbehind(John Deere GS 30) for the first time in about a year on my bumpiest property. It reminded me of just how well the deck follows the contor of the lawn. Also blade changes are alot easier.

 

Exmark for sure. I have had 2 already. They are a bit pricey but hey when it comes to cutting other people's yards, they are pretty picky and want a professional looking cut and that is exactly what Exmarks delivers.

 

i'm jealous! i also have an L3130...minus the bucket and backhoe though i do however have a bushog, two blades, a box scraper, post hole digger and a woods tiller for it. what tranny does yours have? i went with the HST b/c it's well suited for the hilly terrain on the property. she's got about 450 hrs now.

i use the old '78 JD backhoe for the big holes.



this is the current grass mower, upgraded from a 455, which was excellent

Deere 2305 24 horse with a 62" deck. also have a bucket for it. it's all kinds of nice.

i put riding mowers & zero turns in different categories. i must admit, the zero's mow grass like a sumbitch...but what else can they do for ya?

 

I agree (about the zero turns). I will be in the market for a new mower come this next spring, and I'm debating between a zero turn (2+ acres of yard) and a rider. I want something that has a good size cut radius, and that's QUICK (23HP+). My dad has a JD990 that I can use when I want, so I'm not sure I need the utility of a tractor.

Anyways, sorry for the hijack. How does the tacoma do towing that trailer/tractor?

 

I inherited a John Deere and it does the job but the problem I have is it's too light and I have trouble with the back wheels spinning when I have to go up an incline. For a walk behind I have a Troy-Built that's been good. It guarantees to start in no more than two pulls and I've never had a problem with it.

 

everyone around these parts used to rock Scaggs, but more recently the Exmark Lazer series seems to be the cats ass. the 2305 isn't far behind many of the zero's as far as mowing speed is concerned...where you lose time is obviously in the turns/around obsticles. the thing i like better about it than the 455 i had is that it's just as fast in reverse as it is going forwards. the 4wd also comes in quite handy for hills. i have been up/down/along some pretty steep stuff i used to have to weedeat. it costs a little bit more than the top tier zero's, but the bucket has proved to be a very handy attachment, as well as the live PTO, which i use mostly for tilling. i'm not against a zero turn, but for me, the tractor has many uses other than mowing. it all depends on what you need. my tractor is used for mowing about 6 acres of family land, and i also have about 3-1/2 acres that i'm hired for. i have tilled 8 gardens so far this year with it, and cleared mine & a few of my neighbor's driveways several times this past winter. again...it all depends on what you need.

as far as the trailer is concerned...it does very well. i havn't ever towed anything as heavy as what RelentlessTaco has, but this tractor is 1000lbs on it's own, and if you add the deck, tiller, and bucket on, it's pushing about 1900lbs. can't remeber what the trailer weighs, but i figure about 1200 lbs....so somewhere around 3100 with all the attachments on. the trailer doesn't have brakes and this is about as much that i want to pull without them. stopping isn't a problem, but i don't want to push it without trailer brakes. the 4.0 definitely has more go than stop. i have the 4 leaf spring pack and it rides fine. it's got a little sag when i have the bucket on, but only because i could use a longer trailer and there is a lot of toungue weight due to the length of the tractor/bucket.

i ahve been wanting to upgrade to a tandem axle something like relentless has, as it would be better suited for hauling the Deere, and with trailer brakes, i could also haul the Kubota. i guess my equipment has outgrown my trailer over the years...which has been a great trailer BTW. it's paid for itself so many times, i've lost count.

Relentless...i take it you're running a brake setup to haul the 3130...what controller do you use? are you stick or manual? lastly...if you have the hydrostatic trans, what do you think of the price of the tranny filter for it? i'm paying around $72 for them, and NOBODY...i mean nobody has a cross for it.

 

Honda mowers are great and reliable.

 

Honda, hands down!

 

I'm a big fan of my old, reliable Ransomes walk behind.
While the JD's are nice it seems to me that the green paint must add a grand to the price.

 

Truth! Not only regarding the engines, but take a look at the frames sometime.

My uncle repairs mowers as a side job, and he's all about Snapper.
Dad owns an '85 Honda push mower, and it's a beast. Only real problem we have with it is that the self propulsion went out and Dad doesn't want to fix it - I guess it's like admitting your too old to push it yourself.

Yes, the Kubota people have us all beat

 

John Deere is the way to go. They use some darn good mowers and they have a very reliable product.

 

i got a toro its not the fastest but it does the job i guess

 

Indeed.

 

I've got a Craftsman LT2000 with a 17.5 hp Koehler motor. No complaints so far.

 

anything with a honda, kawasaki, or kohler engine is good....briggs and straton will last awhile but nowhere near as long

 

3130 is a good tractor. It is a little underpowered for its weight on the hills we have, but other than that its been a good tractor. I believe ours has between 900-1000 hrs now. Its the hydro- for the loader work and hills, it was the only option imo.

Yeah, i've got a electric brake controller, cant remember the make/model of the one I use though. I think there is a pic of it in my build thread if ya really want to know. My truck is the 6speed, which makes it a little hard to pull that much sometimes(found out with the loader and backhoe that it weighs more than I should be towing though, so I don't think I'll be pulling it anymore).

 

What was that mower from the King of the Hill episode they one built in Canada??

 

anyone see that episode