Tractors, Mowers, Chippers, Trailers, Chainsaws, Generators, Boat Engines, Flood Control, & Census.

THAT'S not the issue... I just worry about hitting something. I don't have wide open spaces.. my house is just on about a half acre. So 1/2 acre minus the space taken up by house, driveway, pool, gardens. I can see that I may never use full throttle, but still I can see that I'll probably cut an hour or maybe two off of my total 3 hour weekly grass cutting. Grass cutting includes edging (with EGO cordless), weed eating (Echo), walk behind (Honda for around edges and tight spaces and Fukkin DITCH), mowing with new Scag (used to be Snapper rider), then finally blower (Echo). The Snapper had a small turn radius, but still I was always looping over a lot of what I already cut to get to what I still needed to cut . I can see that I'll save considerable time on the "mowing" part. Now if I can just come up with a plan for the ditch . . .

 

As long as it isn't wet like you mentioned you should be fine mowing that with the ZT

If it's wet you may need a chain and a truck.....don't ask

 

But do I approach the ditch perpendicular (like the manual implies), or parallel?
I tried parallel yesterday.. and the front end started turning into the ditch . . .

 

Does the Scag have a speed settings? Maybe you should put blocks on to limit controls forward instead of limiting the throttle, window locks should work for this. Your mower should always mow at full throttle. Also the Scag manual should have advice for how to mow ditches, most manuals cover this pretty clearly.

 

Try it the way the manual says, it will naturally want to go towards the lowest point with the front. You'll have to correct that with the handles, low side more forward than the high side.

 

The manual says perpendicular.. at least that's how they say for "hills". Cut up and down, not across.

 

I'm not bald you pricks!

But yes, that would be a pretty decent test if the hydros.

 

Hey, hey, hey now! That's Mr. Prick to you sir!

 

Mr. Bald Prick to me

 

I'll have to look into this, thanks!

 

With my Snapper I could ride parallel to the ditch with the wheels about a foot out from the "deepest" part of the ditch. If it was wet and mushy I had to stay further out.. once I screwed up and the back end slid all the way into the mush. I was home alone and all neighbors were at work.. fun fun fun.
In 2017 I once tried cutting with the wheels in the deepest part of the bone-dry ditch. That was 2 years after having my roof replaced. Unfortunately I cut one direction then the other, before noticing an issue with my right rear wheel . . .

 

Same guy next year:
"The hydros in these are junk..."

 

Do 2 passes with the walk mower each side then the ZT can do the rest.

If I'm really on my game I weed eat first, block obstacles out with the walk mower and then fly around with the rider/ZT.

 

these zero turn mowers look great. what kind of slope can they deal with? my lawn is not flat. took my rider on it and had to lean off the side, with my beer to keep from tipping.

 

They will go up or down a hill as well as a rider, kind of creepy feeling going down though.

Going across a slope requires more wheel speed on the low side to keep straight and might dig up the turf a bit.

I have slid off into the rough trying to get too close to the edge of a bank.

I used to mow with an old heavy garden tractor (700 pounds, no attachments) that also had weights and chains - it would easily motor along without drama through just about anything.

 

yeah, up and down is the safer way. the low side has blackberrys to snag and the yard is pretty rough. may have funds this winter to dump dirt and take some of the slope out. some areas are fine, some steep like a roof.

 

Yeah that's pretty close to what I've been doing since 2006 when I first bought my old Snapper rider. Weed eater, then walk behind mower, then rider, the blower. A few years ago I added the EGO edger into the mix rather than edging the driveway and walks with the weed eater. I usually did 2 passes with the walk behind on the street side of the ditch, and 4 passes on the yard side. The slope on the yard side is somewhat greater. I wish I could put pipe and cover over the stupid ditch... but HOA . . .

 

I don't know if there is a "speed setting" adjustment or not. What might suit me best is if I could change the speed "ramp up" or something... more lever movement to equal less speed increase. It seems almost like as soon as I nudge the levers forward I'm going about 90mph. I didn't get to practice today though, too much else going on. I'll work with it some more tomorrow.

 

Is this a used machine?

If it has wore out hydraulic dampeners, the machine will be very jerky. Very hard to control the smoothness.

 

No sir... brand spankin' new. It had 1/10th hour on it when delivered on Monday. I did notice late yesterday that whoever uncrated/assembled at the dealer must have been very tall and long-waisted. Where the steering levers bolt to the cast aluminum part they were only attached by one bolt instead of two, effectively giving them a bit more leverage. See attached pic. All other pics I could find online show the levers attached using both bolts. I didn't notice this until I had it back in the garage yesterday. I corrected the attachment positioning but I haven't driven it again since then.
My neighbor has one just like mine that he bought in June. I can compare dampers with his... when I can catch him home.