11-26-2014, 06:12 AM
What is perhaps one of the most important things is the mower deck gauge thickness. The environment here can rust through a mower deck in as little as 3 years.
Most the residential grade machines will have very thin mower decks.
Of all the mowers in the residential grade range, John Deere has a Z235 tractor that has a thicker gauge steel deck than other like type residential grade machines.
For smaller yards with trees and shrubbery within the yard and around the perimeter, the zero turn feature is abundantly helpful and a narrow 42" deck combined with zero turn is capable of getting into areas other tractors of larger size and non zero turn capability cannot.
We manage about 2.5 acres of complex lawn surface with the John Deere Z235 and it works wonderfully. Our former Cub Cadet 50" rusted out on the deck after 2 years use and I able to weld stitch it for another year and it took longer to mow the grounds with the cub cadet also even though it had a 50" deck. It was also not capable of mowing some of the more complex regions of the grounds. The Cub took 8 hours to mow the grounds and our John Deere takes around 5 with far more detailed results. I will never purchase a standard lawn tractor again.
My advice for a small yard or large complex grounds is the John Deere Z235. If not using a bagger, I'd highly recommend a mulching cover at minimum for the Z235.
Aside from the superior performance, it's just fun to use. It reminds me of driving those old electric bumper cars, a blast.
I've welded up several of my neighbors mower decks, all differing makes so I know our cub was not unique to rusting out within a few short years.
Most the residential grade machines will have very thin mower decks.
Of all the mowers in the residential grade range, John Deere has a Z235 tractor that has a thicker gauge steel deck than other like type residential grade machines.
For smaller yards with trees and shrubbery within the yard and around the perimeter, the zero turn feature is abundantly helpful and a narrow 42" deck combined with zero turn is capable of getting into areas other tractors of larger size and non zero turn capability cannot.
We manage about 2.5 acres of complex lawn surface with the John Deere Z235 and it works wonderfully. Our former Cub Cadet 50" rusted out on the deck after 2 years use and I able to weld stitch it for another year and it took longer to mow the grounds with the cub cadet also even though it had a 50" deck. It was also not capable of mowing some of the more complex regions of the grounds. The Cub took 8 hours to mow the grounds and our John Deere takes around 5 with far more detailed results. I will never purchase a standard lawn tractor again.
My advice for a small yard or large complex grounds is the John Deere Z235. If not using a bagger, I'd highly recommend a mulching cover at minimum for the Z235.
Aside from the superior performance, it's just fun to use. It reminds me of driving those old electric bumper cars, a blast.
I've welded up several of my neighbors mower decks, all differing makes so I know our cub was not unique to rusting out within a few short years.