It has been cold here today, –3°F at my home, and as low as 15 below in some areas. But with yesterday being the first day of spring I like to think about green grass and warmer weather.
I wouldn’t say I am a lawncare fanatic, but I take a fair bit of pride in keeping the yard maintained. Anybody else here look forward to the months ahead of grass mowing? I keep about 7 acres mowed and maintained, the other half of my lot is wooded and I maintain the trails.
What does everybody use to mow grass? I use a trail mower pulled by one of the 4 wheelers to keep up the paths. For the rest of the grass, I used to use a 13HP LC V-twin 42” cut Honda rider, but last year bought a new John Deere 1026R compact 4x4 diesel with a 60”deck. Growing up my parents always had Steiners, if anybody knows what those are, and wouldn’t mind getting one of those too so I could just leave the loader on the Deere.
I use either a 20 or 18 year old to push the mower. Which ever is least hassle at the time. The mower had a new motor 3.5 hp Briggs and Straton fitted 20 years ago and I replaced the base about 7 years ago with a used one that was free. Its a pain in the butt to get working but the job gets done in the end.
I hate mowing grass! I saw the greatest idea on a property down in the Washington DC suburbs, they graveled the entire lot! No grass at all to maintain!
I own a 1 acre lot on a hillside (not terribly steep) and have inherited (from previous home owner) a newer riding mower when I bought the house 2 1/2 years ago. I get frustrated with it and am finding it's just too cheap of a mower. Sure it gets the job done, but I am constantly maintaining it - adjusting the deck constantly! I think I've learned one particular thing to look for in buying my next riding mower. The mowing deck MUST have some sort of wheels or roller on the front side of it. Mine just floats on the front end and it constantly digs into the ground no matter how I adjust it. Because of this the mower's rear wheels loose traction all the time which at first fooled me into thinking it was related to the tire tread and lack of power mowing up the hill. I eventually learned that pulling the deck up so it never dug into the ground alleviated the issue. (I like to mow with the deck nearly scalping the grass so I can last longer between mowings!)
-Garry
Everride warrior commercial zero turn,23 hp kawasaki, 60” deck, 18,000 feet per minute blades, goes 13 mph and mows my one acre lot in 20 minutes. thats production. my old gravely 40” deck 14 hp kohler took 1.5 hrs. less time on mower more time on flashlights.
I’ve got a bolens riding mower that sucks. Same problem as Gary. I’ve also got an ancient cub cadet 100 I’m hoping to get fixed up this spring/summer…
So someone else has the same problem! I don't feel so bad. Oh, here's my thread about upgrading my mower's headlights with a pic of the mower.
-Garry
But does anybody else look foreward to mowing grass?
My tractor came installed with extra Hella driving lights in addition to the headlights and rear spot and tail lights, so mowing at night after dusk really isn’t an issue. My gf thinks its crazy to mow as much as I do, but I just tell her it keeps the snakes off the propery- nothing dangerous just garter snakes.
I would love to use a ZTR, but I have some areas where I really need the four wheel drive. I still think a Steiner or Ventrac is the best way to go but I cant get something like that right now.
I have a Ferris IZ500 Zero Turn, It actually makes mowing the lawn fun!
I will be putting a budget light bar on it. The original Halogen lights got so hot that they melted the plastic housing and lens that held them. Any light bar will have to have massive heat sinking to survive the extreme environment of mowing on hot summer days.
The Ferris is one of the only Zero Turns to have in independent suspension and rides very well over rough terain. That was a big selling point to me. My first thought was to put a light bar on top of the roll bar, but that gets hit to often by low hanging branches. I am planning on using a bunch of these
Each M16 is already wired for 12 Volts and each unit has it’s own 12V driver (Charging voltage can go to 14.4V), perhaps too much. These M16’s can be had for cheap <$3.00 each at FastTech. Don’t need real bright ones, 3W ones will be good enough. 6 of these flooders in warm white should be perfect.
Grrr... Hate Mowing! 114-degree heat in the summer makes for a miserable time. I have a Troy-Bilt push mower and trimmer, and a no-name small riding mower. Mow a couple of times, then it gets hot/dry and the yard stays pretty managable without water until fall starts up.
Garry, pics too small on my cell to tell, but is that an mtd made mower? My owners manual says expected life span of my bolens is 7 years. That’s freaking crazy…
I do like mowing. I’ve got a good amount that’s over grown, so I do some high speed all terrain mowing some times haha… A lot of sumac, so I got to take a lot of that down with the brush wacker.
Really can’t wait to get my cub going. It’s 50 years old and obey it will work 50x better than my 2yo
Yeah, it's a White Outdoor branded model.
-Garry
I think mtd just sucks. From what I have heard, bolens was a top of the line, and once mtd bought it, they ran a good brand in to the ground
If you go with an led light bar I would try to get something with good color rendition.
One thing I’ve noticed that really makes all the difference in the world is wearing some good ear protection. It’s so much less fatiguing when you finish if you are wearing hearing protection.
If you have a rider and it moves fast enough, there is a nice breeze! Stopping on a hot day is when you feel it.
If I got a light bar, I’d want pilots 
When i was still at home I mowed acres of grass to earn money. My first house had a huge lawn surrounded with an orchard I had to mow. Every house after that had lawn front and back. Then we moved to South Texas and spent eight years mowing a large lot twice a week to keep up with the grass. :_(
We built our current house on a steep hillside, no grass. 
Just think how many lights you could have for all the money spend on grass seed, water, fertilizer and lawn equipment. 8)
I think a lot of store brand mowers are all the same manufacture. Seven years life sounds optimistic with the ground I keep mowed. I’ve thought about getting a nice pushmower but don’t think it would ever see any use because much of the yard is wide open.
One of the reasons I got the John Deere was how easy it is to put the deck on and off. You literally drive over it and it is connected and automatically connects the drive line, then start mowing.
Maybe my expectations are high, but I would expect to use a new mower for 7 years before requiring any significant repair! I was frustrated that I had to replace the drive belt at only +/- 5 years old.
-Garry
I love my John Deere! It’s the first of theirs to offer 4 wheel steering and has a 16” cutting radius at full turn. 42” mowing deck 17HP Kawasaki Hemi Engine. Keep about 3 acres mowed around our house out in the country, especially love the automatic transmission.
It’s been in the 80’s most of the week, we’ve had some rain, weeds are growing like, well, weeds! lol
Very glad I bought a good mower, was so sick of the Sears Craftsman style mowers and Poulan and the like.
Edit: Would like to upgrade the lights though, they’re not very good (now that I know what better is!)
My oldest son had that problem, his yard is hilly. On the recomendation of a local equipment repair/sales shop he purchased a belt less Cub Cadet with hydro drive. In ten years he had to replace the alternator once.