With something like 600HP I think you could mow in record time. Drag a few dozen push mowers and mow in one pass, the beer wouldn’t even have time to get cold in the fridge. Honey, I’m done! lol
I took that shot at a mini tractor pull some years ago. These guys were very serious about their little tractors, let me tell ya! Some still looked like lawnmowers but with major tweaks that let em pull that sled a surprising distance down the track. While others didn’t much resemble a lawnmower anymore at all with massive car engines that screamed, it was quite fun actually!
I live in a condo so I don’t cut the grass. But I do go to the apartments my dad manages, and during the summer cut the grass. Before me it was my brother, and we’ve always used this 1999-2001ish simplicity riding lawnmower. Only problem we’ve had with it is the carb gets flooded if you don’t shut off the fuel when done. Another thing that happens once in a while is the deck pin shears. It’s the pin that helps to hold the deck in place in the front of the tractor, and half the grass I cut is really bumpy so it breaks every couple years. Although last summer it broke like 3 times because we never had the correct bolt. All we had were these thin bolts(only ones long enough) that would last a few rides. Didn’t help that we had a severe drought that made the already really bumpy front triangle super bumpy, and crazy dusty!
I agree with your choice Abtbglenn. If I were getting a push mower Honda is no question the best made. I have a good amount of honda equipment now, pressure washer, em3500 generator, the honda riding mower, a Rancher, and a GPScape Rincon and in the go kart I put the honda clone engine from HF, only because the honda motor is 5x the cost.
When I was little I remember the 2 stroke LawnBoy mowers. Those things were great. Lots of power and really light. We had some old ones that just had an on and off switch and no safety lever. Also the pull start was on the motor not on the handle. We will never see something like those again for safety and emmisions reasons, but they were dead reliable machines.
For string trimmers I may someday get the Honda 4 stroke model but I had a good opportunity to get 2 shindaiwa power heads sold under the swisher name. They are called 4 stroke hybrids and use 50:1. But I have one setup for string trimmer and the other for pruning saw.
Good luck with the First home. I purchased my first home in Aug of 2011. I sold 3 of my good lights, 3 varapowers(2 vp2k and one vp3 c) to help. I also sold my FJ cruiser and a can am renegade. But good news is since then I bought back one of my lights and replace the other two that I had sold. If your new place doesn’t come with appliances or furnature buy good stuff or you will end up buying it twice.
If you have a lawn that size I think a simple plug in mower would be enough or even a nice reel mower. In fact I would love to get a nice reel mower myself because they’re so cool and good for the grass.
I bought a reel mower 7 years ago to keep my sons plot at the cemetary trimmed without all the noise and hassle. He’s beside his maternal grandparents and there’s an extra plot for his mom so I keep 4 spaces mowed with it. (11x20) It’s really nice and cuts quite well, and it’s also good exercise! If you’re going to use a reel type mower I recommend going to some trouble to get your lawn area nice and level, smoothed with a compacting roller or something like one. Then you’ll have no issues mowing and it’ll actually be kinda fun. Make sure you pick up small twigs and stuff cause the cut is so precise it does not like even little sticks!
Well that’s quite respectful of you to not only maintain around their monuments but also keep it quiet for others visiting 0:) Some good advice you have. I have used a reel mower a few times and to remember the little sticks getting caught in there. But it only takes one cutting to see the smooth cut edges of the grass. I would imagine a smooth edge would have a lot less surface area than a ragged edge from a dull blade so you would benefit from less loss of moisture.
Round here, loss of moisture is really not an issue. One of the nearby parks has the benches completely submerged in one place. A lot of those tractor devices would sink on my lawn (I use the term loosely, it’s a place for the dogs to crap mostly)
I recently purchased my first home and had to buy a mower and trimmer. I wanted a ZTR but i’ve already spent a ton of money this year getting the house set up and couldn’t afford to pay cash for one. I have 5 acres. Most is wooded, and around 1/2 an acre needs maintained.
Mower - Honda HRX217HXA - 21”, 190cc honda motor, hydrostatic drive, lifetime warranty on deck, 6 year warranty on the rest
Trimmer - Stihl FS 130R - 36.3cc, 1.9hp. Tons of power and got them to double the warranty to 4 years. Seems weird to mix gas on a 4 stroke, but it’s worked well so far.
The only thing you might need is a chainsaw. I’ve just got a cheap Hitachi saw, because I didn’t think I would ever use it much, but I’ll probably end up getting a Stihl. Maybe my dad might have one I could buy or something. I think he has around 10 Stihl saws from small arbor saws to some big mammas.
I found this race pretty interesting. Of course this tells nothing about how these ZTR mowers actually mow the grass. I think the mowing deck and the float mechanism prob the most important thing. I looked at getting this model JD ZTR but with the diesel and not the 27 Kaw. But ended up getting the compact tractor but with the same mower deck.
That little JD will be a Yanmar built machine. Good stuff.
I myself love cutting grass and have lots of toys. But my main mower is an old Ransomes reel cutter from the sixties. A big old beast with a MAG engine that is made in Switzerland. Don’t hear that anymore. Soon however I will be buying a Kubota B1220. Can’t wait.
Yep there is 3 Cyl Yanmar in my JD. Growing up in Ohio, we alway had steiner turf machines. My dad still has his Steiner 430 max. When I was a kid I went through the factory where they build them. Probably some of the most unique lawn mowers there are. There was a period when the Steiners were being bought and sold by several companies and I Rember the Green Steiners(usually they are Red) when they were owned by Ransome. Now Textron ownes them and the Steiner brothers sold the name with the company and now make the Ventrac machines. I’ve driven both and the Ventracs are just awesome. The model I operated was the 31Hp turbo diesel.
31hp is a decent size. The new Kubota I am getting is only a 12hp 3 cylinder Diesel, but it is a proper 4x4 tractor, or micro tractor. It is plenty big enough for a 1 metre topper or finishing mower. I only have 1.5 acres so it should be perfect.
One of the tractors that we had was an old Kubota tractor like that. Also a 3 cyl, but I thought it was 15 or 16Hp and 4x4. I believe it was something like a 1978-81 model. It was a B3650 or something like that, prob the main reason that I like diesels so much. The one you are getting sounds similar.
It was cold again the AM –3F here, so it’s fun to talk about getting the lawn ready but still a ways off. The local lakes currently have 22” of ice. Normally, ice will be gone around the 15th of april. But my mower is more snow shovel now.
This is the back yard last year, apparently after a storm , cause the creek is high and lots of branches down. But I mow all the way to the high trees in the far upper left side. Late spring or early summer I get this looking nice and green. This was only after the first season of mowing after not being taken care of for several years before I bought my place.
Yeah, we’re already mowing here, have been for a couple of weeks or more. Got work to do as I speak, but I’m renigging. lol
Would rather mow year round than deal with all that snow and ice! Yep, Native Texan, never shoveled snow a day in my life and would like to keep it that way!
I think I would miss the seasons, but to each his own! I like to think a long cold winter keeps the bug population down. If that’s the case I shouldn’t see a single one. This was out my back door on the garage when I opened it up to have a look like 6 days back…Nope, not going that way!
Drag a few dozen push mowers and mow in one pass, the beer wouldn’t even have time to get cold in the fridge. Honey, I’m done! lol
