Welcome to TheOhioOutdoors
Wanting to join the rest of our members? Login or sign up today!
Login / Join

Mower guy?

giles

Cull buck specialist
Supporting Member
It seems like this website has everything, do any of you sell mowers? I've about had it with this JD commercial riding mower. It sure does do a nice job mowing, but I'm buying parts for it all too often IMO. This time the bolt that goes into the crankshaft to hold on the main drive pulley fell out…WTF?! So I figured before I load it up and go shove it up JD's ass and get another one (probably a Scagg zero this time), I'd see if someone here was a dealer.
 

giles

Cull buck specialist
Supporting Member
So I went down to the local JD today and looked at zero turns. They carry JD, Scag, and Hustler. The best bang for my buck seemed to be the Hustler mowers, but I don't know anyone who has one. Do any of you know anything about them? They seem to have been around building the zero turn style mowers the longest of anyone. They also only make zero turns. Both reasons to grab my attention and at $4,500 for 60"….zero percent financing…I'm interested. Anyone?

54" is $3,900, but they don't have any in stock and don't know when they will get more.
 

Beentown

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
15,740
154
Sunbury, OH
For the price my next will be a Gravely or Hustler. Don't do it commercially and my little homeowner zero has kicked ass. No need for an almost $10k mower.
 

twireman

Senior Member
2,929
149
Kingston, OH
I actually bought the 54" hustler raptor sd for 3900 zero percent. It has the heavy duty deck and kawasaki engine. I love it and hope to get 15 years out of it. Best I could find for the money.
 

giles

Cull buck specialist
Supporting Member
I actually bought the 54" hustler raptor sd for 3900 zero percent. It has the heavy duty deck and kawasaki engine. I love it and hope to get 15 years out of it. Best I could find for the money.

How long have you had it? How rough does it ride with the factory seat?
 

Big Weff

Junior Member
1,089
97
Athens
I do some commercial mowing on the side, just got a Kubota diesel this year after the gravely finally gave out haha, don't know much about hustler but in my opinion I would definitely go with gravely, scag, kubota, or grasshopper. They usually have the gravely zt60's going pretty reasonable TOO. Great residential mower
 

hickslawns

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
39,721
248
Ohio
I don't sell them. Have used one or two in my day. Hustler? Never owned or ran one but if you read any mowing forums the Hustlers get tons of respect. If we had a local dealer I would at a minimum give them a demo ride.

Don't overlook Toro. We have had good luck with them and I have been pleasantly surprised with my long term maintenance costs. (Knock on wood.) But. . . .this is the commercial series. Not sure on the home owner models.

Brother in law bought a mid level Gravely in the mentioned price range. I was impressed with it for the price. Same goes for Gravely, but our local Gravely dealer is an a-hole. I have stepped foot in his shop once and his shop is within walking distance of one of our locations.

As for Skag? Not sure which was opened for business first (Skag or Hustler), but the Skag family (mainly Dane Skag) is known for designing and building a large number of the zero turns on the market today.
 

Ohiosam

*Supporting Member*
11,708
191
Mahoning Co.
I'm going to need a newer mower soon. My Steiner has over 3500 hours on it and it seems I'm always fixing something. Unfortunately they don't make a zero turn anymore. Bid $3500 on a nice commercial Toro with 500 hours on it on Saturday but it sold for $4100. If I buy new it'll probably be a scag because I have a great dealer 2 miles away.
 

giles

Cull buck specialist
Supporting Member
Interesting….

In 1963, John Regier was an employee of the Hesston Corporation, a manufacturer of farm and agricultural equipment. The company had recently engineered a device called the swather, which, propelled by a series of belts, cut hay, alfalfa and other farming materials and laid them out in windrows. The way the belts and pulleys operated allowed for counter- rotation—a process which particularly struck Regier. An idea came to him one day: What if he could incorporate the same technology into lawnmowers?

“So he went home and invented this thing that was able to operate on the zero-turn radius,” says Ken Raney, advertising manager at Hustler Turf. “He began selling them, but they weren’t really taking off the way he wanted them to. Nobody knew the technology then, so nobody wanted to buy it.” Regier’s patent was eventually sold to Hesston, which would eventually become Excel Industries—parent company of Hustler Turf. The mower was called—appropriately enough—the Hustler.

“We were the first company to offer mowers with zero-turn technology,” says Paul Mullet, president of Excel Industries. “After Regier sold us the patent, he came to work for us and the rest is history.” Excel Industries is the parent company of Hustler Turf Equipment, Inc., which manufacturers Hustler Turf and BigDog Mowers zero-turn mowers.[1]

In 1969, Grasshopper Mowers introduced the first commercially viable zero-turn mower,[2] and in 1974, Dixon coined the term "zero-turn radius" with their entrance into the mower market.[1]

In 1997, Robert D. Davis Jr. obtained United States Patent 5644903 for a new steering control he had invented for a zero turn radius mower, based on eight previous patents.[3][4]

Currently, there are more than three dozen zero-turn mower manufacturers offering a range of mid-mounted and out-front mowing deck options and accessories.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-turn_mower
 

CJD3

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
14,630
201
NE Ohio
LibertyZ-600.jpg
 

nathan.luthman

Active Member
Supporting Member
597
66
I would seriously look into huslter mowers... know a guy who bought one 8 or 9 years ago and never had a problem with it... he mows about 15-20 acres per week... one heck of a machine fabricated deck and the best hydro units of any mower that I have seen... and all of those options carry down to the residential series like the raptors
 

giles

Cull buck specialist
Supporting Member
I would seriously look into huslter mowers... know a guy who bought one 8 or 9 years ago and never had a problem with it... he mows about 15-20 acres per week... one heck of a machine fabricated deck and the best hydro units of any mower that I have seen... and all of those options carry down to the residential series like the raptors
I did really like the Hustler deck and the smooth controls. I jumped on a Bobcat zero turn today of my buddies, I didn't like it at all.
 

giles

Cull buck specialist
Supporting Member
Well, since I started this thread I started stashing money. Just counted it and I have just over $2,500 to spend on a mower this year. I never did fix the JD...I could probably fix it and sell it to add some more money, but I don't want to sell anyone a shit mower. So it'll probably just go to waste in the weeds.

Anyone sees any deals or has any deals in my price range, post them up please! I have mowers I can borrow, so I'm not in a crazy rush.

Thanks in advance!
 

moundhill

Senior Member
Supporting Member
5,327
103
Hebbardsville..
Good deal man, you should he able.to find something close to there. I recommend gravely dude. 3/4 of the mowing businesses around here have them, and there's a reason why. My dad bought one new in 13 and it's been great! They're reliability pays for itself.