Zero turn mower

A friend is moving out of state and has this lawnmower he wants to sell me. I know nothing about it. Its a Tora timecutter SS4235 with smart speed control. Has a Kawasaki FR6001V 20.0 engine. The mower could be anywhere from 2 to 5 years old. Always shedded and looks brand new yet. What do you think this mower cost brand new? Thanks.

You could call a Toro dealer and ask what it's worth today.

I like Toro Products and have had good luck with them. Jim
Price new and info reviews

The TimeCutter is a homeowner version. Light duty.
If that's what you're going to use it for and you have a fairly
smooth, relatively level yard it should hold up for years.

I like the Toro products and the Kawasaki engines unless
the engine needs repair. That can get pricey.

I have a commercial Toro ZTR I use to mow my yard.
52" deck, 23HP Kawasaki. I bought it (well) used for $1400 with
the powered, dump from the seat bagger. (Sold that for $400)

That was ~4 years ago. So far I've had to buy one deck pulley
and a belt as a result of the pulley. Plus oil and filters of course.

I mow several acres of grass and it cut my mowing time to
less than half of mowing with a 5 ft belly mower on my tractor.

It can be very jarring ride if you try to go too fast though!

I was just talking to my friend down the street today. He repairs a whole lot of mowers for resale. I asked what were the biggest trouble with Zeros. I mean I know all of the engine jazz like oil and filters. He said people NEVER change the hydraulic oil for the pump and drive motors. Look up the service book on line and change oil and filters for the hydraulics!! linkage and pullies belts yada yada. If your friend didn't beat the crap out of it I would get it. If you think the price is not too bad then jump on it. They mow like nothing else!!

Actually, this is the Kawasaki version, which costs a hundred bucks more than the same mower with a Kohler engine.
Toro SS4235 Kawasaki

Given that he probably paid close to three grand for it new, between $1200 and $1500 would be a fair price.

As others have stated, this is a consumer grade mower. It will be fine on a smooth lawn. In a yard full of rocks and stumps (like mine), it's not going to hold up.

My neighbor has a 5 ft bad boy. His engine sucks in grass clippings and if not blown out, would choke the cooling fins and damage engine.

I have a Timecutter 5035 (50 in. 24hp Kawasaki) that is about 5 yrs old. I mow a little under 2 acres of about half rough, half smooth yard with quite a few tractor ruts. The only problem I've had is with the starter, but the dealer fixed that right away and it hasn't been a problem since. Also, last year I broke my choke cable. Other than that it has been great.
I looked at the more expensive models but decided to go cheaper and I haven't been disappointed. I paid $2800 and would guess it is worth a little less than half that now.

Yes but that sales girl is HOT .She can have her attitude around me anytime.

nothing wrong with them they will last most people quite some time. it not worth much over 900.00 now thou. i have new carry over in that size for 1700.00.

Jeffcat,

Funny you should mention hydraulic fluid. I bought a small new Kubota tractor and the dealer insisted after 100 hours, that I get the hydraulic fluid and filter changed.

He was adamant. I was shocked at the price of the synthetic fluid.

He told me that after the first hundred hours, the components had enough wear-in that filters would be fine from here on.

D.

And all you are able to do is watch her do zero turns.

I have a few lawn mowers with hydrostatic tranny, not ZTR's. They don't have a drain plug to change the hyd oil. I think the JD dealer said there is no need to change oil, which doesn't sound right.

>I have a few lawn mowers with hydrostatic tranny, not ZTR's. They don't have a drain plug to change the hyd oil. I think the JD dealer said there is no need to change oil, which doesn't sound right.

Most lawn tractors and consumer-grade lawn mowers aren't expected to last long enough to require a transmission oil change. And few owners would bother with performing an oil change even if they could.

Of course the demands on the hydrostatic transaxle of a lawn tractor aren't much compared to what a zero-turn transaxle goes through.

My zero turn doesn't have a transaxle, and I assume most are the same. It has separate pumps, and a motor in each wheel. They don't seem to labor much, as they get no more than warmed up during operation.

One of mine is a Fastrak Hustler, 44" Honda 18 v twin. Mine is 10 years old to the month and pretty well used. Been a super machine. Gave $4500 for it in '05. Use synthetic oil in it and change it and the filter at the end of the season, once per year. Have put ZERO parts in that machine give a battery and one set of spark plugs. I have thought about getting another but this still works fine and I figured it wouldn't bring much as a trade in because for a dealer to sell a used machine I'd think looks sells the machine and mine has been used and shows it.

Being 10 years old, I thought I'd change the hydro fluid...whatever that was. I called the dealer and asked about how to change the pump fluid and he said you don't. He said on the larger higher priced machines (commercially rated) you could but not on that one. I had a conventional rider of a different brand that I tore up the hydrostat. Called the mfgr. of the stat and they said that my mower (a JD L110 automatic) was at the low end of their product line and had dino oil in the unit. Said they put syn. oil in all the rest of their units, 10W-30 for them. So after I fixed it and it's been good to go for about 8 years now, I installed Mobil 1 10W-30. No problems since and with the parts I got a free "gimmie cap". Whadda deal!

One thing I might add here is that if you need super traction on your pond dam, hill sides, terraces, or what have you, look at ATV snow stud tires. Work super, much better than bar lugs and certainly better than turf having run both. But, if you have a manicured lawn, be easy on the turns.

Mark

Although high-end commercial ZTRs still use separate pumps and motors, most manufacturers have switched to unitized transaxles for their mid-range mowers. It seems they all use transaxles made by Hydro-Gear Corporation, like this one:
Hydro Gear ZT 3400