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Opinion on a zero turn mower

S

Stephen Newell

Well-known Member
Without naming brand at this point what would you think about a mower that every time you run over a stick about 1" in diameter it tore up the deck belt and the dealer wanted 193.00 to replace it. I have one that is almost a year old and has only about eight hours use on it and has had that happen twice. Since the first time the mower was only a couple days old the company warrantied it but not this time. I live in a wooded area and it's impossible to find ever stick that falls and pick it up. Am I asking too much for a mower to take that much abuse?
 
I wouldn't think that should tear up the belt.

I mowed about 2 acres, (1 1/2 of it was rough with lots of dropped limbs) with a cheap home duty Dixon for many years, and mulched up some limbs a lot bigger than that. A few times it locked the deck down, but I was quick in the PTO switch, nothing but some squealing.

I can see them not be willing to warranty belts, but still, unless it was just left running and squealing until it burned the belt, it should not break or throw it.

If you can get under there, do some close inspection. Be sure everything was put back as it belongs, aligned properly, all the guards in place, some have various pins and brackets to prevent the belt from jumping out of the pulley.

Might consider going with a Kevlar belt, if it isn't already Kevlar, and if the proper size is available.
 
Unless it?s a heavy commercial grade mower, most home use types don?t fair that well with 1? sticks jamming up the blades and tend to eat belts.
 
I would think you need to pick up the 1 inch sticks, it's a lawn mower, not a brush cutter! If you can't see them in the grass maybe you need to mow more often. We bought a cheap model of JD zero turn a couple of years ago, and it seems OK, but the front wheels don't articulate, so it doesn't follow the ground very well. Our old Husqvarna that we use at the cabin has gone through a few belts, but it's 20 years old. I think the original lasted about 10 years. The last belt we ordered we made sure it was Kevlar, and it seems to be running well.
 
I'm starting the third year with my Cub Cadet TANK, it was their commercial model back in 2015, I bought one that sat in the crate until 2016. I hit 1 and 2 inch branches all the time, and occasional small rocks. I try to pick them up on my 2-3/10 acres but I have LOTS of trees, picking limbs up is almost a full time job. I bought spare belts last summer, deck drive belt was $80, Kevlar, don't expect it to fail for a while yet. Deck belt to run the outer spindles was $75.
 
Please list the brand name and model.
I have an older front mount not a zero turn. A John Deere F725 with 54" 3 blade deck. I have chopped up lots of sticks with it. I'm sure some larger than 1" I did have one time on my lap around the yard I see my 1 pto belt laying on the ground ! it takes 2. Now a stick did get up in there and pop that belt off !
 
in my opinion zero turns are over rated unless your a commercial business the little extra time it takes to mow 1 acre does not seam to me to worth the added cost upfront and for repairs I run a 2012 cubcadet 54in cut and am very happy with it just my 2 cents good luck
 
Wow! $193 to replace a deck belt? The last belt I bought for my JD 445ZT was only like $50, and putting it on is no task. I too chop up sticks (I mow a large tree-covered acreage, and I don't have the time or the back to pick up that many sticks). If I have to replace blades or belts so be it, the mower is doing what I need it to do.

As to the sticks throwing off my belt: they don't. The things that drive me nuts are sweetgum balls. If they hit the rear drive pulley just right, the belt sucks them in and compresses them into the pulley (sheave?) channel, creating a lump that the belt passes over. If I'm lucky I can stop the mower before it the belt pops off, and I can go back there and flick the sweetgum ball out with my finger. Usually, however, I have to re-thread the belt.
 
As you have a computer , Buy your belts on line( E-Bay ) I have a JD 425 ,54" cut , that i use a a small bush hog .
I get my belts from (proparts place. com) $31.00 a piece , and put on myself, I usually order 2 at a time to have a spare, I don t pick up sticks , they rot and make dirt.
hope this helps , red
RED
 
My place is heavily wooded. What would take me 16 hours to do with a tractor and a bush hog I could do in 4 or less with the zero turn. I really need that type mower but I'm afraid I bought the wrong one.
 
Right now I don't know if it's just me having over expectations of the mower or whether I have a lemon so I would rather not give the make and model. From what I've read so far it appears I don't have over expectations. After the first time I walk around the property and pick up every little stick I can find. That one I missed.
 
The instant the mower hit the stick it killed the engine so there was none of that. I got off and looked underneath it and it had thrown the stick and was not jambed up. I was able to turn the blades by hand so I attempted to start the mower back up and as soon as I engaged the mower it would kill the engine so I loaded it up on a trailer and took it back to the store where I bought it. I was under the impression the last time it damaged the transmission so I didn't attempt to work on it. All I did was wash it. If I knew it was a belt I would probably have worked on it myself.
 
The grass was a little high so I had the mower deck all the way up. It was set to 4 to 4 1/2" just in case there might be a stick I missed. My property has sugar sand soil and while the grass may get high it's very thin. The grass can be a foot high but walking through it you can see the ground.
 
please name it so I never buy one ! Even if it is a JD ( lol ) sounds like a bad design and VERY expensive parts !
 
My opinion department. Yes you want Kevlar belts. Make a world of differance. Just a thought, make sure your belts are tracking correctly. Can make for unhappy belts.
 

I have several trees on the ground I mow with my ZTR mower and I don't even bother to pick up the sticks that fall from them. I just mow right over them and chop them up. No problem.

As far as the belt replacement, I have replaced my deck belt twice in 8 years of mowing. It's a 10 minute job and requires no tools.

You need a better mower.
 
So it must have thrown the belt off one of the deck pulleys or the tensioner, but it was still on the PTO pulley.

Something doesn't sound right about alignment or maybe the guides that keep the belt in the pulleys. A common problem is the tensioner idler, typically extended out on a sheet metal bracket with a pivot bolt and a spring. If the arm got bent, the pivot bolt too loose, the spring installed wrong, it won't track the belt properly.

Keep in mind that mowers are commonly assembled by rushed, unskilled laborers. Some come with the deck separate and are final assembled at the dealer, whether the dealer be a real dealership or the big box store, again not likely to be a highly skilled employee.

Another thing that "might" have contributed, the alignment is designed to work best at a normal mowing height. Running it raised all the way up could be causing some misalignment.
 
Ok, for the rest of the information it was a Toro 54" Timecutter. I contacted Toro about warrantying it and while I was trying to explain it was just a stick the customer service people cut me off and hung up. I think I should be in the fruit business, I have a real knack for picking lemons.
 
I think there is more to it than that. I run 1" sticks though mine almost every time I mow. The only thing I've killed was a blade that I hit a fist sized rock with. Even that rock didn't take out a belt.

Rick
 
My zero turn its an ExMark by the way if I get into really tall weeds like head high that I mow over and back over them again to mow will get long stiff weeds when backing up to throw a belt off the pulley and if not caught soon enough would burn a belt up. It is a very good mower and really cuts down on mowing time for me.
 
Have a Toro 42 inch timecutter and don't have any trouble with belt coming off. Yard is full of trees. Had it 3 years and problem free. You have something out of line.
 
Hey Stephen -- the boys on here are right in saying look at other places to buy the belt -- and when You put it on make sure the belt is on the right side of all the keepers that keep the belt from falling off the pulleys -- and most of all the pulleys need to be clean - no rust or junk in them - My 2 cents worth -- ( or less ) Roy
 
I would look for a bad spring on the idler or if it has them the flat tabs that some use to keep the belts on when they flex.
 
Maybe there?s a guard missing or it needs to be fed through different? Or design flaw. We run toros and exmark commercials and my guys would run over the whole tree and it wouldn?t break the belt! Oh the stories I could tell. We have broken them trying to run fast through tall wet dewy grass though.
 
When I brought it back to the shop and washed it I didn't see anything out of place. Any damaged parts would have been under a cover someplace. If I had any idea it was a belt I would have looked for it.
 
The one I have is a residential model however I don't feel like I abused it at all. I've been going out of my way to be careful with it. I went out and bought a package of surveying flags and have gone around my property and any little stump or knob sticking up that I shouldn't hit has a flag on it.
 
Hard to believe that any decent riding mower, tractor style or ZTR style would have an issue with up to a 1" stick. I mow and bag that size stuff up all the time. Especially after a windstorm and the yard is covered with fir boughs. Might have to go over them a couple or 3 times, but chops them up and in the bag. If it's a branch (bigger than an inch or so) I'll pick that up and toss it back into the woods.

I'm using a Honda rider I bought in 1991. If it keeps up the way it has been going, I think it's gonna last longer than me.
 
ZTRs in general are vulnerable to sticks and trash getting caught up in their deck belts. That said, I routinely run over big sticks with my Ferris with no ill effect. On one occasion I ran the belt off the drive pulley, but that was in deep trash. The belt suffered no harm, although it was a huge pain to get it back on. I'd say you should have picked a different ZTR for your place.
 
(quoted from post at 15:54:04 05/16/18) The grass was a little high so I had the mower deck all the way up. It was set to 4 to 4 1/2" just in case there might be a stick I missed. My property has sugar sand soil and while the grass may get high it's very thin. The grass can be a foot high but walking through it you can see the ground.
Click to expand...
I've seen some mower decks when all the up can be misaligned, meant for carrying only. It can bind the belts and put pressure in all the wrong places. Not sure if that's the issue but worth looking at.
I too tend to be a lemon picker. Bought a Scott's mower(cheapened JD) from Home Depot several years ago that you couldn't leave the deck all the way up running first setting down was fine.
Good luck with it :)
 
I have 2 properties to mow. I use a Gravely 48 inch zero turn at one, it?s about 14 years old. I have about 400 hours on it, I run over stuff all the time. I replaced the drive belt and mower belt once. The drive belt gave out, I replaced the mower belt, I figured it would be a good time. The other mower is a 1996 Sears 50 inch mower. I abuse the crap out of it, I just replaced the belts, but I was basically bushhoging with it, ran over some old barb wire that tore everything up. I can?t blame the mower for that. I buy Kevlar belts at tsc.
 
I read this post: Mowing grass a foot tall? And running 4 hours at a time? It sounds like you didn't buy enough mower. A Toro Time Cutter is a residential/consumer use mower. Intended to cut grass much shorter and not intended to run and be dependable for the hours you plan to put on it. Not intended for the type of use you need. You needed a full commercial mower.
 
Grass a foot tall here is completely different than anywhere else. The grass is so thin sometimes you have to let it get a foot tall to tell where you are mowing. The four hours was an estimate. So far I don't have enough property cleared well enough for the timecutter. Those areas considered too rough are still being cut with a bush hog. In any case I've only put eight hours on the timecutter in the year I've owned it.
 
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