- Joined
- Mar 26, 2015
- Messages
- 679
- Location
- Preston, QLD
- Website
- asmedical.webege.com
- Climate
- Temperate (all seasons)
Hey all, I thought I might share some thoughts and experiences in my quest to get a good deal on an appropriate mower for a property that will soon become the family home. On a long trapezius shaped area of 7 acres of mostly gentle undulating land with a few surface rocks I will hope to make a family home with some renovation work. Initially there will be no animals on it, so I anticipate I will have to mow the entire area for a short time. There is a fenced off back paddock of about 3 acres, not including about 1-1.5 acres set aside for an orchard that I hope to have some chickens and ducks get into to clean up. Later on, a couple of sheep might just be all I need to keep the back paddock taken care of, but the remaining 3 or so acres will need to be mowed. With the rain we've had, I wouldn't be surprised if I have to mow every fortnight or so.
So, a decision had to be made about how I would go about managing this. My current suburban push mower is laughable for such a task. After doing some searching with my fingers (online, no longer with the yellow pages), I narrowed down the options to a 48 or 50 inch deck, preferably fabricated, with a 20+ horsepower engine depending on quality and what was available. So far, John Deere, Toro and Kubota seemed to fit the bill but the prices were making me look for a second hand deal. Then I got talking with a mate of mine who has about 3 acres to mow and he got a good trade-in on a second hand mower from a local repair shop. I got the contacts and gave him a call to find he'd just got in a commercial grade zero turn mower by Toro that had its motor replaced a couple of years ago almost ready for sale.
I cannot find much info on it, but it's called a Z-Master Z255 mower with 62" deck. The manual doesn't give it any specs but the motor is a Kohler CH-25, which is a 25 horsepower engine that is of reasonable quality. The mower itself looks like it has had a tough life, even with its rugged design there are some hefty marks and dents on the deck and chassis but the service guy has alleviated my structural concerns of this tough mower and deck.
I will follow up with some photos I took of it at the shop in the next post.
So, a decision had to be made about how I would go about managing this. My current suburban push mower is laughable for such a task. After doing some searching with my fingers (online, no longer with the yellow pages), I narrowed down the options to a 48 or 50 inch deck, preferably fabricated, with a 20+ horsepower engine depending on quality and what was available. So far, John Deere, Toro and Kubota seemed to fit the bill but the prices were making me look for a second hand deal. Then I got talking with a mate of mine who has about 3 acres to mow and he got a good trade-in on a second hand mower from a local repair shop. I got the contacts and gave him a call to find he'd just got in a commercial grade zero turn mower by Toro that had its motor replaced a couple of years ago almost ready for sale.
I cannot find much info on it, but it's called a Z-Master Z255 mower with 62" deck. The manual doesn't give it any specs but the motor is a Kohler CH-25, which is a 25 horsepower engine that is of reasonable quality. The mower itself looks like it has had a tough life, even with its rugged design there are some hefty marks and dents on the deck and chassis but the service guy has alleviated my structural concerns of this tough mower and deck.
I will follow up with some photos I took of it at the shop in the next post.
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