Lawn mower options for 0.75 acres?

[freebeard]

Lest we forget:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oBZGzPNQoE

Mr3Tuf2 is Billy Yelverton. You might know him from the hard science.
__________________

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=lawn+thatcher&ia=products

[HaroldinCR]

Don't know your abilities,but,here is a video showing a conversion that will supposedly cut an acre or more on a charge.
I would look around for a section or 2 from an electric car battery,instead of 12V car type. I believe he used parts from a golf car.My volume was turned down.

Might give you info and ideas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YgUvCDsf7o

[freebeard]

I would look around for a section or 2 from an electric car battery,instead of 12V car type. I believe he used parts from a golf car.My volume was turned down.

Else a Buick 20hp altermotor and 115v of Tesla battery modules?

[Angel And The Wolf]

Originally Posted by Ecky

I'm closing on a house next month and will have around 0.75 acres of cleared land to mow for 6-7 months of the year. It's been years since I've needed to mow a lawn and a lot seems to have changed.
Is there an option I've missed?

I hear that here are varieties of clover that will take over your yard, and grow to about 3 inches. Might try that.

https://homeguides.sfgate.com/clover...ver-74639.html

[redpoint5]

Hah, I was tempted to tear out the few blades of grass in my front yard and just go with clover. It stays green during the dry summer months too, so it will look like I've been watering.

Once you have it, there's no getting rid of it. Some people say 2,4 D is an effective pesticide, but others say it's not.

[Angel And The Wolf]

But, why get rid of it? Green ground cover, "Don't never have to cut it, 'cause it stops by itself" (Sorry, a bit of "HAIR" reference). Only danger is it might invade your neighbor's yard, or your flower beds.

[JSH]

More than a few jobs ago I worked for a tier 1 supplier for lawn and garden tractors. At that time we had about 50% of the riding mower business and today they have almost 100% of the business (hyrdostatic / automatic models). Some things to know:

• There are dozens of brands but 99% of the riding mowers in the USA are made by 3 companies: MTD, Husqvarna, and John Deere.
• Any riding mower you find in a big box store like Home Depot is a disposable unit meant to outlast the monthly payment. You are looking at a design life of 250 hours and while they sell snow blades none are designed to plow or tow.
• Large diameter drive wheels are really hard on the hydraulics
• Zero-turns are great on flat lawns but dangerous on slopes.

I would personally buy a used quality unit instead of a cheap mower from a big box store

The HUSQVARNA R220T is better than most residential mowers. Get the HUSQVARNA R322T AWD if you need AWD for slopes or snow plowing. The articulating riders are fantastic, way better than a zero turn in my opinion.

In a traditional tractor I would go with a Simplicity Regent

For electric: I had a corded electric Black and Decker mow a 6000 sq ft city lot with a 2000 sq ft house on it. It worked fine with the small yard but died after 6 years.

[redpoint5]

Our Sears riding mowers had held up for decades with basic maintenance. I don't know what current mowers are like, but I would be surprised if they are much worse than mowers built 30 years ago. The last Sears/Honda rider we bought 10 years ago has had no issues other than a surging throttle, which was an easy fix.

Heck, I have a ($100 retail) push mower that I've run out of oil several times and keep outside in the rain and do nothing to preserve it, that starts every spring with new gasoline.

[freebeard]

I would personally buy a used quality unit instead of a cheap mower from a big box store

http://www.farmallcub.com/phpBB2/vie...hp?f=1&t=52978

Not much bigger than a garden tractor. Better for towing. A good lawn ornament when your not using it.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Our Sears riding mowers had held up for decades with basic maintenance. I don't know what current mowers are like, but I would be surprised if they are much worse than mowers built 30 years ago. The last Sears/Honda rider we bought 10 years ago has had no issues other than a surging throttle, which was an easy fix.

Heck, I have a ($100 retail) push mower that I've run out of oil several times and keep outside in the rain and do nothing to preserve it, that starts every spring with new gasoline.

The difference between mowers from 30 years ago and 10 years ago is night and day. I was in the industry from 2003 to 2008 and watched more than a hundred mowers driven on our test track. It was pretty shocking how many of the pressed steel frames cracked and we were driving them on smooth concrete. Manufacturers were very good a designing the parts to just meet the intended design life. The biggest complaint we got from the US market was that our transaxles lasted too long (and therefore cost too much) In Europe they complained that it should be easier to replace the filter.

For residential use a 250 hour life is estimated to be 10 years. They assume the average owner will cut their grass 25 times per year and it will take 1 hour.

Another tip. Anyone that tells you that a hydrostatic transaxle is sealed for life and doesn't require service is lying. The best thing you can do is change the oil after 10 hours, then again at 50 hours and then every 100 hours after that. Heat and dirty oil is what kills a hydrostatic transaxle. A certain green and yellow manufacturer had us remove the drain plugs from most models to save $0.25 per unit.

The same model transaxle could go 200 hours or 2000 hours based on vehicle design and maintenance schedule.