Walkbehind mower- belt or hydro

[rickpilgrim]

The rainy Monday discusion today after the meeting was this- If money was not a concern, which would you have? My landscape guys all say belt is the best as it is very simple to repair, uses less engine power, are much lighter and require less service.
The mowing guys all love the hydro units and say while the drive takes more power the speed is so much better that you can afford a few more minutes in the morning to do the maintainence and you do not have to bull them around so who cares about a few pounds.
Anybody care to comment on this?

[MASTERMOWER]

Walkbehinds are a thing of the past...

Hydro is more productive and makes you more money in the end. Better yet, buy a Stander. :alien::alien::alien:

[steve-o]

Why Are They A Thing Of The Past College Boy????

Hydro is more productive and makes you more money in the end. Better yet, buy a Stander. :alien::alien::alien:

how many you got sitting around? how many stander's you got sitting around????? i drop the wheel and i stand. what's the big difference????


steve-o

[jrservices]

how many you got sitting around? how many stander's you got sitting around????? i drop the wheel and i stand. what's the big difference????


steve-o

Exactly.........

[MASTERMOWER]

Go try one and see for yourself.

how many you got sitting around? how many stander's you got sitting around????? i drop the wheel and i stand. what's the big difference????


steve-o

A stander will always win on productivity when compared to a hydro WB with the same width deck and sulky.

Still have just the one John Deere stander as our main production mower. Too cheap to run off and buy stander units to replace the 36" through 44" WBs. If they ain't broke......I won't replace it. That said, one day (maybe 10 years down the road) all those WBs will eventually be replaced with standers. Can't afford not to with as competitive as plain azz mowing is. So if this guy wants to buy new, why go with 1980's technology??????????????

You're jest too old to convince otherwise. :alien::alien::alien:

[rickpilgrim]

Standers may seem great machines and we've tried both the Toro and the Wright(JD is mfg by them). Big advantage in how many you can put on a trailer for sure! However thats where it ends around here. One of our rivals has Wright machines and mows an account next door. He saw our Hustler SWB (54" Super Walkbehind) and wanted a try at it. We mowed with the Stander, He took ours and all agreed the only advantage was footprint.
The main thing here is over the long term which is cheaper to run and easier to work on. All my hydro Hustler walkbehinds were over 6K new, and that was 2006 dollars and the 36" was only $100 less than the 54" units. Belt drive can be had for 3K or half of a hustler hydro and the most expensive part is the engine. If we ever kill the pumps and/or drive motors is the hydro's advantage great enough to offset the cost? As it's still raining 2-3 days a week here and not much landscaping is being done everybody here is mowing so I have to listen, it affects all of us if a machine is down for 2 days or more. Belts are easy to change, cheap and drive couplers are the only other headache for a few hrs to repair at most. The last electric clutch for the 36" hustler took 8 days to arrive, I doubt any hydro part would be quicker to get here as these machines were no longer made after 2007.

[MASTERMOWER]

we've tried both the Toro and the Wright(JD is mfg by them)

Incorrect. Wright does not have anything to do with the John Deere Quik Trak stand-on units. They're actually manufactured by ACI.

Just wait until the patent on Wright Standers expires. You'll see a flood of knock-offs which perform just as well for a lower price.

[rickpilgrim]

Incorrect. Wright does not have anything to do with the John Deere Quik Trak stand-on units. They're actually manufactured by ACI.

Just wait until the patent on Wright Standers expires. You'll see a flood of knock-offs which perform just as well for a lower price.

You are correct- I should have said JD owns Wright, or so they say on their list of companies JD owns or has a controling interest in. If you don't think so, go to the JD website and check it out.
Also, for you stand on folks Wright makes a model ZK that just might kick our Hustler SWB's to the curb. Got to try one in a parking lot Thursday and it was awesome with speed, design and control feel and layout. Wouldn't let us put it on the turf or get it dirty, but did tell us that for $8970.00 we could have one. If you like these things trust me- try one.
I picked up two Landscaper Supply mowers on auction for $875.00 and they are both belt units with pistol grip in decent shape. Now my landscape crew can try what they think is better and the cost was cheap.

[MASTERMOWER]

You are correct- I should have said JD owns Wright, or so they say on their list of companies JD owns or has a controling interest in. If you don't think so, go to the JD website and check it out.

Somehow I don't believe that. I can't confirm it either on the deere.com site.

Years ago Wright sues the pants off GreatDane, which was later purchased by JohnDeere, which is also how the JD stand-on unit was born. I think the story goes JD bought out GreatDane and sold the asset to ACI, and ACI began the manufacturing of the Quik-Trak mower(?). Maybe in 2014 Wright will sell-out before their market share crashes. :alien::alien::alien:

[GeeVee]

I disagree that anything will ever replace the proven belt driven wb.

As a business decision, small percieved production rate differences are never going to be tangible compared between cost of ownership and ROI for the Belt driven versus the hydro.

This especially if you have multiple crew trucks. For a OMG, then your personal preference may help you ralize some benefit to the higher costs of Hydro units.

Then again, I probably don't know what I'm talking about, do I?

[rickpilgrim]

Somehow I don't believe that. I can't confirm it either on the deere.com site.

Years ago Wright sues the pants off GreatDane, which was later purchased by JohnDeere, which is also how the JD stand-on unit was born. I think the story goes JD bought out GreatDane and sold the asset to ACI, and ACI began the manufacturing of the Quik-Trak mower(?). Maybe in 2014 Wright will sell-out before their market share crashes. :alien::alien::alien:

I found it in their history section early this yr(late winter when I have more time for internet) and when I bought the bagger for our JD12sb I asked the dealer about it. He said JD had bought Great Dane and had purchased a "significant portion" of Wright MFG awhile back so they could "bring to market a stand on mower that was a great improvement over anyone elses existing product", and went on(salesman, what do you expect) to say if I wanted a demo, he could have all three units in a week or so to try out, or something like that. I took that as proof that JD had to have their fingers in Wright, as no dealer I know buys 2 late model machines to do side by side for a maybe sale.
Who knows, as much of this stuff is hidden away from all of us and who knows, maybe now that they have the Quick Trac market good and stable they may have sold wright also. After all, how many of us noticed, and how little was published about what Briggs and Stratton was buying up and taking over, or that Tecumseh was leaving the small engine market. None of this was on TV, in the newspaper or barely rated a 2" column in the trade magazines. I expect that Great Dane will fade away without a peep in the next 10 yrs, and you may only know if you have a local dealer. And you are probably quite correct about Wright selling out before the market crashes.