Diesel Mower

[dancom]

As some of you know i use Grasshopper mowers. I have a m220 and a m225. Next year I have picked up another large account it is 22 acres. I now have four accounts over 15 acres and they all have to be finish mowed I am concedering buying a 428d/61 grasshopper mower. I figure this will last longer than a gasoline mower and cut a little faster. it has a 3 cylinder Kubota 28 hp liquid-cooled diesel. I was wondering if any of you have had any experience with diesel mowers.

Thanks Dan

[Maddog]

I have looked at these mowers several years back and they seemed to be built fairly well. I haven't heard of any one have much problems with them but not many in service in this area either.

I have a question though? Did you look at the one with the 72" deck or is it too big for those properties to be practical?

[Phil Nilsson]

This is one of the finest mowers ...

http://www.jacobsen.com/library/2003%20JAC_TurfCat_600.pdf

Phil

[J man]

will the terrain allow for the little bit of extra speed you say the diesel will give you??
what about having to go to a different pump to fuel up??
if the motor does last longer what about all the other stuff to go wrong when the hours start to rack up?? pulleys, pumps etc
id stick with the gasser and when it started racking up hours take the money i saved from not buying a diesel and replace the unit

[dancom]

j man terain here is pretty flat. the diesel is only about 2,000 more than the gas. but i see your point about the pumps pulleys etc. i think it would still be cheaper to replace the parts and have the motor last 4 or 5,000 hours. i can diesel fuel easy enough.
Maddog i looked at the 72" deck but i cut a cematary and the 72" would be to wide for some obsticles in it.
Dan

[dancom]

well i found a web site on the kubota mower. It looks like a nice mower although i could not find a price. There is a dealer not to far from here i may have to go check it out. Thanks Weeder

Dan

[Alpine Naturescapes]

Dancom,
The Grasshoppers seem to have a ton of useful attachments. Do you have any of those? Gravely has a new ZTR - if you put the diesel on it, I think it runs 9 or 10K. The deck hydraulics are supposed to make it esp nice for cemetaries. It's fasssst.

[Elwood]

The diesel option is great as well as the entire Grasshopper line. I say go for it, if the numbers work for you.

Also, if you have a lot of wide open areas to mow, look at an acrease wing mower.

I used to own two of them and they cut well, are built like a tank and are well worth the money. If you have any questions about them, let me know.

https://www.acrease.com

[dancom]

I looked at the Kubota Zd21f today. It is a sweet mower. Only 9,500.00

[dancom]

weeder
you know i am tring to sort out this transmission isue. from what i understand Grasshopper has that twin hydrostatic transmission when they first came out, but they got rid or them they said they did not last as long. The kubota only offers a 1 year waranty where the Grasshopper offers a 2 year waranty. The Grasshopper dealer offered me a 21 HP 3 clylinder liquid cooled Kubota with a 61" deck for 9,100.00 and kubota offered me a 21 HP 3 clylinder liquid cooled Kubota with a 60" deck for 9,500.00. The kubota has a hydrolic deck and a pivoting front axle that also acts as a jack. the kubota's blades are also shaft driven rather than belt. I guess i am going to have to do a little more research.

Dan

[bayfish]

Since you have these large acreage accounts, you should look to something larger to cut down on time and labor. Checkout the Toro and Hustler websites and look at their wide area mowers. Also check Turfnet.com for used ones that golf courses are selling. They are well maintained and some have fairly low hours. The Hustler website also has a listing of used mowers as well.