New John Deere Zero Turns

Have been watching the new John Deere add's "it's not how fast you mow, it's how you mow fast" any way to the point. My neighbor lady has been in bad health and I've zero turned with my older 757 several times, however her son-in-law said he wanted to do the work if she had a zero turn. I tuned up her regular tractor mower and at the dealership I picked up one of those slick adds on the zero turn. I see now they have two markets, the consumer market they call residential and the commercial market. My older 757 is a commercial machine and weights about 1400 lbs. after I added fluid to the tires. I generally mow at about 80% speed. Anyway she wanted me to try her new machine which is a consumer model. After a half dozen laps it felt like I was riding a billy goat. It mowed great but I had to slow down to about 30% speed as my neck as developing some pain from it's 71 years of age. "WOW" I didn't say much but wondered about tire inflation. I checked specks and it weighs about 700 lbs. I got the area mowed and graciously parked it. Used my John Deere 990 with 7' finish mower to clean up. In checking the price seems to be around $4-5,000 for one of these but how are people going to use them. If I'd had bought it, I would have been going back to the dealer after the 6 laps. I guess the real mower has spoiled me, I do have a float ride seat. But is Deere going to have a real marketing problem? What good is a 12 M.P.H. mower if it puts you in the chiropractor office after use and you can't go over about 3-4 m.p.h. I see what the commercial is now saying......

I bought a 930m last summer and man will it mow if you can stay on the seat. My yard is flat and smooth and took an hour and 20 min with the Kubota and 60in belly mower and now takes 30 min max.

I run the air pressure in the rear tires on the Toto Z as low as I feel comfortable with. Right around 8 psi.

My speed depends a lot on the softness of the ground. Ground real soft now and yesterday I ran it just off the forward stops. When it is hot sand dry, I have to slow it back, around 1/2 to deal with the rough ride.

I have a Scag ZT, mow with it against the stops most of the time, have been airborne before.

The consumer mower doesn't have springs for the seat. Rather just bump stops. They do ride rough. A friend of mine had one and ended up buying a 8" wheel barrow tube, inflated it about half full and sat on that. Made quite a difference in the ride.

I know exactly what you mean by the real mower spoiling you. I cut grass on the side. Have a 737 and a 757. As far as I'm concerned Deere doesn't build a commercial mower anymore. I've driven the 800 and the 900 series commercial mowers and was not impressed. The homeowner line is far below old deere standards I think just to get the cost down to compete with other cheaper brands. That said there are a far amount of them sold around me. If you've never road anything any better you don't realize how rough riding they are.

I have a J.D. 665 with a 60" mower deck. Yea I know it's not the biggest or the best but it mows great. A buddy of mine has a J.D. 757 the other friend has a Bad Boy, they all have a rough ride. I see that the Ferris Zero Turn is advertised as the only mower with a independent suspension.

The classic roid doughnut solution! Could only get better with some Red Green Duck tape applied to keep it in place, after all we don't want to run over it if it were to pop out of there during a rough stretch. Watch me do exactly this while I laugh about it too.

I demo'd a ferris last summer. Our Deere dealer sells them coincidentally. The smooth ride was certianly impressive versus the Deere. Unfortunatley, it had a gas engine that was a bit underpowered, so it was hard to get a feel for the total package. Have kinda gotten used to how Deere mowers cut and how well the decks are built. I asked the sales guy why Deere doesn't just put a suspension on their mowers. I said if you had a deere mower with a ferris suspension, you would really have something. He said if I could wait a bit longer I would likely see something coming down the pipe in the future.

My in laws have a 757 they bought new. When we bought our house, my wife said she'd do all the mowing if I bought one like her mom's. At that time, the 800 series was all you could get new. I was dead set on buying one. The dealer offered a demo. Took him up on it. He lost a sale because of the demo. Didn't like how it handled and wasn't as user friendly. Scoured craigslist and found a 737 with 100 hours for about 2k cheaper than the new ones. Bought it and have never regretted it. I've had to put in one seat switch and a battery over 7 years. Will keep it until it's flat wore out.

My dad (deceased) bought a 757 while he was in his 90's and handled it well-- farmer instincts. I still use it at his place, also use a JD 345 (54") for a neighbor & a JD 275 (48") of my own. They don't compare- ride and what you get done with the zero turn.

I'm going to assume you meant Toro Z instead of Toto. The rears on a Toro should be 13 psi. If you want to run less, you should relevel the deck, as it will be lower in the rear now. If you have questions, the email option is open. I know this because I used to assemble Toro Zs at the factory.

I have a Z-930a with 72'' deck and it will flat out mow some ground. When I first got it I did not like the ride quality so I bought a seat kit and installed it. It made a huge difference and now I can mow a lot faster without damaging my kidneys or back. The only problem I had with the 930 was a chronic problem with the pto system not engaging. After the dealership replace the switch 3 times, new stator, new stator wiring, every micro switch, voltage regulator, computer, and battery. Seems to do fine now but that was very annoying. Surprised how good this thing cuts for its size. A true mowing beast.