Anyone with experience with Deere Z425 Zero turn mower?

Son just bought his first house. Negotiation with previous owner, and a generous amount of cash, and she left a Z425, 230 hours, looks like new. Think it has a 48" deck. Anyone with experience with one of these? What do we need to know? Any quirks to look out for? We have a Woods 625, but it's a whole different beastie.

I have a Z655, I think. Has a 54 inch deck. My biggest complaint, is if you go over a hump, it will pick a back tire off the ground, then send you where ever it wants. First time I ran it, I went over the bank, and down around the pond. Needless to say, I am a whole bunch more cautious then I was. Mine rides rough, but it will cut alot of lawn in a hurry.

I bought one new about 4-5 years ago. It's been a fine mower. I abhor mowing so I want something that cut's fast and saves me time. No breakdowns or repairs. I have almost 100 hours on it. The only thing that I recommend is running full synthetic oil. The engine design is such that running the mower on slopes will cause it to starve of oil. Full synthetic "sticks" better than dino juice.

I'm not a believer in synthetic oil. I own many things with motors, and the zero turn is the only thing I use synthetic in.

One other thing. The blades will bend if you look at them. I have put three sets on mine. I have also found that I can usually bend a blade back into shape. They get expensive.

JD and B&S oil filters are expensive. I cross referenced a Purolator for mine.

I bought a 797 this year. Can't give any comments on the engine, because the 797 is a diesel, but take it slow and easy the first time if he's never driven that type of zero turn.

I was used to mowing with tractors, and found it easy to spin around, scuff the turf, and slide down the ditches. Those caster wheels will always want to run downhill and you can't power out of slippery spots. You'll just spin circles around the wheel with no traction.

On good level lawn, it mows like crazy, so it depends on the terrain. I've got a lot of ditches, ponds, and swamp and it took some practice. Even then, I probably cut my mowing time in half.

I have one. mine has a briggs; your's prolly has a Kawasaki. only thing I've heard bad; is it's harder to change oil on the Kawasaki. I like mine; cuts twice as fast as a tractor. I did have 2 belts for the hydro replaced under warrenty at the 50hour mark. they do get dirty; I recommend at least blowing them off after each use.

This one has the Briggs. Fortunately, the ground he's going to be mowing doesn't have any severe slopes.

The Woods I refer to has 6 wheels - two casters to the rear, as well as a set of casters on the front(mower deck). So it is stand alone without the mower deck - and we also have a snow blower for it. Since it has it's own rear wheels, the deck is free to pivot and follow ground contours. Ours has a 61 inch deck and a Kubota diesel. Can cover a lot of grass with that one! Learning curve was pretty steep at first, and you can get in trouble real fast on slopes, etc.
Woods 6250

I have a 915...no complaints except the changing of oil is a bear. It rides like a buckboard...but I have the suspension setup for the seat ordered.
No real complaints...just be careful...they can be a handful.

If the Deere came with the property, I won't knock it,

I work around guys that mow hundreds of acres every year with zero-turns, and they all say "go Exmark or Skaggs.
The Deere mowers are built much lighter than those brands. They are probably more expensive, though.

Just sayin

Myron

That is the cheapest JD zero turn they make. It is the ones sold in Home Depot. The decks are real light gauge metal. The gauge wheels are kind of cheesy too. If your son's yard is a regular town/subdivision lot then he should be fine. If it is an acreage with a lot of rough mowing the Z425 will not hold up very long.

Guys run JD Zero turn mowers down. They compare commercial mowers of other brands to JD consumer mowers and then tell how JD it too light. To get the really good JD zero turn mowers you need to get into at least the 700 series and up.

Brother has a JD 757 that he bought used one off Ebay. It was a repo mower. He did a few little things and it runs great. My other brother has a Exmark that is the same size. The JD rides better. The Exmark goes faster. The JD deck picks up down grass better.

On changing the oil a couple of suggestions:

I use WW 10-30 full syn. I change oil once per year because the oil doesn't get dirty like paraffin oils do due to oil breakdown with them.

I removed the mickey mouse drain plug and plumbed an extension out of 1/8" or 1/4" depending, steel pipe to a convenient place to put a drain pan and capped it off. I put a piece of cardboard with some paper towels under the oil filter to catch that slobber. Now the annual oil change is a no brainer.

I have half a dozen mowers on the place. 2 are ZT with fabricated steel decks. Others are stamped steel. One is a JD. They all have several hundred hours or so on the clock.

None of the decks have shown to be a problem, nor any wear, give some paint worn off but they all have that, nor belts wearing out either. Only thing I changed over the years on any of them was an idler pulley on the JD. Even the plastic gauge wheels are still OEM. Figured they would wear out right off but not so.

I clean out/replace the air filters at the time of the oil change. Spark plugs last forever and there are no points to worry with now-a-days.

Enjoy your "gift" and don't worry about it. Do what I said and the PIA oil change will cease to be a PIA.

Mark