lawn mower suggestions?

[Magageddon]

I just moved to a new to me house in PA and I how have 4 acres worth of lawn I'll be maintaining. The hill is pretty steep, so I think that rules out a zero turn mower unfortunately, I think I'm now leaning towards a kabuta with a front end loader attachment for the snow season. I'll get some pics of the land tomorrow, thanks for any suggestions.

[Siress]

Probably not what you want to hear, but I'd seriously consider a Huskvarna automower for the unobstructed areas, and something cheap but effective for the more rugged areas - like an older model tractor from someone local. Some of the robotic mowers are better on inclines than any riding mower/tractor - but viability depends on how large of a hill you're dealing with. If you've got money to burn, the passionate mowers I've talked to swear by Scag.

[un2xs]

You could fence the property and get some goats/sheep and either a guard donkey or llama.

[netsurferdude2]

Is your 4acres scattered or one field/area?

I handle some pretty steep hills with my zero turn, its just a matter of where you can attack the hill from. If you can run up and then reverse down, any mower will do it.

On the back of my property is a 7acre hill. Open field with minimal trees so for that I use a bush hog on the back of my front end loader via the PTO.

For all the stuff around the house under 2 acres the zero-turn is amazing. I have a simplicity 50/52" deck bought back in '05 for about $6k. Engine replaced twice. The wheels, bearings, all replaced at least once. The deck has been welded more times than I can remember. One of the hydraulic pumps is near dead and that is a project for the spring. I don't know if I'd recommend Simplicity but I know the prices have come down a lot since I bought this.

[Tarsun2]

are you going to bag, mulch, or side discharge?

[glaman5266]

I think I'm now leaning towards a kabuta with a front end loader attachment for the snow season.

I use the neighbors' (in-laws) big John Deere yard tractor with a 72" mower deck for both our lawns. I mow approximately 8 acres and it cuts the time on the mower immensely. If you have any other reasons to pick up a big yard tractor it might be worth it.

I don't have a zero-turn as I prefer tractors, but I feel like zero-turns have come a long way over the years, and they're popular. We sell Ariens/Gravely (all their mowers are zero-turns) at the hardware store I work at & they seem popular & decent. We also service them, and 95% of the things we service are either routine maintenance or user neglect/error. Again, I have no zero-turn experience, but this is what I see at work.

[SignOfZeta]

We have two houses next door to each other and two John Deer X300 series to mow a combined 4 acres or so. One tractor is about a decade newer than the other. The yard is very hilly, weirdly shaped, and full of trees. A solid chassis is essential for us.

We mow in the summer, bag the leaves in the fall, and run a snow blower in the winter as well as haul crap around with a 10p cart. We will wear out cheap stuff and zero turns are just…please. I’m working here.

Very versatile, no gimmicks, no complaints.

The D series JDs, the big box models, are relative crap by comparison, essentially identical to all the other stuff in that price point. It gets real at the X series.

[Mr. Hick]

if you have a rugged hill a swisher tow behind mower and a 4 wheeler is a very good option. If you are getting a tractor large enough to run a front bucked just buy a woods mower and disregard the idea of having a finish cut lawn.

Zero turns are amazing, but not utility machines. they cut grass like a bastard. They don't plow snow, They don't act as wheel barrows. They only cut grass, and they are phenomenal for it.

[Magageddon]

uploaded some pics, its like 3 sections to mow, the front which is not pictured, but not that large of an area. The backyard is the biggest chunk, its a slight decline and then a bigger dip going down hill, first pic is me on the deck from above, second pic is me looking towards the house from below, Last pic is also my land, everything up to that blue house. I dont plan on removing the grass/sod while mowing, there isn't any rocks or other terrain issues from what I've seen.

[BigRed]

I've had several mowers over the years of varying quality, but by far my favorite lawnmower is my teenage sons!

[Siress]

terribly inefficient on fuel...

[Siress]

uploaded some pics, its like 3 sections to mow, the front which is not pictured, but not that large of an area. The backyard is the biggest chunk, its a slight decline and then a bigger dip going down hill, first pic is me on the deck from above, second pic is me looking towards the house from below, Last pic is also my land, everything up to that blue house. I dont plan on removing the grass/sod while mowing, there isn't any rocks or other terrain issues from what I've seen.

Now that you've added pictures, I'm doubling down on robotic mowers. I'd invest in 2 or 3 of them (~$15k) to avoid spending half my summer weekends mowing unobstructed lawn.

[SignOfZeta]

Now that you've added pictures, I'm doubling down on robotic mowers. I'd invest in 2 or 3 of them (~$15k) to avoid spending half my summer weekends mowing unobstructed lawn.

Some people have endless faith in technology...to me this plan sounds like a hilarious expensive PITA vintage Goofy cartoon waiting to happen, not to mention a very large amount of money spend on hyper limited-use equipment to placate a lazy person. You can’t pull a stump with a Roomba.

Should we also all buy Tesla’s with FSD so we can make $30k a year off them as robotaxis?

[Siress]

Why use an engine, slacker? Get to scything.

[Mr. Hick]

Okay, now that I see the pictures and see that its a perfectly manicured lawn: Beautiful spot. I love it. buy a zero turn. buy the biggest one you can afford. A 5' or 6' mower will get that done in about 1.5 hours. I would also REALLY recommend it has suspension. at least a suspension seat. zero turns are fast and efficient but you are riding right over the rear axle and all bumps become projectile bumps over 3 miles an hour.

I love cutting grass. I push mow my relatively small lawn at home. Part of my job is maintaining our small towns 5 parks, that's about 30 acres of grass. The biggest mower we have is a Scag Cheetah with a 72' deck. That can cut flat, even terrain at about 7-8mph and go through 2-4 acres an hour depending on lawn conditions. You don't want to sit on a homeowner sized tractor with a woods mower for the 4--5 hours it will take every week (or other) to mow that lawn.

You don't want to mow your lawn 4 nights a week either, in hour long sections. it sucks the life right out of you.

[Paintslinger16]

you are correct a lawn tractor or compact tractor is your best bet.
I had a no suspension zero turn, they are fast, but pretty rough on the body, and after I developed
back issues, I started having problems using my zero turn.

I first started cutting less, and I was still getting beat up, so I swapped back to a JD tractor, I also had the snow blower attachment so used it all year round.
Z turns while fast, also have a few limitations mowing while even a little wet can tear up a lawn way easier than a tractor. Z turns also have issues on steep inclines, tractors do not.

Tractors are also easier to mow slower, Z turns are not, they are meant to go fast.
tractors are also more versatile for yard maintenance, towing a utility cart for landscaping or picking up the yard.

The front end loader, for snow removal, is fine for areas that don’t get that much or that often.
My area gets such extreme amounts ( 165 inches this winter) and I have plowed snow for work and home for 40 years using everything imaginable, the front loader bucket is my least favorite.

[Tarsun2]

true, the zero turns are great for cutting grass but thats about it.
need to haul wood or stone? forget the zero turn.

garden tractors can do a little of everything but nothing all that well.
they can cut grass and pull a cart/trailer but thats about it. you could put a little plug on it but it dosent have the weight, traction, or speed to move allot of snow.

you could do an actual tractor with a pto and hydraulics... but thats overkill if your just cutting grass.



aside from cutting grass, what else are you looking to do?