Learning in skill

Dan in Ohio · May 6, 2017

Wondering if it is even possible at our age but we will try. Monday we will be getting a new zero turn lawn mower delivered . The salesman said to my wife, do you know how to operate one of these? I just looked away. Well then he said, you are just going to have to practice, there is a learning curve. I have already located several empty five gallon buckets to simulate tree stumps and bags of water softener salt to be like her flower beds.

Our SIL says we mow like farmers, I say we do not know any other way. LOL

rustyfarmall · May 6, 2017

There is a learning curve. I will recommend that your first experience should NOT be backing it out of a pickup truck. Don't ask how I know.

ray hofstetter · May 6, 2017

I prefer my tractors...but we have a z turn at work. Takes a little getting used to but they're okay. Stay away from hills until you're comfortable with it unless you're a thrill seeker. Also, if you get stuck, you ain't going to get off and push it . .

old popper · May 6, 2017

I bought a used Snapper yard cruiser once. (it steered with a single joystick) First time around the house I tore all the downspouts off. My Grandson, (about 8 or 9 at the time) says "Here Grandpa, let me show you how to do it." Dang, if he wasn't an expert right off.

coshoo · May 6, 2017

I bought a used one at an auction, and it didn't take any time at all to get the knack. Just start mowing about a mower's width in from the edge of the lawn, and by the time you finish, you'll be ready for the backswath.

VicS · May 6, 2017

Got one last yr. Does take a little learning. But yesterday I mowed up a place on our pond bank I had always sprayed. Mine won't turn over sideways. Will just slide down. Sometimes fast. But have learned to always go faster with down hill tire. Be steady with up tire. When starting just set speed with one hand and steer with other hand. Oh I am 71

westga · May 6, 2017

Be sure to post some videos.

Will Herring · May 6, 2017

Just go find an open spot and play around with it until you get a feel for the controls. I find it takes a little bit to get back on stuff because all equipment has a different feel or foot/hand controls do different things.

Dave H (MI) · May 6, 2017

You will love it. A couple of things. Keep the chute down. When you go around objects closely, use the side opposite the chute. You can actually dig pretty deep into a tree or such with the blade if you get the chute side too close. Be REALLY careful on dewey or damp slopes, they can/will lose control if the wheels get onto a slippery surface. Go slow on slopes. You get a better cut as the blades get past true sharp if you go slower and anyways it is safer. When you pass a fixed object on the chute side, look away from it. Rocks and sticks get past the chute, hit a rock or tree and next is your face. It hurts. Best yet, wear goggles. Good luck, be careful, stay safe...it is a good thing.

notjustair · May 6, 2017

When they first came out grandma decided she wanted one. She used it all fall and winter to drive out to the barn to check for new calves. That really helped. It didn't help the side of the Buick initially.

To some people it's never intuitive. My wife would be an example. Every tree and the back of the mower would be bashed in if I continued to let her use it. During field work or harvest she will use her old cub cadet if the yard gets tall, but the ZTR stays parked for her.

IowaJohn · May 6, 2017

We got 1 with lap bars the neighbors laffed said we'd never be able to run it. They had a cub cadet zero turn with the steering wheel and that was the only way. My wife promptly told them that she runs the skid loader all the time that this wouldn't be much of a problem and it hasn't been except for getting her to mow up and down a steep bank that we'd done with the push mower before.

flying H · May 6, 2017

Farmer I know had a self propelled swather with tiller handles like a ZTR. Wife always mowed hay and loved it. When she was sick and hay needed mowed he crawled in it. After a few spins zigs and zags and near misses he parked it and waited till she felt better.

Tech 7 · May 6, 2017

One of my first experiences with a ZT machine was unloading it a a local fair. I had several machines (regular mowers) on the tilt and load truck with the ZT close to the front. I had everything else off and went to BACK this thing down the deck. It kinda resembled a drunken duck until it got away from me, I panicked and did an unintentional 180 and I drove frontwards off the deck. I had just got it parked when a man came over and said I like how you did that, your pretty good with that machine!

BobReeves · May 6, 2017

Bought a Hustler 60" last summer and I'm 72. Does take a little practice. Mine is now missing the rear of the left fender due to cutting it too sharply around our porch and the deck is kinda scratched up from getting too close to the rock border around a flower bed.

Wife hasn't got up the nerve to play with it yet. I have told her to take it out in the open field I usually mow with a tractor and have at it. Maybe someday, in the interim I'll probably keep hitting the porch and putting more scratches on the deck.

wisbaker · May 6, 2017

Heck with all the skid steers and swathers out there along with crawlers and equipment I've never heard of or seen I would think farmers are better equipped to deal with ZTR's than the cidiots who only know how to drive cars.

wisbaker · May 6, 2017

One more thing, there is a learning curve when you get that FIRST two cylinder John Deere on the place, or if you grew up with poppin johnny that first tractor with a foot clutch. By the way I've always wondered why some idiot put the starter pedal on a late model A John Deere right where the clutch pedal should be, did they have something against starter bendixes? Don't ask why I wonder this!

Married2Allis · May 6, 2017

First outing on a ZTR turned too fast and slammed into a concrete wall and bent the front wheel. Then later took out a mailbox with the rolbar. LOL

mj · May 6, 2017

I bought a Husqvarna Articulated mower with the mower deck out in front- it has HST drive and a steering wheel. Works good.

gtractorfan · May 6, 2017

You may not believe this but I was with my dad to the John Deere dealer when he bought his 757 zero turn. Dad was over 90 at the time (was just a few months shy of 100 when he passed away) but good driving skills. When dad wasn't close by the salesman said to me, "if he can't handle it we'll take it back and trade for something else". Dad took to it like a duck to water. And I don't remember having any difficulty getting used to it either. It's like riding a bicycle, soon it's second nature.

jddrawbar · May 6, 2017

Funny this topic should come up now, bought one a couple weeks ago. The wife likes to mow
and she wanted one, sooo here it is. This thing would be competitive in drag races. Speed is
way to sensitive, little movement forward and it launches. Manufacture says operate at full
throttle only. We have 30+ trees in the yard and it is not going to work for us. Open spaces
and it will eat up some grass. I wish we had a demo before purchase, it's going to be sold.
By the way, wife has had her private pilots license for 30 yrs.

Steve@Advance · May 6, 2017

My mom bought a zero turn (at my insistence) to mow her 3 acres of trees. This was to replace the stolen riding mower, an old manual shift, hard steering clunker.

My thoughts were her mowing days were about over due to her age, and that I would be doing all the mowing.

To my surprise, she jumped on, took off mowing like a pro! It was much easier than cranking on the steering wheel, jamming the shifter, working the clutch...

It will be much easier than you think. Just do some slow speed practice maneuvers. The one thing they don't like is mowing on a sloped surface, especially wet. The front tends to want to turn down hill. But for getting around tight areas, they can't be beat!

GreenAcre · May 6, 2017

Don't worry about it and congratulations it puts mowing in a whole new class. You will enjoy it greatly except that you can't hold a drink...

Dan in Ohio · May 6, 2017

I meant to say "Learning NEW skill". Sorry

just another old geezer · May 6, 2017

If you can drive a skid steer loader, you will have zero problem with one of these. You just have to stop if you want to take a drink from your (water) bottle

Tom in Ga · May 6, 2017

I bought one last summer and was trying to get the hang of it.I was bumping into stuff everywhere. My 11 year old grandson got on and ran it like he had sense. He said just like a grocery cart Pop. Now sometimes pushing a cart in the store I tell my wife, just like a Zero turn. I really like it now but the first hour or so I was sick of it.

Hay hay hay · May 6, 2017

Hard to explain, but some folks can do it in 10 minutes and some will never get it in 10 years. The really good drivers move like poetry. Others , more like a drunken chicken.

3000OH · May 6, 2017

"pond bank"? Please be careful...a guy your age around here, lots of ztr time, had it slide sideways on a pond bank, then overturn - in the water. He didn't make it.

JerryS · May 6, 2017

You're never too old to learn--but you may be too old to learn to do it well. Heck, I'm 75, and I've started learning how to play the banjo. I'm very encouraged so far. As to the zero turn, once you get used to it you'll never want to go back to what you had before.

Learning in skill

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