# Old zero turns.



## Simpleprestige (Apr 20, 2007)

Does anyone know who invented or came up with the idea for a zero turn and when. The other day I was riding the atv down to get the mail, and I came across this older generation man driving one of the weirdest looking contraptions. It had a single spindle with two wheels on the back. A huge engine. An old metal seat. The mower deck was lifted up on a pivot and it was almost perpandicular to the ground. That has to be an older mower, because the ones that are made nowadays don't have the weight on them to withstand the mower tilting like that. Another thing I found interesting is that he was driving right down the centerline of the road.

Also, what is your experience with zero turns. We bought an Encore Xtreme 60 in. to mow five acres with at the old house, and regretted it. We should have gotten the hint when the dealer said they were not going to sell encore anymore because the Toro's were better machines. IT was delivered and the first time we mowed with it, the belt snapped and one of the pulleys broke cleanly in half. Naturally I was not impressed. We continued to have problem after problem until it had 25 hrs on it. Then another pulley broke and we fixed it, then sold it to someone who thought they were getting a great deal. Ha Ha.

The other problem with it was just the quality. IT advertises a fast cut, but it will bounce you right off the machine going on flat ground at half speed. A zero turn is great, but when you would turn, the casters on the deck would rip up the lawn. I was told that the founder of Exmark went out and created encore. Fat chance. Has anyone else had these problems with other brands.


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## Morgan (Oct 26, 2006)

My dad has a Toro Im not sure of the model but it has the bagger build onto the back and has a 25 hp motor on it. The motor has blown up twice on it and you cannot mow wet grass with the bagger. Dad got so mad it at he took the bagger off and threw it away. It was constantly stopping up. I like running it but dang you would think that a $10,000.00 mower (NEW) would last a while. No he didnt byy it new he bought it used and I knew the guy that he bought it from, that guy was buying a Walker.


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## chrpmaster (May 5, 2004)

I had a Grasshopper for several years and really liked it to mow the lawn with. You are right about getting a good shaking over rough ground but I always figured that was my fault for driving too fast. They don't have shocks on them 

I eventually got the ground smoothed out enough to not have the problem. My caster wheels swiveled smoothly and the only time I tore up the grass was when I started out too fast and spun the tires. Other than that I never had much of a problem with mine. Just normal maintainence. I have never used any other brand so I can't speak to the quality issues you ran into.

If you are still interested in a zero turn I would look at one of the better brand names and look at a good used one to save some money

Andy

P.S. I know Gravely made a steering sulky for their two wheel tractors which worked similar to a zero turn back in the 50's. There are probably others that are older


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## Simpleprestige (Apr 20, 2007)

We will not buy another one. Our lawn is too hilly and we just bought a new rider. I know that there aren't any suspension systems, but ours didn't even have springs under the seat. It was just bolted to the frame. I heard that Simplicity zero turns have some form of suspension, but it would seem to me, that unless you have afree floating deck, there would be too much cut fluctuation. I have yet to see a floating deck on a 0 turn


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