ZTR Repairs

[MiniDave]

For those who don't have to mow acreage, a ZTR is a Zero Turn Radius mower - I used to mow three acres of hills, around a pond, tons of trees and such with a 4 ft. brush hog behind my Yanmar Diesel 4X4 tractor and it usually took 4 hours or so and tore up the grass something awful with those lugged tires when the ground was damp.



I bought the mower in 2004  - an Exmark Lazer Z commercial grade mower with a 52" deck. At the time I thought I was crazy for spending that much money just to mow grass but it cut my mowing time down to 1 1/2 hours and gave a much better job - no more tearing up the turf and fear of falling over on the tractor on those hills!

In the 12 years I've owned it I've only done routine maintenance like oil changes and sharpening the blades, that's why I bought commercial grade instead of "homeowner" - it's been completely reliable. I did have to replace the front tires this summer too as they had cracked from running them underinflated - I have hedge apple trees and the thorns are killer. I replaced them with foam filled tires so that won't happen any more. The last time I used it I noticed a pretty good growl as the blades wound down after I disconnected the drive, so I decided to pull the deck and check it all out. Turns out only one set of spindle bearings were bad but I decided to change them all "while I was in there"! Prices for spindle bearings were all over the map, some places were charging as much for one bearing as others were charging for a complete spindle assembly! I finally found a place out of Oregon that sold US made bearings for a reasonable price, so I ordered all six. While waiting for the bearings I took the aluminum spindle housings up to school and used the bead blaster on them, they came out looking as new - I also cleaned up the shafts and gave a coat or two of paint on the exposed steel parts - I know it won't last but it looks nice for now. I'll bet I cleaned 25lbs of grass out of the nooks and crannies of the deck!

Once the bearings got here I used my 20 ton press to reinstall them in the housings and put it all back together again today. I still have to order one of the idler sheaves, you can't replace the bearings in them and one is a tiny bit rough so I'll pick one up tomorrow, then it will be ready to go back on the mower....that will have to wait till Sat when my neighbor will be home to help me lift the deck off the car lift. BTW, that scissor lift has been a godsend, not just for working on cars but also as an adjustable height table to build stuff on or work on this. Best $600 I ever spent for the shop!

[John Gervais]

... Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors lawnmower...


Nice mower!  That's really the way to do it.  I'd be tempted to paint the underside of the mower deck with POR15 (either silver or blackcoat) just to see how durable it really is.  When fully cured, it's also quite the slippery surface, so cleanup might be really easy with the hose.

Hyacinth and I have been discussing the need for a riding mower lately.  I spent 3 hours walking behind the 6hp push mower, while my neighbor's landscape service guy raced around on his fire-breathing dragon.  It sounded like a hurricane, and he was having an absolute blast - though his overzealous driving did shred quite a bit of turf.  Our estate is only about ½ an acre, as are our neighbor's, but it takes forever to maneuver between the trees and obligatory flower bed.

Flat tires - don't I know them...  Wild plum trees (mirabella) and thickets with hawthorn trees (rather savage) which we're slowly landscaping out and replanting with hazelnuts, cherries, apples and a walnut or two.  Our wood chipper has probably 4 patches in each tire, and my wheelbarrow tire is hanging in the basement, having been replaced with an 8 inch rototiller (tractor tire).  Looks really purposeful too...

[Willie_B]

Always something when your a property owner. :-[ Looks like the lift is a storage place for metal also.

[MiniDave]

Yep, I bought some more metal to finish up the engine stand, and it always helps to have some angle around to build with....

[MiniDave]

Here's what happens when it rains on all your days off and gets hot and sunny on all the days you're at work, so you can't mow for weeks at a time.....