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- From: "Mark Angermayer" <hangermayer@isp.com>
- To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
- Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Subject: mowing orchards and pastures
- Date: Sun, 31 Aug 2008 16:39:07 -0500
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Toni,
I don't know anything about Acreage Kunz mowers,
but let me give this disclaimer, I have a very negative opinion of
Swisher. I've only owned one of their mowers and that was enough.
Here's the story.
About 4 years ago I was looking for a new ZTR
mower. I did some researching online and narrowed it down between two
mowers. A Cub Cadet or a Swisher. I talked to several dealers, and a
rep. from Swisher. One dealer, who sold both Cub Cadets and Swishers told
me he was no longer going to carry Swisher because Cub Cadet was a better
mower. This should have been a red flag but I dismissed it, assuming he
had another incentive to sell me a Cub Cadet. So I ended up with a Swisher
ZTR 42" cut. I bought it because it had wider back tires than a Cub Cadet,
so I thought it would get around better. When I went to pick it up, they
started it and I thought it sounded pretty noisy. Another red flag, but I
was excited about my new purchase, so I took it home. That's when I
started to have to work on it. After I ran it a bit, I realized it
shouldn't be that noisy. After looking it over, I figured out one of the
idler pulley springs was loose causing the belt and pulley to excessively
vibrate. No problem, I tightened up the spring (although it should have be
done at the factory) but the mower was still loud. From looking the
mower over, I realized it was cheaply built. For example, instead of
welding the frame together, they pretty much bolted everything together. A
problem, because after a while, some of the bolts rattle loose (so plan on
keeping a wrench and plenty of locktite handy). I also found out
there are very few grease zerks on the mower to be able to grease
moving parts. That might not be an issue in some circumstances
when good quality sealed bearings are used. But Swisher used such cheap
quality bearings, that I started having trouble after two years. I
had to replace some spindle bearings on the mower deck. I showed the
bearings to another mower dealer, and he said he'd never seen such small
bearings on a mower deck. The third mowing season, I had to replace more
bearings. On top of that, the steering linkage for the two steering bars
was also made as cheaply as possible. I was constantly having to
tighten it back up and readjust it. The mower never did cut good. It
would cut OK if the grass was cut every week. But if the grass was the
least bit tall, it would clog and gag the mower about every foot. Also the
underside of the deck would fill up fast with matted grass (fun to clean
out). The mower mowed at a much slower pace compared to other ZTRs, even
in good grass. And it never did get around good. It would get stuck
on a wet banana peel and I'd have to back up and go at it at a different
angle. The last straw was this season when the electric clutch went
out. I thought for such a small junky clutch, that only lasts four
years, they would want much for a new one. Wrong, $245 bucks for the
clutch, without shipping. Swisher should change their name to
Swindler.
BTW- My brother-in-law bought a Cub Cadet ZTR about
a year ago, and it is a much better mower. It's a lot heavier built with
much better steering linkage and a welded frame. It mows at 7mph. I
don't know about reliability because he hasn't owned it long enough (and I've
heard some negative things about Cub Cadet's reliability) but so far he likes
it. I bought a Ferris commercial mower ZTR, and so far I like
it.
Mark
KS
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-
[NAFEX] Subject: mowing orchards and pastures,
Toni Pralle, 08/31/2008
- Re: [NAFEX] Subject: mowing orchards and pastures, Mark Angermayer, 08/31/2008
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