Good afternoon, I'm Pete Farm from AHW in Urbana, Illinois
and today we're going to talk about the difference between a tractor-style
lawnmower and a zero-turn lawn mower to help you
decide which is best for your application.
Let's take a look
So let's start by talking about the tractor. This style of mowing machine
is very familiar to a lot of people. If you've driven a golf cart or an
automobile you're familiar with a steering wheel
and foot pedals. This has the easy twin touch
direction system on it. Two pedals on the right.
Anyone who has driven a steering wheel machine is
familiar with this already and can jump on it with a short learning curve
and get to mowing faster.
In comparison, the zero-turn uses a two-stick control method.
So there's a steeper learning curve taking
a little bit longer to get used to that machine and get to work
The second thing I'd like to talk to you about the traditional tractor style
lawnmower is its versatility. You can add front blades, you can add
snow blowers to this machine as well as rear pulled equipment such as
fertilizer spreaders, lawn rollers, aerators, and even a tiller...
making this machine more versatile and easy to use year-round.
Compared to the tractor, the zero-turn is a great mowing machine which you can add a material collection system
and you can pull carts, but the zero-turn is limited to the mowing season.
The final advantage of a tractor over a zero-turn is its stability.
On a tractor-style mowing machine, we have rear wheels driving
and we have front wheels steering.
On a zero-turn, the rear wheels do both.
So if you have steep ditches or a hillside to mow, the tractor wins in this instance
because of its stability, steering, and control.
Now let's talk about some advantages of the zero-turn style riding lawnmower.
You can see we no longer have the hood. That opens up the front of this tractor
for one, visibility, and ease of entry.
You can step up onto this machine and sit down.
Once you're in that rider position, you can see everything in front of you
right at your toes.
Another advantage to the zero-turn is its maneuverability,
and that's done by using the two sticks. These two sticks
steer the machine by making one side go faster than the other, making those right
and left-hand turns. Making it a truly zero turn machine
It can turn right around within its own radius.
In comparison, the tractor is limited to its turning
radius by its frame and its front-wheel steering
The final advantage to a zero-turn riding lawn mower
is the reduced time of mowing. Two things lend itself to this,
the ground speed of a zero-turn is slightly quicker than a tractor, also
its maneuverability, hence the name zero-turn.
When you come to the end of your pass you can turn right around in a
zero turn. The tractor has a wider turning radius.
So if you have relatively flat ground, lots of obstacles to mow around, and a
short time to do it, zero-turn winds hands down.
Again, I'm Pete Farm from AHW. Thanks for hanging out with me today
and talking about the differences between the John Deere tractor style
riding lawnmower versus the zero-turn riding lawnmower. I hope this video
helped you decide between these two machines
but if you have any other questions, free to visit any of our
Illinois or Indiana locations and remember AHW is Always Here When...
there's work to be done.