Get FinancingKnow Your Lawn Mowers
Remember hearing “the grass isn’t going to cut itself” when you were a kid? Your parents were right, of course, but now that you’re a little older and wiser, you’ve probably learned that if you have the right tools, any job—including cutting the grass—is a whole lot easier.
That’s where TractorHouse.com comes in. There are dozens of mower brands out there, some specializing in residential lawn mowers and others whose product lines run the gamut from modestly sized walk-behind mowers all the way up to golf course rough mowers with 16-foot (5-meter) cutting widths, and everything in between.
What if you have several acres to mow each week? What if you’re a lawn care contractor and have yards all over town to cut? This site and its accompanying print magazine offer a wide selection of walk-behind mowers, stand-on mowers, riding lawn mowers, and zero-turn mowers designed to save you time and effort.
TractorHouse.com also offers for-sale listings that will be of interest to professionals who care for heavily manicured turf, such as sports fields and golf courses; you’ll find a wealth of precision mowers designed to produce a specific playing surface on a course’s greens, fairways, rough, slopes, tees, or trimmed walkways.
Residential & Commercial Mowers
Sellers on TractorHouse.com list all types of mowers to fit residential and commercial needs. The best choice for you depends on the size of the area you need to mow, how quickly you need to mow, and whether you’ll need the additional functionality offered by an attachment such as a front blade, lift kit, spreader, or snow blower.
Walk-Behind Mowers
In addition to the entry-level, 20- to 25-inch (51- to 64-centimeter) walk-behind mowers commonly available on TractorHouse.com, you’ll find commercial-grade models fitted with high-performance engines and wider decks to make quick work of tall or wet grass. The largest walk-behind mowers offer deck sizes similar the what you’ll find on professional stand-on, riding, and zero-turn mowers with cutting widths between 42 to 54 in. (107 to 137 cm).
You’ll also find walk-behind brush cutters offering the power to clear fields, paths, and trails of dense brush or thick weeds. Most of these machines have gas engines, but an increasing number of products from Toro, Cub Cadet, and others are battery-powered electric models that run quieter and don’t emit harmful CO2.
Riding Lawn Mowers
Riding lawn mowers fall into two subcategories: lawn tractors and garden tractors. While both types resemble small tractors and can be used with various attachments to aerate soil, spread seed and fertilizer, and perform other tasks like hauling materials, garden tractors often include more powerful engines and more durable components, frames, and overall construction. Mowing widths for riding lawn mowers typically range from 42 to 54 in., though some of the largest decks measure 60 in. (152 cm) or more across.
Compared to zero-turn and most stand-on mowers, riding lawn mowers lack the ability to make sharp turns, but because they can be used in combination with attachments, riding lawn mowers offer greater versatility for those that need a single machine that can handle a variety of turf maintenance jobs. TractorHouse.com also offers thousands of new and used sub-40-horsepower tractors for sale for performing lighter-duty jobs around a homestead or farm.
Stand-On Mowers
Stand-on mowers have a small standing platform on the back of the mower rather than a seat or lengthy operator’s platform, and their compact design makes them highly maneuverable when mowing landscapes populated with trees and bushes. Stand-on mowers also take up less space on a trailer than a riding or zero-turn mower, making them easy to haul from one jobsite to another.
In addition, the standing position also reduces back strain for operators, and the ability to quickly step on and off the mower makes it easy to remove debris, downspouts, and signs from the cutting path. Stand-on mower cutting decks often measure anywhere from 32 to 72 in. (81 to 183 cm) wide.
Zero-Turn Mowers
Zero-turn mowers, sometimes called “ZTR” (zero-turn radius) or “z-turn” mowers, allow operators to use either the left or right rear wheel as a pivot point to effectively maneuver around all types of obstacles. In addition to being able to get as close as possible to bushes, gardens, edging, and trees, zero-turn mowers increase productivity by virtue of their wide, 42- to 72-in. mowing decks.
Zero-turn mowers also often boast relatively high mowing speeds, thanks to a high-performance rear powertrain, which allows operators to make even more efficient use of their time. The sensitive steering and quick acceleration of zero-turn mowers can present safety issues on steep hills, however; ZTRs are generally not recommended on slopes of more than 15 degrees or areas with sudden drop-offs.
Mowers For Golf Courses & Sports Turf
If you need to produce a playing surface with a perfectly uniform cut or the quality of your work is judged by the pristine look and feel of the grass, the turf care mowers that follow are equipped to efficiently deliver that next-level manicured appearance.
Rough Rotary Mowers
Ride-on rotary rough mowers provide golf course superintendents with a rugged cutting system and wide decks that cover anywhere from 6 to 16 feet (1.8 to 4.9 meters) in one pass. Because ride-on rough rotary mowers are designed to operate on or near playing surfaces, many include three or four wheels shod in tires designed for flotation and minimal surface damage. Some models offer four-wheel or all-wheel drive, as well as traction-control capabilities, to mow in wet conditions or climb hills without damaging turf.
Rough Reel Mowers
Reel mowers use cylinders of twisted blades that cut grass against a bottom blade or bed knife in a scissor-like action instead of the horizontal chopping motion of rotary mower blades. The result is a more consistent cut, making rough reel mowers the machine of choice on golf courses for areas like the fairway surrounds and walkways, as well as for parks and municipal areas like sports fields.
Operators can typically adjust the height of cut to fit the preferred field conditions or playing surface. And as is often the case with rough rotary mowers, rough reel mowers have some of the greatest cutting widths available, often measuring 6 to 12 ft (1.8 to 3.7 m) wide and up.
Fairway Mowers
Fairway mowers are similar in design to rough reel mowers, but with a reel-cutting action that’s adjustable to millimeter precision. Fairways often require cut heights between 3/8 to 3/4 of an inch (9.5 to 19 millimeters), and new fairway mowers often have password-protected controls so course superintendents can set cut height and limits on mower speed, turning speed, and transport speed to create a uniform fairway playing surface, regardless of the operator. To minimize grass clumping, some fairway mowers include powered roller brushes on the back of the unit. Common cutting widths range from 8 to 10 ft (2.4 to 3 m) or more.
Greens & Tees Mowers
Most if not all greens and tees mowers fall into one of two main subcategories: riding and walk-behind. Riding greens mowers tend to have greater cutting widths, around 59 to 62 in. (150 to 157.5 cm) than their self-propelled walk-behind counterparts, which typically range from 18 to 22 in. (45.7 to 55.9 cm). Both can produce uniform putting surfaces with greens cut to 0.12 in. (3 mm) or less.
These mowers also provide easy height adjustment to match grass on the tee to the turf on the fairway, while providing the same manicured look of the greens. Many models feature detachable cutting units to let you quickly repair, or upgrade, the cutting blades as needed, and as with residential walk-behind mowers, an increasing number of battery-powered walk-behind greens mowers are hitting the market all the time. John Deere says its E-Cut Electric Walk Mowers, for instance, can mow 50,000 square ft (4,645 sq m) on a single charge.
Trim, Surrounds & Slope Mowers
Severe inclines, such as hillsides and sloping contours around the green, require mowers with floating decks to avoid scalping the turf. Not only are the trim, surrounds, and slopes mowers for sale on TractorHouse.com equipped to quickly adjust to changing ground contours, but most also include traction systems and advanced brake systems to help mowers climb and stop on hillsides. These mowers can often disengage and raise their side-mounted cutting deck wings, allowing them to operate around tee boxes, walkways, and other areas with limited space.