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Thread: Hustler or Walker?

  1. #31
    Member SouthCoast Walker's Avatar
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    Default Re: Hustler or Walker?

    Quote Originally Posted by gcsmow View Post
    Sometimes I mow areas diagonally and it cuts areas of grass that don't normally get cut (humps and dips)

    Or you could just buy a Walker and those areas would get cut every time with the floating deck.

  2. #32
    Senior Member gcsmow's Avatar
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    Default Re: Hustler or Walker?

    Yeah what a great idea!! Spend $h@t loads of money and still leave ruts!

    Floating deck? Huh!! yeah right. An experienced mid-mount operator can do just as good a job as a mega buck Walker and I have proven it, (that's what the deck lift pedal is for) and have more money in the bank.

    The only reason I have gone on about this issue so much is that some of the things they (Walker) are saying in their brochures and web site about mid-mounts are misleading at best or just plain wrong.

    And I have used both machines. When I first started out in the mowing game I bought a front mount (admittedly it wasn't a Walker) based on what I read on their website and it was a total failure. Then I bought a mid-mount and have literally never looked back (especially when turning close to walls, letter boxes etc) . As I have said before other peoples experiences are different to mine and I respect that. So at the end of the day we will have to agree to disagree. You are not about to sell your Walker based on what I have said and I am not about to sell my mid-mounts and get a Walker based on what you have said. In my experience Mid-mounts are the way to go they are just more versatile, cost less easier to transport,will and are the best choice for my situation.

  3. #33
    Member SouthCoast Walker's Avatar
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    Default Re: Hustler or Walker?

    Quote Originally Posted by gcsmow View Post
    Yeah what a great idea!! Spend $h@t loads of money and still leave ruts!

    Floating deck? Huh!! yeah right. An experienced mid-mount operator can do just as good a job as a mega buck Walker and I have proven it, (that's what the deck lift pedal is for) and have more money in the bank.

    The only reason I have gone on about this issue so much is that some of the things they (Walker) are saying in their brochures and web site about mid-mounts are misleading at best or just plain wrong.

    And I have used both machines. When I first started out in the mowing game I bought a front mount (admittedly it wasn't a Walker) based on what I read on their website and it was a total failure. Then I bought a mid-mount and have literally never looked back (especially when turning close to walls, letter boxes etc) . As I have said before other peoples experiences are different to mine and I respect that. So at the end of the day we will have to agree to disagree. You are not about to sell your Walker based on what I have said and I am not about to sell my mid-mounts and get a Walker based on what you have said. In my experience Mid-mounts are the way to go they are just more versatile, cost less easier to transport,will and are the best choice for my situation.

    Happy for you to keep your mid mount, no arguments from me there, its just your fantasies about leaving ruts and knocking over letter boxes etc that I can't handle

    You have a couple of valid points like needing 3 ramps or full width ramp to cater for centre rear wheel and needing more room on the trailer to cater for longer length of outfront deck, price to purchase.

    But you also skew the argument with some nonsense remarks about leaving ruts and wearing out engines because they are mounted to low and not having greater trim ability etc.

    At the end of the day you will keep your mid mount for every day use, and I will keep my mid mount for when I want to chop and drop and my Walker for when I want to manicure, vacuum and cut hours off my brushcutter trimming. Now hopefully everybody is happy

    PS: You may not appreciate the difference between the Walker deck which rides independent of the machine and falls into valleys and con-cave's and midmount deck which hangs on chains or linkages and generally follows the flight of the wheels. Makes a big difference in the real world of mowing.

  4. #34
    Senior Member gcsmow's Avatar
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    Default Re: Hustler or Walker?

    Quote Originally Posted by SouthCoast Walker View Post
    Happy for you to keep your mid mount, no arguments from me there, its just your fantasies about leaving ruts and knocking over letter boxes etc that I can't handle

    You have a couple of valid points like needing 3 ramps or full width ramp to cater for centre rear wheel and needing more room on the trailer to cater for longer length of outfront deck, price to purchase.

    But you also skew the argument with some nonsense remarks about leaving ruts and wearing out engines because they are mounted to low and not having greater trim ability etc.

    At the end of the day you will keep your mid mount for every day use, and I will keep my mid mount for when I want to chop and drop and my Walker for when I want to manicure, vacuum and cut hours off my brushcutter trimming. Now hopefully everybody is happy

    PS: You may not appreciate the difference between the Walker deck which rides independent of the machine and falls into valleys and con-cave's and midmount deck which hangs on chains or linkages and generally follows the flight of the wheels. Makes a big difference in the real world of mowing.
    OK Great,

    Maybe a Walker does have better trim ability but how much of a saving really is it? Especially (as I said before) when doing a neat catching job where you usually trim before you mow and if you maneuver the machine around to get that last little bit of grass compared to doing what you can then snip the rest It is Probably not as much of a saving as their advertising gurus would have us believe. That is my point - that they are exaggerating the truth, but they are not the first company in the world to do that and they probably won't be the last.

    I have heard several mower mechanics talk about Walker engines being in the dust and not lasting as long as in other machines. I am not making this up. Another thing Walker claim is that having a Horizontal shaft engine is more fuel efficient as opposed to a vertical shaft.... WTF?? I don't get it!!

    Obviously your real world of mowing is different to mine, in my case it is mostly get in, knock the grass arse over head as quickly as possible then piss off to the next one. In that scenario a mid mount zero turn with a 52 or 60 inch deck is pretty hard to beat. I do manicured lawns to over-grown jungles and everything in between and in my experience a mid-mount handles all of it better than my old front mount did.

  5. #35
    Senior Member gcsmow's Avatar
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    Default Re: Hustler or Walker?

    Oh yeah I nearly forgot the most important thing. Hustlers are better than Walkers because Hustlers have the same name as a dirty magazine, but Walkers are what old people in retirement homes use.

  6. #36
    Member SouthCoast Walker's Avatar
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    Default Re: Hustler or Walker?

    Quote Originally Posted by gcsmow View Post
    OK Great,

    Maybe a Walker does have better trim ability but how much of a saving really is it? Especially (as I said before) when doing a neat catching job where you usually trim before you mow and if you maneuver the machine around to get that last little bit of grass compared to doing what you can then snip the rest It is Probably not as much of a saving as their advertising gurus would have us believe. That is my point - that they are exaggerating the truth, but they are not the first company in the world to do that and they probably won't be the last.

    I have heard several mower mechanics talk about Walker engines being in the dust and not lasting as long as in other machines. I am not making this up. Another thing Walker claim is that having a Horizontal shaft engine is more fuel efficient as opposed to a vertical shaft.... WTF?? I don't get it!!

    Obviously your real world of mowing is different to mine, in my case it is mostly get in, knock the grass arse over head as quickly as possible then piss off to the next one. In that scenario a mid mount zero turn with a 52 or 60 inch deck is pretty hard to beat. I do manicured lawns to over-grown jungles and everything in between and in my experience a mid-mount handles all of it better than my old front mount did.
    I mow caravan parks and being able to slot the deck under caravans and low lying branches saves me hours in trim time, being able to hang the deck over the edge of a gutter and swing it in behind a tree saves me lots of time.

    Where the engine sits is close to irrelevant, its where the air intake sits that makes the difference. And most current walkers have 2 stage filters with a pre cleaner mounted up high on a remote intake tube. Plus the low mounted engine gives better balance and a lower centre of gravity.

    Haven't heard them claim that the horizontal crankshaft is more efficient but it probably is, it is common knowledge that a horizontal crankshaft engine is more robust and longer lasting. On a vertical shaft engine the pistons are configured on a horizontal path which leads to more wear on the bottom sides of pistons and elongated cylinders.

  7. #37
    Senior Member gcsmow's Avatar
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    Default Re: Hustler or Walker?

    OK I take your point about being able to mow under caravans, you can't do that with a mid-mount, point taken....

    But what I will say is that you would want to be absolutely sure of what was underneath the caravan before you go poking your expensive deck underneath one, especially considering what is used with caravans (rope, tent poles, tent pegs, chain, electrical leads, water pipes etc). I don't know the specifics of your job but if I was doing it I would mow as close as I could to the caravan then poison underneath it (the permanent ones anyway). Do your best then poison the rest! If the owners of the park didn't like it I'd tell them to get someone else. The best thing about having work coming out of your ears (like me) is that you don't have to worry about being ridiculously fussy and you don't have to worry about customers who are ridiculously fussy. As for mowing under low branches - that's easy. Chainsaw or hedge trim the low ones off, that is what I do with my regular jobs, it might take me longer to do the job the first time but I get that time back after the 2nd or 3rd visit. Correct me if I'm wrong but you can hang the side of a mid mount deck over a gutter can't you? I can't swing my deck in behind a tree admittedly but how long is is going to take to trim what you missed? You still need to trim along the concrete edge anyway (or poison it) Obviously you and I do things differently and that is why we use different machines. No one is right or wrong here we just do things differently obviously.

    I spoke to the council bloke who has a Toro mid mount 23 HP Kawasaki like mine. It's got over 1500 hrs on it and still going strong. So as for more wear associated with a vertical shaft, how much of an issue is it really in the real world? Change your oil regularly and clean the air filter and it will last much longer no matter whether it is horizontal or vertical shaft.

  8. #38
    Member SouthCoast Walker's Avatar
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    Default Re: Hustler or Walker?

    Quote Originally Posted by gcsmow View Post
    OK I take your point about being able to mow under caravans, you can't do that with a mid-mount, point taken....

    But what I will say is that you would want to be absolutely sure of what was underneath the caravan before you go poking your expensive deck underneath one, especially considering what is used with caravans (rope, tent poles, tent pegs, chain, electrical leads, water pipes etc). I don't know the specifics of your job but if I was doing it I would mow as close as I could to the caravan then poison underneath it (the permanent ones anyway). Do your best then poison the rest! If the owners of the park didn't like it I'd tell them to get someone else. The best thing about having work coming out of your ears (like me) is that you don't have to worry about being ridiculously fussy and you don't have to worry about customers who are ridiculously fussy. As for mowing under low branches - that's easy. Chainsaw or hedge trim the low ones off, that is what I do with my regular jobs, it might take me longer to do the job the first time but I get that time back after the 2nd or 3rd visit. Correct me if I'm wrong but you can hang the side of a mid mount deck over a gutter can't you? I can't swing my deck in behind a tree admittedly but how long is is going to take to trim what you missed? You still need to trim along the concrete edge anyway (or poison it) Obviously you and I do things differently and that is why we use different machines. No one is right or wrong here we just do things differently obviously.

    I spoke to the council bloke who has a Toro mid mount 23 HP Kawasaki like mine. It's got over 1500 hrs on it and still going strong. So as for more wear associated with a vertical shaft, how much of an issue is it really in the real world? Change your oil regularly and clean the air filter and it will last much longer no matter whether it is horizontal or vertical shaft.
    Yeah I would be bulking at either vertical or horizontal shaft engines.
    The main Caravan Park I have mowed for the past 20 years was my own so I know it like the back of my hand. I am poisoning deep under vans but don't like the look of it protruding out onto lawn areas.

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