Registered: Oct 2013
Location: Maryland
Posts: 2633

Any of you guys own and mow with a Dixie Chopper ZTR???? Mother-in Law has one and she asked me to look at it. The belt that runs from the engine to the deck was broken. I got a new one and put it on. The mower runs fine. I go to try it out and the blades slow way down as soon as you get going in the grass. I tightened the tensioner and it was better but still not right. The blades slow down, not the engine.
I always heard these things were amazing grass cutting machines. This one seems to bog the blades in grass way too easy. I tried tightening the tensioner more and burned up the new belt. I would have thought that a mower like this would have no problem making 8-12 inch tall grass 4 inch grass but it wont do it. I realize it aint no bush hog but are these things not made to cut thick grass??? I know it is the "fastest" mower made but this one at least is not the most powerful when it comes to grass that's a little long.
Either there is something wrong with this thing or DIxie Chopper aint quite what it's cracked up to be...I don't like John Deere but my 925 ZTR blows this thing out of the water. Any ideas???? Thanks in advance for any info.

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Registered: Jul 2011
Location: tennessee
Posts: 2444

i had a lawn mower that did the same thing come to find out the belt i bought was one size to big, i went and got the right size belt and the thing went to cutting like it was supposed to do.other then that i have no clue.

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Registered: Oct 2013
Location: Maryland
Posts: 2633

Well, you were close...it was a belt problem. Some idiot switched the idler pulleys and had it routed wrong to boot. It works now. It is a fragile machine, I always thought the way everyone raves about these things that it would be built a lot better than what it is. I would never buy one. It has to have sharp blades on it or it will miss a lot of grass because it is so fast. I guess it's not a bad finish mower...the end results look pretty good, but it is definitely not a bush hog for thick tall grass.

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Registered: Jul 2011
Location: tennessee
Posts: 2444

glad you got it fixed,i hate all them pulleys most times i have to put the belt on wrong at least once before i luck up and get it right.lol

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Registered: Oct 2013
Location: Maryland
Posts: 2633

Well, to show ya how dumb I am...they had a picture right on the deck of exactly how the belts get routed and I still missed it!!!! They even had the different pulleys identified, I guess because to put the engine to deck belt on you have to remove one idler pulley.

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Registered: Dec 2006
Location: Springfield, Ga.
Posts: 4254

stick with the Deere.

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Registered: Oct 2013
Location: Maryland
Posts: 2633

Yep, I have owned or operated several different brands of ZTR's and I have to say that John Deere definitely has the best designed and easiest to operate blade height adjuster, among a few other things.
One thing I have never understood...why can't anyone make a lawnmower that is quiet??? I have had to wear hearing protection with all of them. Honda makes a generator, they actually call it an "inverter" that I use at my off grid cabin and it is as quiet as a car idling. I got it because it don't scare the animals away. I guess it's asking too much to have a lawn mower like that....

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Registered: Dec 2013
Location: PA.
Posts: 1738

quote:

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Originally posted by msinc

One thing I have never understood...why can't anyone make a lawnmower that is quiet??? I have had to wear hearing protection with all of them. Honda makes a generator, they actually call it an "inverter" that I use at my off grid cabin and it is as quiet as a car idling. I got it because it don't scare the animals away. I guess it's asking too much to have a lawn mower like that....

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Registered: May 2014
Location: Mt. Crawford VA
Posts: 74

I bought a Woods Zero Turn with a 61" front deck 11 years ago. It had 600 HRS on it then. I now have over 1800HRS on it. The only issue I have had was to replace the transmissions. Other than that I have no issues. I have cut grass that was 12" tall and never had an issue. When this one pukes i dont know what I am going to do. I am not looking forward to dumping $10,000 plus into a new one.
My parents have one of the Dixie Choppers and have nothing but issues out of it. They have replaced the spindles that the blades are attached to 3 times now. They have a flat yard with nothing that they would hit. They have also replaced the motor once and belts about 6 times in 9 years.

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Registered: Oct 2013
Location: Maryland
Posts: 2633

The deck does make a lot of noise...the blades have these big bent up ends to blow the grass way out there. It must throw grass clippings like 15 feet. It is the commercial 72" model. This one is a 2007 year model and I don't see an hour meter but it has already had the engine replaced once. You can tell by the rest of the machine that it couldn't have too many hours on it. It was never used in a commercial environment. I have heard that Dixie Chopper has made some significant quality changes this year.
One thing I was really surprised to learn was that once I got it working and tried it out the machine is not very good on a hill. It wasn't like it was going to turn over, it always felt very stable, but it sure lost traction and slid a lot worse than I ever thought it would. Maybe this one needs new tires. I told the mother-in-law that it needs a new owner.
I have never used a Woods ZTR but I have a big 3 point finish mower for my big tractor that was Woods. It works perfect.

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