If ride quality is a major consideration, take a look at Ferris. They build consumer grade as well as full-on commercial ZTR's with independent suspension, coil overs on all four corners. I had a customer that had a big Ferris with a caterpillar diesel. The downside to full suspension, is usually cut quality. As the mower floats up and down, the deck does also.
I went mower shopping a couple of weeks ago and looked at 52" Scag Tiger Cat holdover from last year at my local dealer which was marked down enough to get me close to my budget range.Well I thought I would take a couple days and look at some other dealers.Later that day I started to show signs of Influenza and felt pretty rough for the next week. I stopped by the dealer on Monday hoping that the Scag would still be there and was informed that It sold on Saturday.
I mentioned to the owner that my ground is extremely rough and said my next choice for a zero turn would probably be a Ferris with the independent suspension.The owner said that he still had a Simplicity Citation XT holdover which is pretty much the same mower as a Ferris.
I bought the Simplicity and mowed with it yesterday. The Citation has a 52" fabricated deck and a Kawasaki 23hp engine.I am impressed with the ride and quality of cut over my 18 yr old 48" Encore ztr.I cut my mowing time of my main yard from 90 minutes to 40 minutes.The Simplicity is quite a bit faster and a lot smoother.You do still feel some bumps but they are not bone-jarring,shoulder dislocating jolts.
The only disadvantage so far of the new mower is it has a longer platform for your feet which makes it harder to nose in to corner areas around the house and landscaping.I only scalped one spot which is far less than my old mower!So I this point I would say that I am happy with my purchase and time will prove whether the new mower will be durable enough.Thanks again to the forum members for their input and guidance!
