# Bad Boy mowers



## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Are Bad Boy mowers any good?Was looking at one at TSC for 5K with 60" cut.They had a 54" cut for 3500 but it wasn't built near as heavy.

Looks like a pretty good bang for the buck.It's not green but it don't cost 10K plus either.


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## brandenburgcattle42 (Sep 6, 2012)

Kinda look like a watered down Kubota.


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## rajela (Feb 15, 2014)

Pretty good mower have been running one for 4 seasons now. The only bad thing is mine had polymer pulleys on the mower deck they did not last long. One was replaced under warranty and I replaced one my self. They make a steel replacement.


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## bluefarmer (Oct 10, 2010)

Brother-in-law has had one for years, they are built 45 min east of me. They was built like a tank when they first started not so much any more. Wife and I was mower shopping last spring and considered one till he said to compare his with what they build now for the same mower, NO comparison, we went with a gravely an really do like it,


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

I like my Hustler. Well built. I think it is against tsc policy to carry the best quality.


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## rajela (Feb 15, 2014)

Not sure when they started building them but the son in law bought one the same time we did in 2010. It is built well


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## sethd11 (Jan 1, 2012)

My Grandpa has a 54" cut bad boy. Mower is built really heavy. Bad side is the handling on any hills is terrible. Not very balanced and hydraulics are slow to respond. Have put in a deck bearing with under 200 hrs. To quote my grandpa " last time I buy one of these pieces of s***."


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

In 2008 I bought a Woods at a dealer inventory auction. Not sure how many hours it had on it then, has the cute little 3 cylinder Kubota diesel in it.

Took it apart that winter and completely rebuilt the deck, and changed any bushings in the whole mower that showed any wear. Since 2008 I've replaced the front tires with the tractor type instead of turf type. Turf tires would get stuck in their own shadows. Replaced the electric clutch last year when the bearing locked up in it, also replaced the fuel shut off solenoid last year.

I usually keep three sets of blades on hand and usually buy one new set a year. I wear a set of blades completely out in three years rotating them with two other sets, so it mows a LOT of grass, almost three acres just in the main yard and ditches, then i can spent a few hours a week out back around the grain bins, hoop buildings and lanes.

Front mount is nice for getting under trees, fences, implements etc. Are horrible on steeper banks, best off to go up and down em instead of across. Mid mounts are supposedly better on slopes, but can't reach under stuff like a front mount.

If I was to replace the woods, no matter what it was it would be a diesel, I use less than half mowing everything than the old 20hp one we had would burn in gas just mowing the main yard.


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## RockmartGA (Jun 29, 2011)

Around here, most of the commercial guys use Exmark. My neighbor has a Kubota and really likes it. He should - as he paid something like $10-12 thousand for it.

General consensus is that a fabricated deck is the break point between homeowner quality and commercial quality.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

RockmartGA said:


> Around here, most of the commercial guys use Exmark. My neighbor has a Kubota and really likes it. He should - as he paid something like $10-12 thousand for it.
> 
> General consensus is that a fabricated deck is the break point between homeowner quality and commercial quality.


Absolutely, every mower I had before the Woods had a stamped deck, crack, crack again then crack some more. Haven't done any welding on the woods deck and have had it since 2008.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

I have heard mixed reports on the bad boy mowers....EXmark was a very good mower until the bean counters started flexing their muscle, now they're POS compared to what they used to be, if I buy a new one ( no intentions of doing so) I think it will be a grasshopper....look like very good mowers, also very pricey...toro used to be very good mowers, but like EXmark......I think anything you find new for under 5k is going to be crap, IMHO

Btw, I have EXmark 25hp diesel 72" deck and a Toro 27hp Kohler HORIZONAL shaft 60" (basically EXmark mower) both are six year old machines.

I cut about 15 acres, prolly 10-15 times a year


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

It looks like most of the zero turn mowers offer different grades of mowers.From el cheapo to commercial grade.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

somedevildawg said:


> I have heard mixed reports on the bad boy mowers....EXmark was a very good mower until the bean counters started flexing their muscle, now they're POS compared to what they used to be, if I buy a new one ( no intentions of doing so) I think it will be a grasshopper....look like very good mowers, also very pricey...toro used to be very good mowers, but like EXmark......I think anything you find new for under 5k is going to be crap, IMHO
> 
> Btw, I have EXmark 25hp diesel 72" deck and a Toro 27hp Kohler HORIZONAL shaft 60" (basically EXmark mower) both are six year old machines.
> 
> I cut about 15 acres, prolly 10-15 times a year


I think Dixie Chopper still makes a real good mower, neighbor had one that he mowed the lawn with and the pasture. Was mowing maybe 6-7 acres twice a week with it. Was always real happy with it. Dixie Chopper offers a Cat diesel in a few of them.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

swmnhay said:


> It looks like most of the zero turn mowers offer different grades of mowers.From el cheapo to commercial grade.


Absolutely, few years ago, any mower that was a 0 turn was a purty good one, but the cheapest was the Dixon, and it was a decent little machine in that time period. Anymore it's just the platform on which to sell the same ole crap....

I agree about the Dixie chopper, one of the fastest mowers around, ugly but efficient.....scag still makes a good mower I think, very few around these parts. I think some people would be better off in alot of cases with the standard yard mower/garden tractor, with the turn radius they have nowadays, makes them highly maneuverable, the main advantage of 0 turns.


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

Dawg- have you looked at "regular" mowers recently? You have to fork out a nice chunk of change to get past.that stamped deck. And if used just for mowing why not get the Z for close to the same price?


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

deadmoose said:


> Dawg- have you looked at "regular" mowers recently? You have to fork out a nice chunk of change to get past.that stamped deck. And if used just for mowing why not get the Z for close to the same price?


I have and I know they are pricey, John Deere used to make the best, looked at one the other day, the 7 iron series deck is decent...stamped and welded, think the one I saw was around 7k-8k? Maybe more....but my point is this, I see a lot of people that really don't use the 0 turn efficiency to their advantage, if its time savings then yes, but in a lot of cases I think most people would be just as happy...maybe more, with the "type that drives like a car" as I've heard it called....some people just don't adapt very well to the advantages of a 0 turn I guess is what I'm saying....used to have a 475? JD mower with a water cooled Kawasaki, it was a great mower, tight turn radius, back then the wife cut grass....she was real comfy on that one


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

When I was mower shopping a few years ago I tried to buy a couple used older mowers at auction. Couldn't bring myself to pay a couple grand for a 30,year old mower. And I didn't want to buy one now and another in a few years either. So far I am happy with my hustler. I am sure there are many others of equal or greater quality. Too many though much more shoddy.


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

somedevildawg said:


> I have and I know they are pricey, John Deere used to make the best, looked at one the other day, the 7 iron series deck is decent...stamped and welded, think the one I saw was around 7k-8k? Maybe more....but my point is this, I see a lot of people that really don't use the 0 turn efficiency to their advantage, if its time savings then yes, but in a lot of cases I think most people would be just as happy...maybe more, with the "type that drives like a car" as I've heard it called....some people just don't adapt very well to the advantages of a 0 turn I guess is what I'm saying....used to have a 475? JD mower with a water cooled Kawasaki, it was a great mower, tight turn radius, back then the wife cut grass....she was real comfy on that one


I'm with ya. We have a JD X720 with 27hp liquid cooled Fuel Injected V-Twin and a 54" deck, it rides like a Caddy. I just wish she had got the diesel, the gas engine is very thirsty. There's just too many hills and banks for a ZTR here.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

deadmoose said:


> When I was mower shopping a few years ago I tried to buy a couple used older mowers at auction. Couldn't bring myself to pay a couple grand for a 30,year old mower. And I didn't want to buy one now and another in a few years either. So far I am happy with my hustler. I am sure there are many others of equal or greater quality. Too many though much more shoddy.


Funny you should say that....I think hustler may have been the first "0 turn" on the market. Back in the late 70's I worked for a golf course, we had Yazoo (1 degree turn mowers), not exactly 0 turn but would turn on a dime with the wheel below your butt and a gear driven by a chain attached to the steering wheel....Wisconsin engine, boy did it drink the gas, but back about 78' we got a new machine, something we didn't do very often being a public course....but the new machine was for cuttin roughs, and it was a yellow hustler, big machine, prolly 35hp or more....but the big deal was hydrostatic drive, and independent at that, we had never seen anything like it.....think they ran that machine for 20+ years, they may still have it, have to check on it....


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Grateful11 said:


> I'm with ya. We have a JD X720 with 27hp liquid cooled Fuel Injected V-Twin and a 54" deck, it rides like a Caddy. I just wish she had got the diesel, the gas engine is very thirsty. There's just too many hills and banks for a ZTR here.


That is a common occurrence with ztr mowers, hence the standard rops on all models.....
Interestingly enuf, EXmark went away from the Kohler HORIZONAL shaft engine, in favor of the same vertical shaft engine, to hear them tell it...."to lower the center of gravity" I have my doubts about that.....if you've ever priced engines, you'll find that a Kohler HORIZONAL shaft is about twice the price of a vertical shaft of identical hp.....purty sure that was the reason....


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## AndyL (Mar 9, 2013)

9" disk mower works well in my yard. Just not good for trim work.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

I like cheap!!I've bought 2 mowers since we moved here 14 yrs ago from TSC.Hustler riders,first one was $800 and lasted about 7 yrs,sold it for $50 to get rid of it.It was intough shape but it did what was needed for $100 a yr.Bought another Hustler for $1400,a bigger one and have run that one for 7 yrs.It's still a decent mower and I'll prlly sell it for $200+ so will have less then $200 per yr in that one.Other then blades,belts and batteries no big repairs.

Just looking for a zero turn to speed mowing up some and not costing a fortune.Looked at a few and the mid range Bad Boy looks pretty heavy built compared to most all of them.There is a lot of difference in there lowest priced model to the mid range model.


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

I have no experience with using bad boy mowers but they seem to be present in a lot of bankruptcy auctions here. Coincidence?


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

swmnhay said:


> I like cheap!!I've bought 2 mowers since we moved here 14 yrs ago from TSC.Hustler riders,first one was $800 and lasted about 7 yrs,sold it for $50 to get rid of it.It was intough shape but it did what was needed for $100 a yr.Bought another Hustler for $1400,a bigger one and have run that one for 7 yrs.It's still a decent mower and I'll prlly sell it for $200+ so will have less then $200 per yr in that one.Other then blades,belts and batteries no big repairs.Just looking for a zero turn to speed mowing up some and not costing a fortune.Looked at a few and the mid range Bad Boy looks pretty heavy built compared to most all of them.There is a lot of difference in there lowest priced model to the mid range model.


Just saw a bad boy 54" new advertised here for 3,999.00 that's purty cheap....
Ain't gonna get an EXmark or equivalent for that $, says made in America ? Not bad, several dealers here, including Tractr dealers and TSC....I'm bettin TSC only sells the cheaper one, this one was at a tractor dealer...


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

The more expensive model has a welded deck doesn't it? Question is what about the hydraulic motors?


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

deadmoose said:


> The more expensive model has a welded deck doesn't it? Question is what about the hydraulic motors?


The ones I looked at TSC both had welded decks.The $5000 one had wider cut heavier built deck,larger tires and bigger hyd motors.IIRC.The smaller one was $3500.I do know the manager well and he tells me what is good and what they have had issues with.


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

So what did he say? Local tsc has only been here for a couple of years but this year is the first year I have seen bad boy there.


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

I am not an orange guy, but when I bought my ZTR, I thought Kubota had the best machine for the money. Bought a 48" comercial deck (not stamped) on a 222. It is gas and I now wish I had a diesel but who counts. It has been through hell and back mowing the horse trails and the lawn and around the barn. also the snow sledding slope. Really little maintenance cost other than blades. Would recommend to anyone.


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

I pulled some lit on my Hustler fastrak 54" 20hp Honda. It is 815# v 602# for 54", Bad Boy. But the bad boy is $3500. I think I paid a couple thousand more. They are shaving weight somewhere. But they are also shaving the price. May be worth it for you?


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

Hayman- how long ago how much? HP? Sounds like a great machine.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

It all comes down to how much you have to mow and how much time you have to do it in. The wife can't mow anymore so I do it in my "spare" time.

I just figured out doing the ditches along our property is 1.5 acres by them selves, the side yard is a touch over a acre and so on. If I do it all I'm mowing close to six acres,

Thing is if you buy a good one, it will last a long time with minimal upkeep.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

deadmoose said:


> I pulled some lit on my Hustler fastrak 54" 20hp Honda. It is 815# v 602# for 54", Bad Boy. But the bad boy is $3500. I think I paid a couple thousand more. They are shaving weight somewhere. But they are also shaving the price. May be worth it for you?


This is the one I was looking at it weighs 858 lbs and looks a lot heavier built then the next lower model.They have only been handleing the Bad Boy brand for a yr,they have the Cub Cadet brand also they have been selling for yrs but sitting side by side the Bad Boy looks to be ALOT heavier built.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/bad-boyreg;-60-in-747cc-zt-elite-zero-turn-mower?cm_mmc=feed-_-Home_and_Garden_Lawn_and_Garden_Outdoor%20Power%20Equipment_Lawn%20Mowers-_-Bad%20Boy-_-1073450&gdftrk=gdfV27960_a_7c2509_a_7c10868_a_7c1073450

The model below is a quite a bit lighter at 602 lbs.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/bad-boyreg;-54-in-27-hp-mz-magnum-zero-turn-mower?cm_mmc=feed-_-Home_and_Garden_Lawn_and_Garden_Outdoor%20Power%20Equipment_Lawn%20Mowers-_-Bad%20Boy-_-1047025&gdftrk=gdfV27960_a_7c2509_a_7c10868_a_7c1047025

I do see a place in town started handleing the ExMark mowers but I know him also and to buy from him you need to prepare yourself for a reaming.


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

My two brothers and my mom all have cub cadet riders. I have not been impressed. I figure if that kind of quality is acceptable on their cheap models the better ones are missing quality as well. No way no how would I buy a cub cadet.


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

Have you priced a Kubota in store? I never did when I was shopping and thought they were out of my price range. A couple years later I saw one at the dealer for somewhere in the ballpark of what I paid. I didn't look too close because I didn't want to feel bad about missing out on one


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

Lightweights, our JD X720 weighs in at about 1100# with a 54" deck


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## RockmartGA (Jun 29, 2011)

deadmoose said:


> My two brothers and my mom all have cub cadet riders. I have not been impressed. I figure if that kind of quality is acceptable on their cheap models the better ones are missing quality as well. No way no how would I buy a cub cadet.


I've got one of the Cub Cadet 50" zero turns. In my defense, I bought it in December two years ago at a very hefty discount.

It's definately "homeowner" quality. Stamped deck. When you back up, the mower blades shut off - I didn't like that. No other issues yet.....

I do like the Kawasaki engine. Seems to be a strong engine for this application. It is a gas hog though.

I think the same company who makes this Cub Cadet also makes the Toro mowers, and probably a few more.

I'll probably buy a second zero turn in a a couple of years to replace the lawn tractor style mower we also use. I'll probably take a long look at the Gravely's, but wouldn't rule out a Bad Boy.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

MTD just about builds all your homeowner models anymore. Just a rumor but I heard they even build John Deere's homeowner model for em. MTD also owns Troy-bilt as well.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

deadmoose said:


> Have you priced a Kubota in store? I never did when I was shopping and thought they were out of my price range. A couple years later I saw one at the dealer for somewhere in the ballpark of what I paid. I didn't look too close because I didn't want to feel bad about missing out on one


No I haven't but you can get a "Build your own price" off Kubotas website to get a list price.

https://www.kubota.com/configurator/productselector.aspx

List price on a diesel 60" cut $13,800

Residential grade 54" gas $5329

https://www.kubota.com/configurator/BuildMyKubota.aspx?pgId=2&bmId=902&sId=132&


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

deadmoose said:


> Hayman- how long ago how much? HP? Sounds like a great machine.


I bought the Kubota 222 gas with the commercial 48" deck for around 6K in maybe 08-09. cuts about an acre and 1/2 weekly or more often and a mile and 1/2 of trails and fencelines every 2 weeks. I would like to cut 60" some of the time but the ztrs are so fast and the 48 is so manuverable I like it better overall. Try to keep as much square footage in the discbine area vs the ztr area.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Pretty funny, went to Kubota's site, appears you can get about anything on a Kubota ZTR Z series mower except a Kubota diesel.

If I was flush with cash I'd probably replace my Woods with a Dixie Chopper with the 35hp Cat in it.

I think my woods is around 23-25 hp, but most of the time I only mow the main lawn regularly and have other areas out back that get mown every other week. If the grass gets tall enough the Woods is under powered for that,


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)




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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

Did you get a new mower?


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

deadmoose said:


> Did you get a new mower?


Me?Not yet.It's thundering and lightening out now I might have to go mower shopping today.The grass finaly started growing and needs to be cut shortly.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Saw the BB mower at TSC last week.....not a bad looking mower and the deck was much heavier than I expected. Hard to beat a ZTR for speed of mowing.

Regards, Mike


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