I've considered doing a larger expansion tank with a quick connect for easy winterization but I hardly ever dry camp so I skipped it. I have one on the shelf left over from an RO filter system if I ever get inspired.

Dave, my Shurflow is variable speed. Their top units still are...

 

Yea, I know, but they have a built-in bypass, so the variable range is not as wide as it used to be. those old smart sensors did not, and those motors would slow to a trickle.

One thing I forgot to mention that I know helps a lot with quieting things down, is to get rid of any 90 degree elbows attaching to either the inlet or outlet of the pump. Once I did that, as well as adding the extra coil of flexline to the output side, things really quieted down.

 

Most people don't even know the deffinition of that word........

 

Thanks for the tips on the tanks. We don't dry camp much, so I'll likely skip the expansion tank on this RV, but if we upgrade in the next couple years to one with a larger water tank, I'll probably go for it. I may do a larger one with since our kids are such light sleepers. I'll just add the quick connect for easy winterization.

 

Last week at the campground entrance I filled my trailer's fresh water tank full. It took a long time to fill 120 gallons. I almost had to order out for pizza. However, the status panel only showed two "bars" out of four possible. This is the second time I've had that happen. The first time I thought I just didn't get as much in as possible. This time I know it was full because it came spewing out.

Is there any quick fix to get the level correct? Could it just be a sensor wire that is disconnected?

Someday I'll upgrade to better sensors so I can get better granularity on how full/empty the tanks are.

 

Jim,

The issue is whether or not you can get to your freshwater tank. You are correct that most FW tanks use a system similar to what our DEF tanks use. The sensors are literally metal pins in the tank with wire attached to each. the ground is at the bottom, and then 1/3, 2/3, FULL pins up the side of the tank. Could be as simple as the wire fell off at the tank, or worse, that the wire is separated somewhere between the tank or the sensor panel.

You could do a few tests at the tank end, and the gauge panel end, by closing the circuit between ground, and each of the sensor wires and seeing if the panel lights up.

 

Thanks Dave. I'll have to find those sensors and trace the wires. I was going to be looking at the fresh water tank anyhow to see if I could enclose it in foam board insulation.

 

To damper the sound of his water pump a friend of mine cut a piece of a stall mat from Tractor Supply and put it under his water pump. It's the kind that goes in horse stalls. It worked in his XLR to make it quieter.

 

Jim sometimes the noise your hearing isn't actually the water pump but the water lines pounding because of the pulsing water from the pump. Look for loose lines hitting against the trailer. I had a couple lines near the pump that I put in pipe insulation and it has helped settling the noise down.

 

Jim, I was about to type the same. Even with my rubber inlet and outlet isolation hoses, my PEX lines still shake from the way the pump pulses instead of evenly flowing the water.

 

I have had along time this year in the boondocks so you do become one with your trailer.

 

The Ariens frame is ROPS compatible. It is an option. I don't really want it and it would be folded most of the time if I had it. Honestly ROPS does no good without a seatbelt and I didn't notice seatbelts on any of them that had it (Scag, Exmark, etc.)

I can get the same machine painted red with Gravely stickers too, and I'm leaning more that way now. The Gravely variant offers the Kohler with upgraded air filters and 25 horse, or the FR 23 horse Kawi. This is for the 52" deck. Resale isn't an issue, I plan to hang onto it for a long time.

I've familiarized myself with both engines bit over the past 2 days. The Kohler has 2 levels, standard and PRO filtration. Ariens does not have pro filtration, Gravely does. The biggest (if not only) difference between the FR and FS Kawi appears to be the air filter setup also. To me, it looks like the FS engine cover and air filter would be able to be installed on the FR. This will take some more research. Given I'm running a dusty bagger right next to the air cleaner, I feel the best filtration is important.

Most machines I'm looking at are ZT3100's. The Exmark has 2800's And the Ferris has 3400's. Kinda just where the price point puts me.

Longest straight shot I have with no turns is 1 200' pass. Most everything else is under 100' with obstacles. Current tractor will mow at about 6. I think 8 will be ok. The JD and Ferris will go 9, I'm not really sure the yard will let me go much faster without crashing.

Spindles are aluminum and appear pretty beefy. They have more meat than my current Wheelhorse spindles, especially around the mounting flanges. I have cracked one of those in 9 years. Everything I'm looking at has aluminum spindles except the Ferris.

All in all, I'm still only mowing .9 of an acre. I normally just buy what I want. Talking to this dealer made me think that I may just be going too far overkill and just wasting money. I want this purchase to last 20 years, which in all honesty will only be 8-900 hours. It checks a lot of boxes like wider tires than a lot of the others and the frame is substantial. The Scag frames all seem on the skimpy side to me, tires are narrow F and R but it has the FX Kawi. The Exmark has weaker hydros and a Chinese knock off Honda engine, narrow rear tires. Ferris is a heavy, complex beast with narrow front tires and a Briggs engine. JD has the wide tires, FS Kawi, but the frame apears minimal, lights are weird, and its a $1500 premium over the very closely spec'd Gravely. There's ups and downs to every unit, just trying to find out which ones really matter to me.

Just another long winded post. Lol. This decision is eating me if it isn't completely obvious.

 

I am mowing my 1.25 acre lawn with a 2006 JD X324 and 48" deck. It won't win any races but with 4ws, I can do my lawn in about an hour. Depends on how tall I let it go and how many times I have to dump the bags. I thought about going bigger when we moved here but really, an hour is nothing to complain about. I guess the only way I'd go bigger now is if I clear more of my land and make the yard bigger. Then again, I don't want to see any neighbors so that's probably out...

 

I'm currently at about an hour and a half if it's dry enough to mow the whole yard. And I have to double cut the front yard to make it look nice. If I had something that cut nice enough to only do it once I could save 15-20 minutes plus there. And I keep removing trees to make life better.

Ultimately the deck height adjuster on the Wheelhorse is archaic (like 60's) technology and tears itself (the deck shell) apart, and really digs and sinks into soft ground. I'm just over it, and want something new. I like shiny things. Faster would just be a bonus.

 

I went to a JD dealer yesterday to pick up some filters for my 2210 (2004 model with ~900hours) and I saw a couple zero turns that had rear tires with no air in them, just a large tire with rubber support. Have you seen them? I thought it was a cool concept.