My sister's husband was killed two weeks ago, and I used my late brother-in-law's zero turn mower to help my sister get her yard in shape last Saturday. I don't own one of those expensive mowers and I had never used a zero turn before, so my son made fun of me for going so slowly when the machine would have run MUCH faster if I had pushed it.

A lot of guys do mow very fast on those zero turns, but it seems like all the bumps and vibration from even a fairly smooth yard would shake the mower to pieces very quickly.

How do the bodies & frames hold up over time with all that fast bumping and shaking?

The commercial models like a Gravely, Exmark, Scag, etc are like a bullet proof tank. I promise you won't tear one up simply mowing with it.

Yeah, I run mine wide open. It's held up fine for 6 years.

What brand and model is it? If it's a box store/comsumer version it won't be as tough as a commercial rated mower from a dealer.

I've got a John Deere ZTR and I run it wide open.

My brother-in-law's mower that I used is John Deere EZ Trak 6xx (can't remember the exact model). He used to run it WIDE OPEN at what seemed 25 mph!

I run my Hustler wide open and will be doing that very thing about 4:30 today. I can mow in 1 hour with the Hustler 48" what used to take just over 2 hours on a John Deere 38" tractor style.

They are made to run wide open.

Made to haul ass and cut grass, open it up!

A good zero turn will cut grass as fast as you can stay on it. They're made to handle it. When I was teaching my daughter to use it, she referred to it(Hustler Fastrak SuperDuty) as a "go cart with blades".

Iv'e found that the bumps are just as bad wether you go fast or slow. the question is do you want 1hr of spinal damage or 3hrs.