Toro TimeCutter MAX 54-in 23 -HP V-twin Zero-turn Riding Lawn Mower
With about four acres to mow across a broad variety of unique and challenging terrains, this piece of equipment is put to the test every time it comes out of the garage. Which is a lot.
Summary
As with any new machine, there is a break-in period out of the box, and Toro tells you as much in the literature. If you’re used to operating broken in equipment, this (and any new equipment) is going to feel a little tight. It took two, maybe three mows before it felt like the machine was fully powered and operating at its full range.
This thing handles like a dream, especially on relatively flat ground. The steering bars are intuitive, responsive and predictable. I’m surprised by the relatively lightweight construction of the bars and linkage given their critical role, but they get teh job done and I haven’t had any problems with them. In tight spots like between trees and around fence lines, the TimeCutter excels for a machine of its size. You can slide the edge of the mowing deck right along an edge or obstable and be cuttign within inches of it under the guards. The sheer size of the flat mowing deck means that even with the anti-scalping wheels adjusted correctly, a foot on the deck height pedal can help navigate uneven terrain safely.
The mower performs even better than expected on sloped terrain… so long as it’s dry. If the tires are gripping, this thing will keep a line until the second it rolls over. Damp or wet grass, though, is where you need a bit more driving skill. It slides on hills, especially in wet grass, and I’ve effectively had to learn how to drift it; not ideal, but manageable. Drifting on an upslope is no big thing, just a little slow-speed sliding around. Drifting on a downslope, though, can be intense. There are a couple spots where the name of the game is pretty much set a slide path, gun it, and hope for the best. I now plan my mowing sessions with the gas tank weight in mind and skip the steeper areas if it’s damp.
Build Quality & Maintenance
This machine is pretty simple, in a good way. I’ve already had it apart a few times. The layout is straightforward, the parts are generally accessible, and while Toro doesn’t give you a maintenance guide for anything beyond the basics, once you’ve been inside it, it makes sense.
The deck height adjustment system is mechanical and is as simple as it gets. Removing and replacing the mower deck to access the blades is a breeze, with easily accessible steps and clear instructions. The build feels durable overall — nothing fancy, but not flimsy. Most importantly, it has proven to be repairable. By necessity, this machine is run hard, so I am absolutely going to break it… which is fine, so long as it can be fixed.
Regular maintenance like oil changes and cleaning is easy. It's the deeper procedures where you’ll need some persistence — Toro doesn’t make it easy to find detailed service docs. YouTube and the forums help, but you’ll be guessing a bit your first time through.
Clumping has been minimal as long as grass is mostly dry, I keep the blades sharp, and make a second pass. I haven’t installed the mulching kit, but I think it exists and would probably solve that problem entirely.
I bought this mower because I needed an efficient workhorse; something fast, wide, maneuverable, and tough enough to handle 4+ acres of highly mixed terrain. Based on old receipts, lawn service costs over a thousand bucks a month here, so hiring it out was not an option for me. At the same time, spending my entire weekend mowing wasn’t a realistic option either.
When I think about the property this machine needs to tackle, I break it down into four distinct zones: an open, flat upper field with smooth ground and good drainage, a moderately sloped lower field that holds the runoff from the entire property above so tends to stay very wet, a lawn under a towering pine grove with grass constantly competing with shade, pine debris, and encroaching roots, and a technical set of steep grades surrounding an old tennis court. I needed one machine that was likely not going to be a specialist in any one of those conditions, but that would be competent in managing each of them. I compared the Toro against a Cub Cadet and a John Deere in the same class, and frankly any of them would probably have been fine, but the 23HP Kawasaki on the Toro is known to be best-in-class, and the Deere was a thousand dollars more just because it was green (I assume). So the Toro won out, and the place nearest to me that had it was Lowe’s, so that’s what i bought and that’s where I bought it.
Handling & Performance
Cut Quality
The cut you get out of the TimeCutter is really solid. Across all zones — even the root-bound, pine-needle lawn — it holds a consistent line. The strong vacuum clears light debris and keeps the cut uniform even on a single pass. The wide 54” deck makes quick work of the flat field, but still manages to tuck into tighter areas without scalping. That reminds me: adjust your anti-scalp wheels. I missed that one on my first cut… the wheels come factory set at their highest point. I scalped… a lot. With the wheels correctly set, though, scalping becomes effectively a non-issue. The sheer size of the flat deck combined with the anti-scalps, though, means that the cut is often high in spots when navigating uneven terrain. Mowing a crosshatch or even adding a third pass pretty much eliminates this issue, and looks great too. That issue is not a function of the machine’s design; the fault lies 100% in my choice to buy a mower with an absolutely massive mowing deck.
Grass clumping has been minimal as long as the grass is mostly dry, I keep the blades sharp, and make sure to make a second pass. I haven’t installed the mulching kit, but I think it exists and would probably solve that problem entirely.
