What Does PTO Mean On A Lawn Mower?

A PTO, or "power take-off" system transfers some of an engine's power to other equipment, such as the mower deck of a lawn mower. While PTO systems are best known for powering farm equipment such as hay balers and brush mowers, they're also found on riding mowers and lawn tractors suitable for mowing your yard. In addition, some trucks employ PTO systems, including the first Ford F-Series Super Duty truck, to drive accessories like dump beds, snow plows, garbage trucks, and cement mixers.

Mower PTO systems are of two main types: shaft or belt-driven. Shaft-driven PTO systems are often more robust with direct gear drives. Belt-driven PTOs, on the other hand, are driven by tensioned pulley systems that can slip under heavy loads. While shafts, gears, belts, and tensioners can fail under use, repairing the components of the belt-driven PTO is often less expensive. However, even shaft-driven PTO systems can employ belts as part of their final drive systems.

While big expensive farm tractors are often used to mow large tracts of grass and brush, compact tractors, lawn tractors, and riding lawn mowers employ PTO-driven mowers more often used on neighborhood lawns, golf courses, football fields, and baseball outfields around the country. These PTO-driven mowers typically fall into one of two categories: shaft-driven pull-behind or belt-driven belly mowers.

Pull-behind shaft-driven finish mowers are often tasked with maintaining large, well-kept expanses of grass such as sporting fields and golf courses. John Deere's Flex-Wing Grooming Mowers offer cutting widths up to 17 feet and are suitable for tractors with 40 PTO horsepower or higher. Smaller versions are also available and have lower horsepower requirements.

For comparison, the largest zero turn mower currently on the market is the 120-inch cutting width WZ1000 Commercial Zero Turn Mower from Lastec. The WZ1000 is powered by a 49-horsepower Kubota three-cylinder turbo-diesel engine. According to Lastec, the massive zero turn can mow up to 8.73 acres per hour. PTO-driven mowers are an excellent option if you require heavy-duty power for larger spaces.