What to buy?

I want to buy a new or slightly used garden tractor with a 46" mowing deck. I want it to be the same quality as my 21 year old Cub Cadet. I'm not interested in diesel, water cooled, or ZTR. So far everything that I have seen has a stamped deck. Are they as good as a welded deck? What should I buy?

Deere has always treated me right. Stamped decks hold up very well and I abuse mine mowing over tree roots and mowing down saplings up to an inch or so in diameter. Remember that you will get what you pay for. Just because it's green doesn't mean that all decks are equal.

There are several Ingersoll garden tractors that meet your requirements. The decks will be 48 inches in cutting width, not 46 but the decks are not stamped out. The engines are all Vanguard Series Briggs
and Stratton with HP ratings to 23. Power steering is available. I trust that you realize that units in this category are in the 10 grand area and up... depending upon which model and the options chosen.
Used, low hour units do appear on Craigslist occasionally but they do not last long. Cub Cadet no longer makes a garden tractor and the garden tractor field is getting narrower all the time. These days
you are down to Deere, Simplicity and Ingersoll.

Aside from cutting grass, what else do you want the tractor to do for you?

Throw in my $.02 cents. The welded decks are super and I have chewed up a few regular decks myself. Here is a tip about regular decks. I live in south jersey where everything is a giant cat box. Sand can really do a number on your deck. Buy a set of "Sand" blades. They have very low lift and don't chew holes through your deck. I have two Husqvarna mowers that were built by AYP/ American yard products. If you want to spend $2000.oo on a good deal go to your local SEARS. Look for the machine that is black with federal yellow wheels, deck, and bumper. That is their "Heavy" machine. It is a AYP unit. They mow very nicely and have the briggs twin v engines. Best advice I can give. Tom is correct on the other stuff. The toy tractor field changes all of the time!

The plain fact of the matter is nobody builds them "like they used to" except Ingersoll and after you price one out you will know why they only build a handful per year.
Air cooling and no diesel limits the choices. It is correct that CC no longer builds a "garden tractor" meaning one that you can pull a moldboard plow with. However if you are mowing the lawn and blowing or pushing snow, and dragging lawn trailer around they do still build a decent "lawn tractor" that is a LOT more tractor than the ones for sale at TSC or the box stores. Look up the XT3 GSX series or go to a Case/IH farm dealer to check them out, fabricated decks are an option. Ingersoll's are great tractors we own three but as I said new ones are hardly a viable option other than cult following due to limited production and the pricing that goes along with it. I am no Deere man but with you specs and requirements that's where I would point you, again to an Ag dealer not the box stores. Add diesel and liquid cooled to your list and you can check out Mahindra, Kubota. I dont know anything about Simplicity as there are not any to speak of around.

Here's the thing, Butch..... The so-called garden tractors produced by MTD with the Cub Cadet badging on them even 21 years ago (1994) were still not equal to what International Harvester put out back in the day. The OP has not mentioned which CC tractor model he has currently so it is difficult to say whether he is talking about a lawn tractor or one of the 3000 Series Cub Cadet models.

His budget is going to dictate whether he is in the ballpark of a true garden tractor or not.

Not to take any thing away from you or that it makes any difference at this point in time husqvarna was never made by ayp as husqvarna is a swedish company which is owned by the swedish parent company electrolux & was in existance long before ayp was formed.

When electrolux bought wci in the mid 80's which had an extensive line of major/minor name brand home appliances & hvac controls it also got weedeater,poulan & roper line of outdoor products,after a couple of yrs electrolux dropped the better quality roper line in favor of low cost entry level lawn/garden tractors to be competive with mtd & murray and formed ayp which is/was sold under their name,craftsman & several midwest/west coast chain store house brand names.Several yrs ago electrolux decided to spin off it's outdoor products division & it's my understanding all brands(weedeater,poulan & ayp)are now made under one roof in the husqvarna plant,in addition husqvarna has the same attitude as sears,they want to be the sole source of parts,the prefix code for husqvarna sold by sears is 944 if you check at sears parts direct very few items with 944 prefix come up in assembly drawings/parts listings when searching most sears mod# tractors & in most case's you have to goto a husqvarna dealer for parts as they can cross ref craftsman to husqvarna mod#.

Thanks for all of the good advice guys. My old mower is a 1993 CC model 1864. And all I'll do with it is mow lawn or maybe pull a cart. Now I have to do some more research.

Tom, Time sure gets away from me. When I read 20 years old I was thinking pre MTD, Duh.
The series 3 CC are decent lawn tractors. I was just looking them over when at the dealer for some tractor parts. Been me I would have changed the sheet metal so they look nothing like the box store models. To the casual price shopper they look the same as the box store models at 3X the price.

Well all I know is every part I have purchased for my machines were from a Husqvarna dealer or on ebay they are listed for husqvqrna and others but they are a MUCH better machine than MTD. I have two troy ponys that have done yoeman service for almost ten years but the bigger a badder Husqvarnas Mow circles around them. I stick with my recomondation for him to take a look at any Husqvarna or the biggest sears machine. I think he will be very happy with one.

Your 1864 CC is listed as a garden tractor and it came with power steering as standard. At 880 LBS and with a Kohler Command twin under the hood, it certainly ranks up there with other garden tractors.
The problem for you is that machines equal to what you currently own are well above the 7 grand price point. You won't find anything with power steering below that figure. The gap between true garden
tractors and even the best lawn tractors is pretty wide in both quality and price.

If you could find a true.... low hour Ingersoll 4020 PS with the 48 inch deck for around the 3000 dollar mark or less, I think that you would be a happy camper. Low hours means less than 500 on a clock
that works and has never been replaced or disconnected. Some 4020's came with Onan twins and some came with Vanguard engines, both of which are top notch performers that are equal to the
Command Pro engine in your Cub. Good luck in your search.

I fully agree with you as to the quality of the husqvarna being better than the mtd and ayp units,I was only trying to clarify to someone following this thread that anyone buying an ayp unit isn't fooled into thinking they are getting a rebranded husqvarna unit which is of a totally different/better quality even though they look similar although I have seen some of the craftsman models of tractors being rebranded poulan units & assigned the same 917 prefix as ayp units by sears.Several yrs ago when I had a poulan tractor a guy down the block had a craftsman & when we parked them side by side they were identical in looks/parts the only difference being craftsman was green & poulan was black with a different mod#.

Another thing you might check into is rebuilding. Cub Cadet owners enjoy great product support both from OEM and aftermarket. This can workout if you do your own work but seldom if you must hire it done. If you just want to upgrade to a newer unit that is totally understandable also.

7400 pro series Craftsman 26hp Kohler black-yellow wheels 54 in cut parts supported at sear and Husquavarna dealers.
kj

These companys just keep messing with us.

I never wore out the deck itself on stamped decks. The bearings yes. I like a stamped deck 2 blade (46" cut) mower because it doesn't
clog readily when subjected to wet grass, like when you get up in the mornings when it's cool and want to mow before it gets hot. I
have 2 fabricated decks on 2 different brands of ZTs, both with 3 blades and they are very easy to clog and for me, washing out the
deck, or scraping the crud off the inside of them is just a task I don't need to do if I can help it. Husqvarna is the brand of my
conventional mower mentioned above but don't buy it if it has the 20 hp single cyl. Kohler Courage engine........not a good engine as
numerous folks on here besides me (block crack and rattled apart at 300 hrs) have attested.

Next is soft ride but I found some 5 buck springs to fix that from current edition Cub Cadets online parts.