Lawn mowers

I've never owned a new lawn mower--something about spending huge sums of money just to cut grass has never made a lot of sense to me. But all of my clunkers are about worn out and I'm wondering if it might be time to rethink that position, as our lawn is fairly large.

In watching ads and looking around, it seems that a tractor type with a 48"-50" deck can be had for in the $2000-$2500 range. I'd really hate to spend much more than that if possible.

A couple of our closest dealers sell Simplicity and Cub Cadet. Just wondering if either of these is better than the other, and what experiences anyone has had with them. I'd be interested in hearing what others think.

How much lawn are you mowing?
If you have a lot of lawn a zero turn is the way to go IMHO.
I bought a used commercial mower and have never looked back.
It will cut your time in half, even if you don't run it at full tilt.
Not having to back up or go "round-and-round" really cuts the time.
Plus it leaves you with almost zero trim work to be done.
You can easily find one in that price range, specially in the off season.
You could get a home owner version brand new for right about that price.
I'm not impressed with the home owner versions though.
They tend to have weak frames that will bend if you don't have a perfect yard.

If you are mowing much yard then take your $2000-2500 and buy a 3-4 year old Premium quality mower. If you have a smaller yard then the cheaper new mowers will last for a while.

I mow about 1.5 acres , house and lots around my out buildings. I have owned and worn out 3 mowers, in the last 13 yrs. The first was a poland, still runs ok but deck is to shot to repair, or replace any more bearings on the blade towers (38" cut). The second was a larger 42" MTD, It is in the same shape, as the Poland. Runs and starts good, but steering, and deck are shot, and have replaced numerous bearings, that drive the blades.I bought a John deere 42" cut, and it is currently setting, while I find another deck for it, but did have to replace the original Briggs, the 2nd yr. While looking for a JD deck on CL, I found and bought a Wheel Horse garden tractor, of the 84 vintage. This is heavy duty, and came with a tiller, 42 " mower deck, a front push blade, and a brinley plow.2 cylinder Kohler engine, and hydrostatic transmission. $350.00. Sure it is used, but It works great, and is sturdy enough to last! The deck and tractor has real grease zerks, and can be lubed!The guy had 2 of them for sale but wanted to keep the front end loader on the 8 spd tractor, and I didn,t want to wait another day while he took it off. I wish I had of waited, since I don't trust hydro's. The older round fender Cub Kadets, and Simplicity's, are equily as good although they arent new. If you look at front axels ,rear ends, and decks, you will quickly see the value in the garden tractors, verses the riding mowers. JD will sell you a great garden tractor, but you might have to take out a 2nd mortgage to finance it.

My lawn is just under an acre, used to mow it with a 22" walk behind, got tired, bought a 2002 42" Craftsman 18 hp rider three years ago for $290., works fine. Sometimes Craig"s List is your friend.

If you get a zero-turn mower your kids will mow the lawn for you. But, you'll probably want to do it yourself.

I spent $5000 on an LX178 John Deere something like 10 years ago (too lazy to look it up). It's still 100% mechanically, only ever put blades, one set of front tires, one belt and one battery into it. I fully expect it to last the 20-odd years I have left before I start feeding the grass instead of mowing it.

Neighbor paid $1800-ish for a Crapsman, wore one plumb out and is looking at replacing the second one this year.

You do the math.

My thought is to get what you can fix yourself; drive belts, tires, bearings / spindles, oil and lube, blades, you can do yourself. I draw the line at the zero-turn / servo-motor / pump / filter / control valve whatever, I would have no idea. Scares me.

I was told, may not be correct, that many mowers are made by MTD. Like Craftsman, Poulan, and Husky varnie, are made by MTD.

This topic of Lawn mowers is like asking the DOT question. It has been asked many times here.

The old saying, you get what you pay for is true.

The last 2 mower I purchased were new ones. Troy and Husky. I look for the following things.

Sold cast front axle, oil filter, hour meter, electric clutch for mower deck, hydrostatic tranny, 2 cylinder, voltage regulator, not a single diode, and nothing smaller than a 48 incher. If they don"t have all the above, I"m not interested.

Others may add more things to my list.

Go to a lawn and garden parts place and research who builds what models. Many mowers use the same parts, which I find you can buy on amazon or ebay cheaper.
George

There are plenty of really good true garden tractors with mower decks around used.Just this past Saturday at an auction I saw a Cub Cadet
2284 (large Super Cub with Kohler engine) in great conditon sell for $800 probably cost at least $5000 new and it had only about 700 hrs and ran and operated like new.

it depends on what you have for a lawn, the riding mowers at the bottom of the price list are pretty flimsy and poorly made, they will work awhile if your lawn is smooth and you take it easy mine is not that smooth but its not a field either i bought a new big box store rider 4 years ago, after the second year it was worn to junk, i use a 1949 cub with a belly mower now, sure the old girl requires some tinkering and maintenance, but what a difference in ability! also we bought a john deere 260 garden tractor for a subdivision in town, i got that in 1994 and its larger and much better built then the smaller models, that unit is still going strong today those cost about double what the box store riders do but its a much better machine too

I couldn't agree more! Once a guy has owned a premium Deere or Kubota with power steering and hydraulic lift deck he just can't go back to those old cheapies.

It took me a while but I finally made believers out of the whole family. Dad now has a front deck Deere F735. Gran has an X320 and I have a 318 and a 345. All except the X320 were bought used for less than $2500.

Found Cub Cadet heavy duty 2550 w/ Kohler 23 or 25
hp. and 50" deck for $1,200 Had 450 hrs at that
time. Have run it for almost 2 yrs now has 597hrs.
Just now have to replace mower belts, need annual
service: chg oil/filter, new plugs, etc.

What Royse said. My guidelines for a good zero turn mower are; welded deck of thick steel(except possibly JD, they are supposed to have strong stamping machinery that can stamp out a deck of heavy steel. a floorboard that hinges up for easy deck belt replacement, the bolted in floorboards help reinforce the already too weak frame. commecial duty motor.

KEH

I'd take the simplicity over the cub cadet, we have a newer
gt2550 and its junk, all the new cubs are junk. They don't cut,
and are very light duty, won't climb a ditch bank just spin, the
simplicity probebly has one of the best tractor mowers still
made, as for the zero turn I'd go with a Dixie chopper.

Kabota had a program where buyers could buy a mower, use it a season, and turn it back on a new one. Might look into that program for the used, one or two years out model.

Simplicity seems to be pretty good stuff, I knew someone who had that line as part of their dealership, would not mind one of those at all.

I've had 3 new ones so far, one craftsman, '98, an '03 deere L110 and the latest an '08 Deere.

This latest one is nice, I like pretty much everything about it, its an LA 135 limited edition, 22HP s cylinder,Briggs&Stratton, which has noticeably more power and torque than the 17.5 Kohler, 42" deck, wish it was bigger but, this mower will cut some thick grass and not bog down, it has a nice high back seat on it, comfortable, easy to work on, hour meter is a nice thing, overall for around 2k, and I like the way its built, only wear I have noticed is on the steering sector gear and pinion, I do a fair amount of turning. I used to run old junkers, my neighbor does, so does my father at the other place, I see no sense in it because most of these never get maintenance, they break down a lot and its aggravating for the simple task of cutting ones grass turning into a project, don't need that. I did the neighbor a favor and put new blades on hers, had a bent blade, and something was not right with the mandrels and blades, was a gap in the hole, but I guess I centered them right, worked fine, hated the way those blades went on, she had bought the replacements, then the darned thing would cut out, some safety feature on the carb, turned into an afternoon and I tore a muscle or something when using the breaker bar, I call it the mower from hell, will not work on it again. We had a MTD one at the farm, Yard Machines special, same darned thing, I spent til 2am repairing it one evening mid spring, grass was up and thick, just a darned headache, 2 years later the transaxle or hydrostatic whatever it was, seized up, junk lawnmowers are just real headache. Mine came from a JD dealer, not HD, but most of the simple wear parts like belts, tune up/filter kits are available at HD or similar, I have not broke a belt on this one, but the previous one yes, on a sunday. The darned seat is better than anything I have owned before, its nothing special, but so much better. I probably cut 15 times per season, so maintenance is easy, going on its 5th season, 101.3 hours, reliable, the only thing I put into it was a battery and I went for the JD strongbox, in '11, I probably take care of my lawn tractor better than anything else. I actually enjoy the silly thing, weird but true, having one from new means you don't get someone elses headache, though I do see plenty of late model in nice shape for sale, save some money on the right find, I'm all for that, but 2 weeks ago, I picked up 2 more junkers for dad, good luck buddy, well he wanted the front snow blower on one, but both ran, but ugly was not the word for either of them, tough shape.

There is a nice home near our other place, modern, very large lawn, kind of a slope too, and it looks great, he cuts it with a 8N ford, belly mower or rear I forget, but it sure does a nice job.

Even cub cadet is now owned by MTD and when they merged the quality dropped. The Deere mowers sold in the box stores are made by Deere but are made to compete with MTD There quality is as the next series that is sold at Deere dealers.

I mow several lawns and have used John Deere and Simplicity mowers and currently have three simplicity mowers including one zero turn. I like a well manicured lawn and have found that Simplicity decks are excellent for leaving a nice looking lawn. Zero turn is the only way to go. It reduced my mowing time by almost 50% and is a lot of fun to drive. John Deere may make a stronger engine/drive train combination, but simplicity makes a better mowing deck in my opinion and they are cheaper to purchase. Good luck

We currently have a Husqvarna, best mower we have ever had. At least 10 years before any maintenance other than routine, then just a belt.

Have not run any of the newer Cub Cadet's, but you could not beat the older ones. They would out perform any of the JD's I had in the same time period. Had a 149 I bought from a guy for $150. that he said was shot. Mowed about 2 acres for 10 year's before the motor conked out. Only did normal maintenance, blades, belt's and etc. Currently have a 782 and has been a great mower.

Avoid the Snapper zero turns. My 2010 is already having issues.

Think about it, most mowers are put together with almost the same parts. Neighbor has a 38 inch JD. I replaced the belts for him. Was impressed with all the idler pulleys to prevent the belt from dancing and coming off.

I have a JD 275 with a 4 ft mower and a 30 inch tiller. Some think the Kawasaki engine is better than a B&S or Kohler. MY JD has a single cylinder 17 hp Kawasaki. I bought it used just for the tiller. Might put the mower deck on and see how well it works. I'm lucky to put 50 hours a year on a 48 inch mower. That was before I got a 72 inch mower on a Farmall and another 72 inch mower on a Ford. I like the farmall's belly mower best. The Ford has another 10 hp on the farmall and can go faster.

I only use the riding mowers as trim mowers now. Think my 3 48 inch riders will last me a life time.
George

If you ever used a Dixie Chopper you"d park those Deeres and Kubotas

I suggest steering clear of the new and newer Crapsmans. OTOH, I'm still running my 1964 Wheel Horse.