OT:Thinking about a new lawn mower

[RBnSC]

The old snapper is about gone and was thinking about buying a new riding mower. Never bought to many new things usually get something discarded and fixed it. The snapper was one my FIL left and family was going to throw it away so they gave it to me. I fixed it and have used it about 8 years. Typically so many things jury rigged I am the only one that can operate it. If I buy something that the wife and son can operate they could theoretically take over.
Never had any luck buying new stuff. Twice I went to a dealership to buy a new vehicle and didn't. First in the mid 80's went down to buy a new Volkswagen Jetta diesel as we really loved the diesel rabbit we were driving. Salesman said He could order one for a $1000 more than a gas but the diesel market was bad and we would lose $3000 in value the minute we drove it off the lot. Which I am sure was true. Drove My Rabbit home.
In the early 90's after several good jobs in a row I decided I needed a new pickup. So I went down to the Chevrolet garage told the salesman I wanted 1/2 ton long bed with v8, automatic, air, vinyl seats, rubber mats. He tells me if I want a v8 it only comes in a Silverado package cloth seats and carpet or a WT with 6cyl. vinyl and rubber. I did not know you could not buy what you wanted. Drove my old truck home.
I am going to look anyway.
Ron

 

[David G]

I got a Skag zero turn, works well.

 

[Ronald Anderson]

The old self propelled Snapper was as simple and durable as you can get. With one large blade it could cut tall stuff without leaving streaks.
I switched to a used Dixon Zero turn and after a couple years found a hydrostatic Dixon which eliminated all the chains and spool adjustment of the old style Dixon. Used Zero turns have become cheaper and they are faster then regular steer riders. With the multi blade mowers if the grass gets to tall they will leave streaks so you need to pay attention to height of the grass. You can spend lots of money buying a mower but keep in mind if you want someone else to mow maybe you should see what they would like to sit on.

 

[Royse]

I'll second the zero turn if you have a large yard.
You don't have to mow as fast as they will go.
Simply not having to back up or go round and round
in circles will cut your mowing time nearly in half.
I have seen several of the homeowner version with bent
frames. Seems they do not like uneven yards.
The commercial mowers are much sturdier, but also pricier.
I bought used commercial grade mower. Works great.

 

[SweetFeet]

RBnSC,
We are much the same as you - pretty frugal.

After looking at new mowers the past couple of summers...we overhauled our old Cub Cadet this winter. Spent nearly $350, but much less than buying a good quality new machine. And the old girl is just a workhorse.

It is manual shift and manual deck adjustment (obviously no zero-turn), but I still like mowing with it.

 

[old popper]

I switched from Snapper zero turn, to a John Deere four wheel steer about four years ago. I like the job the JD does over what the Snapper did, but paid as much for the Deere used (65 hrs) as I did for a brand new car in 1969.

 

[Wile E]

How many acres of grass do you have to mow?

Plan on spending at least $3,500 for a home owner grade zero turn.
I just went over a friends house and he bought a used Scag, Gas engine, 72" cut, $ 4,000. Runs good.

 

[Bruce from Can.]

You sound like me, I have a bad time with sales men. They all want to sell me wht they have... not what I want. I cut the grass on the home farm with a old grey Sears craftsman, that was given to me. Had no motor, seat gas tank or steering wheel. The hood was missing, and had a flat tire. I pulled parst off of 3 other freebee mowers I had, and made a "Franken Mower'. 38' cut with 18hp, can't be stopped. Mabe I enjoy the battle of keeping a working lawn mower more than cutting the lawn!! Bruce

 

[rustyfarmall]

You can still get virtually any part you might need for the old, rear engined Snappers. I've got one that is on its 4th new engine, and the deck has patches welded over patches, but it still does an excellent job of mowing.

I wouldn't expect to get much more than 5 years of service out of any new mower I might replace it with.

 

[JD Seller]

I would figure out what your budget is and then by a good low houred used mower. You will be better off buying a used premium quality mower over a new "cheap" quality mower. The money would be about the same.

Example: You can buy the straight JD 345 with 300-400 hours for right around $2000-2500. You get a full garden tractor, 18HP two cylinder water cooled Kawasaki motor, Power steering, and foot pedal hydrostatic controls.

Take that same $2000-2500 and that gets you a cheap/low end JD or even Craftsman.

I just used JD as that is what I am familiar with. There are other good brands too. Craftsman is not a good quality brand anymore.

 

[Will Herring]

(quoted from post at 11:00:32 05/27/13) You sound like me, I have a bad time with sales men. They all want to sell me wht they have... not what I want. I cut the grass on the home farm with a old grey Sears craftsman, that was given to me. Had no motor, seat gas tank or steering wheel. The hood was missing, and had a flat tire. I pulled parst off of 3 other freebee mowers I had, and made a "Franken Mower'. 38' cut with 18hp, can't be stopped. Mabe I enjoy the battle of keeping a working lawn mower more than cutting the lawn!! Bruce

Had an old gray craftsman push mower and that thing went through probably 20 years of hard use before giving up the ghost. However, the newer red craftsman it was replaced with was a p.o.s. It kept shearing bolts out the back within the first 3 years and burning oil, until finally the frame split in the back. Fortunately with the right drill bit and some hardened bolts, I have her working again.

Bought a husqvarna mower with a honda motor on her, and she's going 2 years strong now and I'm much happier with it.

 

[Billy NY]

I would agree with JD Seller, I see quite a few of both low hour/use homeowner grade to real decent garden tractors up to sub compact or whatever you want to call em. Always something to look at and ponder with these, given price, age, condition and how well it was maintained. I've fooled with these since the 70's as a kid, from a JD 110 to many of the homeowner lawn tractors, and I find that the latter not so well taken care of, after so many years, even though they can be cheap to buy, are nothing but a darned headache. At the other place, thats my fathers thing, cheap junk mowers, used to constantly have to repair and deal with them, just takes too much time for something that should be a lot more simple. From the deck to all the darned safety switches, people leave these things out and they just become unreliable pieces of junk.

I'd rather have an old school mower of the JD110 era, newer or same era, much later model, better quality garden tractor or like JD suggests, than even a new low quality tractor. I've seen enough of the newer ones, not too bad, costly, but in '08 I just decided that a new LA 135 limited edition JD would fit what I do, sure I could use a larger and more capable garden tractor, no doubt, but living within ones means, you draw a line, and I am sure one day I will go larger, likely new or late model low hours/use, would be nice to have a tiller on one of these and a blower with a removable cab or similar for winter snow removal. Something to look forward to one day at least LOL !

The LA 135, turns better than the L110 or whatever the previous model I had was, it has much more torque, I prefer Kohler, but the B&S at 22 HP, just out performs the 17.5 Kohler in the previous one, likes more fuel too, but..... The larger seat, thats just a must have, good leg room, its easy to maintain, and both had the same 42" deck, but if the grass gets one up on you, the B/S engine does not lug down, I love the power to weight ratio or whatever you call it, seems like a good reliable tractor, 25-35 hours per year, its just over 100 and some odd hours, the only appreciable wear I can see is in the steering sector and pinion gear, mostly the pinion gear, I think they all have this arrangement in this class of lawn tractor.

Though I got it from a JD dealer, the parts are commonly found at big box stores that carry the JD line, belts, blades, oil filters, air filters, off the web or what have you, so that helps. Annual maintenance, I run it a few times in the off season, its a very reliable good performing lawn tractor and though new, which like you I don't do often, the price was fine was around 2K then, I forget now.

Regardless, I just happen to like this one, I see a bunch of others that like mine are garage kept and decent shape, both lawn and larger garden tractors, which I would not hesitate to look at closely, I'll leave the rolling scrap headache lawn tractors to someone else, did it for too long, and my neighbor across the lane still does, hers breaks down often enough to be annoying, the safety switches are usually the culprit, put a set of blades on it for her, as one had a nice bend in it. I hurt a muscle in my chest/shoulder with the breaker bar, took months to heal, had some mismatched mandrel that hold the blades and the new blades center was hard to set, excess space, did not like the fit, could have been the wrong blades, not sure. Got that done and it would not run, boat anchor in my driveway, cost me a whole afternoon, torn muscle, ended up a safety solenoid or what the heck it was on the carb. Hate these darned things that was the lawn tractor from hell, we had another at the other place, same deal, 2 am one night I finished repairing all it needed, grass was high.... Done with junk mowers that is for sure LOL !!!

 

[evilboweivel]

"If I buy something that the wife and son can operate they could theoretically take over"



a good zero turn
don't go cheap, get one with all of the safeties working and everything right
OR buy a new one from a good dealer not a big box store or a big JD dealership to big to care about you
find someone who has a good rep selling comerical grade yet small enough to want your business
get a low end commercial unit I prefer Hustler with Flex Forks and deluxe seat added on
Or Ferris with Independent suspension on all four wheels
The right machine will outlast you and the wife and son will not let you use it
good luck
Ron

 

[farmer boy]

After years of MTD lawn mowers, I got a Kubota G4200 HST. It's 25 years old, but works better than the MTD ever did. 2 cyl diesel liquid cooled engine. BIG heavy duty starter, shaft drive mower, (outer blades are driven by belt) Just a great mower all around. Little light in the rear end on slopes, but sitting on the fender fixes that. Paid $1700.

 

[WGM]

Love my Dixie Chopper

 

[Anonymous-0]

if you are used to doing a lot of backing up (using reverse while mowing) in tight places or jumping off to move something - you will not like a new one - more @%$&# safety's than you can shake a stick at.

 

[Goose]

My wife keeps about two acres mowed, including our house yard and "the back forty".

We have a two year old 17hp, 42" deck rider and a four year old Poulan 24 hp, 54" deck. This spring, we bought a new Toro zero turn, 20 hp Kawasaki engine with a 50" deck. For what my wife mows, the zero turn cut her mowing time in half, and she has yet to take the trans out of low range.

Funny thing was, we walked into Home Depot with buying a mower the last thing on our minds. This was a left over last years model sitting there with $1,000 off the price. When they took my 10% military discount off of that, it got too tempting to pass up.

Seems when it comes to buying vehicles, mowers, etc, I'm an opportunist. I don't go out looking for deals, I wait for the deals to come to me.

 

[MARK ROBKE]

Over the winter I bought a used Husquavarna zero turn. Gave $1500 for it; it's home owner grade, 24 hp kohler, 54" cut. Mowing time went from 2-1/2+ hrs to 1 1/4 hr. It replaced an old k mart rider I bought used 15 yrs ago. This thing makes mowing fun !! My wife usually mows, but I find myself wanting to mow instead ! The husky had 49 hrs on it, was 4 yrs old. Deals are out there ; you just have to look. I don't know if this mower will last as log as a comercial grade, but it seems well made and functions perfectly. My understanding is the hydros are weaker in home owner grade, but I don't know if that is true. Can anyone else say for sure? Mark

 

[tomNE]

I bought a z445 jd. not cheap but it does exactly what I wanted it to do. I'd second buying new, rather then used and buy from a dealer, not a box store. cut my mowing time 50% from a conventional mower with the same size deck!

 

[RBnSC]

Went,looked,and came back with nothing. Looked at a Troy Bilt $1000. 17.5 hp briggs 42 in. cut. I think I am going to look some more. Most of the ones on CL look like scammers. I am in no hurry. Good deal will show up the day after I buy something.
Ron

 

[ben there]

if you decide to buy new,stay away from the big box stores...brand may be same,but whats in it isnt...don't let cheap guide you.

 

[greygoat]

My idiot son-in-law got a Home Depot John Deere
and when it broke, local JD dealer didn't want
to work on it. (I don't know if it's a "Special'
cheap model, or dealer was mad that he didn't
get the sale).

 

[MSD]

Like JD said, look for a good low hour "premium" rider. Back in the late 80's I bought a JD 212 with a snowblower for $700. The neighbor bought a new off brand one for the same money. He put dollars in it for the first years and finally junked it out. I ran my 212 with no expenses for 5 years, sold the snowblower for $250 and the tractor for $1200. The guy that bought it is still mowing today with it. You get what you pay for. I have JD 322 now and really love it. Easy on gas, lots of power, front hydraulics, hydro. You can find them in the $2000 to 3000 range.

 

[keh]

Another vote for a Dixie Chopper zero turn.

KEH

 

[wisbaker]

Push mower, still using the Honda we bought in Florida in 1990, Rider- a used Wheel Horse 525H at the home place in Wisconsin, a Cub Cadet 120 (okay a 70 with a Kohler 301 in it) at the satellite location here in Iowa. While working with the county I bought a Hustler z-track for if I remember $3,500, it was a good machine but we wanted a narrower deck because of what we were mowing and where it was stored. My boss at the highway department went the same route, even using my RFP and ended up with Gravely zero turns. Seems Gravely is now the commercial Ariens, they were happy with them.

 

[todd hamilton]

Don't buy a Troy built mower. First house we rented in TN came with mower furnished. Famous for ztr in one direction, takes 10 rod to turn it the other direction. Biggest pain the butt ever to mow with.

 

[Royse]

(quoted from post at 17:28:18 05/27/13) Like JD said, look for a good low hour "premium" rider. Back in the late 80's I bought a JD 212 with a snowblower for $700. The neighbor bought a new off brand one for the same money. He put dollars in it for the first years and finally junked it out. I ran my 212 with no expenses for 5 years, sold the snowblower for $250 and the tractor for $1200. The guy that bought it is still mowing today with it. You get what you pay for. I have JD 322 now and really love it. Easy on gas, lots of power, front hydraulics, hydro. You can find them in the $2000 to 3000 range.

MSD, I have three JD 212's, one with manual lift, one hydraulic and
one electric. The hydraulic and electric lifts work great for the snowblower.
They mow every bit as good as my zero turn as far as cut quality goes.
The just don't do it as fast!
Then there's that variator....... works good when it works.
I went to my local JD dealer to get a wheel bearing and a neutral
safety switch for one. (only one of mine had it at all)
The dealer jokingly told me they should all be retired by now.
They had the parts on the shelf.
Mine are all 70's models with hand operated belt clutches versus electric.
They mostly do lawn cleanup, lawn fertilizer/insecticide spreading
and snowblowing the walkways now that I have the ZTR.
Just can't part with them, they're great machines!

 

[Mark6005]

My 1990 Jd 318 with 50 inch deck still mows as new. 2 cyl onan even sounds like a tractor engine when idled down. 318 is a fine old tractor and nothing like the new lightweight tractors and will still outlast them

 

[Hal/ Eastern WA]

A couple of years ago, I bought a new
Troy-Bilt lawn tractor with the 22hp Kohler engine, hydrostatic drive and 46 inch dual blade mower deck. Overall, I am quite pleased with it. I had not had a hydrostatic drive lawn mower before, but really like that feature. Hopefully the hydrostatic drive will last for a long time.

On the other hand, the grass catcher I bought with the new Troy-Bilt is probably the worst piece of garbage I have ever purchased in an equipment deal. It works poorly if the grass is fairly short and absolutely dry and then only works if you go very slow. If there is any moisture or if the grass is a little long, the tube will fill up with clippings and become blocked in a very short distance. And after only a couple of years of use, the plastic part that attaches to the mower deck is cracking and will probably need replacement. If I remember correctly the grass catcher attachment cost about $250. I would say that the redesigned grass catcher is the WORST BUY I ever made in yard equipment.

I have had several MTD made lawn mowers over the years. The first was a small "White" branded machine with about 12 horsepower. My Dad bought it new in the 70"s, and when my parents moved to town in retirement, I got the White. It worked pretty well for more than 20 years, but then it started falling apart in many places. I had to weld cracks in the deck several times and then the B&S flathead engine went bad.

So I bought a Yard Machine with an 18hp B&S OHV engine, variable pulley design transmission and a 42 inch deck. I always thought that it was pretty underpowered, but it worked OK if you went slowly for about 8 years, but then it started having engine problems, which I would have fixed. But the transaxle started skipping, like two gears were not quite meshing right. I really needed to mow right away, so I bought the Troy-Bilt.

Both the White and the Yard Machine used the older, larger design of grass catcher. The grass catchers both worked WAY better than the later design on the Troy-Bilt. I had thought that it might be possible to put the grass catcher from the Yard Machine on the Troy-Bilt, but the part that mates with the mower deck is substantially different. I think that the main problem with the newer design is that the opening in the deck is smaller. The other problem is that the later design uses 3 tube segments rather than the much smoother 2 tube segments of the older design.

I don"t know what you will decide to get, but I am fairly pleased with the Troy-Bilt so far as a grass cutting machine. I cut more than an acre--most of it I water so it stays green all season, but some of it does not get watered much and it goes dormant in August.

HOWEVER, if picking up the cut grass is important to you, I would look at something other than the grass catcher that fits current Troy-Bilts and presumably other MTD products that are similar. That grass catcher is JUNK and it works very poorly.

I have read that MTD is the General Motors of lawn care equipment. If that is so, that recent design grass catcher system is their VEGA!!!

Good luck, HTH!

 

[T in NE]

If I have to buy one, it will be an old Cub Cadet (a real one), or have ANYTHING but a Briggs and Scrapiron motor. Preferrably Honda.

 

[Bret4207]

I don't know what you're gonna do, but I'd be dipped in hot tar before I'd plunck down more than $1500.00 for ANY mower/garden tractor. Did that once, never again. Spent almost $2500.00 on a rider "the kids could use" from Sears. We had Sears riders at home growing up and they'd last for years mowing pretty much non-stop all summer. I threw away my money on the new one I bought. Complete junk. And since I fix mowers, people bring me all sorts of others brands to fix, most all are just as much junk as the Crapsman.

I'd look for an older, pre-90's Wheel Horse, Simplicity, Cub, Bolens or Deere. Something big and heavy with a real frame that doesn't use electronic clutches and such. The whole $5K plus zero turn thing I just don't get, but then those are the people spending $60K on their pickup too.

 

[GVSII]

(quoted from post at 04:22:08 05/29/13) I don't know what you're gonna do, but I'd be dipped in hot tar before I'd plunck down more than $1500.00 for ANY mower/garden tractor. Did that once, never again. Spent almost $2500.00 on a rider "the kids could use" from Sears. We had Sears riders at home growing up and they'd last for years mowing pretty much non-stop all summer. I threw away my money on the new one I bought. Complete junk. And since I fix mowers, people bring me all sorts of others brands to fix, most all are just as much junk as the Crapsman.

I'd look for an older, pre-90's Wheel Horse, Simplicity, Cub, Bolens or Deere. Something big and heavy with a real frame that doesn't use electronic clutches and such. The whole $5K plus zero turn thing I just don't get, but then those are the people spending $60K on their pickup too.

Wow, do I hear ya.Especialy the part about "0" turn mowers!

 

[Royse]

(quoted from post at 10:55:48 05/29/13)

(quoted from post at 04:22:08 05/29/13) I don't know what you're gonna do, but I'd be dipped in hot tar before I'd plunck down more than $1500.00 for ANY mower/garden tractor. Did that once, never again. Spent almost $2500.00 on a rider "the kids could use" from Sears. We had Sears riders at home growing up and they'd last for years mowing pretty much non-stop all summer. I threw away my money on the new one I bought. Complete junk. And since I fix mowers, people bring me all sorts of others brands to fix, most all are just as much junk as the Crapsman.

I'd look for an older, pre-90's Wheel Horse, Simplicity, Cub, Bolens or Deere. Something big and heavy with a real frame that doesn't use electronic clutches and such. The whole $5K plus zero turn thing I just don't get, but then those are the people spending $60K on their pickup too.

Wow, do I hear ya.Especialy the part about "0" turn mowers!

Each to their own I guess, but I only paid $1000 for my
commercial Zero Turn Rider with ~1100 hours on it.
A "cheap" riding mower would cost that much.
I've had it four years now and all I've had to do to it is
change the oil, sharpened the blades and grease it.
Probably the only drawback to it is that it isn't much good
as a garden tractor. It is really only good for mowing.
Guess that's why I keep the JD 212's and the Ford LGT around!
No $60k truck here!