riding mower whats good

T

TurboGTA

Member
Joined
May 24, 2001
buying new house--well its new to us

over an acre of grass to cut

looking at used lawn tractors but don't know whats good

been eyeing 2 used ones in the $1,500 range with 19hp 44" mowing deck and snowblower


should I even bother with a snowblower for a gravel driveway?

thanks for any help
 
The next 2 months are a great time to buy a tractor as places like Home Depot, WalMart ect are trying to get rid of stock.
I bought my Yard Machine 18hp 46"deck with a small pull trailer for something like 45% off at WalMart and have had 0 problems in about 5yrs of owning it.
With the snowblowing on a gravel driveway you will be throwing rocks around with it unless you raise it to run about an 1" over the surface, and unfortunetly I do have first hand exp. but my driveway should be finished by next month:)
 
They are pricey but you can't go wrong with a Husqvarna, on the other hand for home use, any namebrand would pobably be fine.
 
Let me be the first to recommend a John Deere tractor.
Yes they are more pricey than other brands but remember,
you get what you pay for.
I bought a 16hp with a hydro-static trans and a 42" mulching
deck, this thing is a pleasure to operate and I look forward to
mowing the lawn! I consider it money well spent.
 
Buy a "garden" tractor as they tend to be more durable and heavy duty than a "lawn" tractor. I've been told this by people w/ numerous tractors. Also, there are some good deals on used tractors, too.

Later,


Steve.
 
On the John Deere machines, they're a great machine, but the new ones you see at the Depot and other chain stores are "real" Deeres. They are generic cookie cutter crap like all the rest. Go to a dealer and buy a nice solid machine. Look for something that is made like it's gonna last. I would avoid the ones that look like they were popped out of a piece of aluminium foil with the rest of the parts glued to it. A couple years back Deere offered the model 316 and 318. Very nice machines, but I'm not too sure if they are still available.
I personally use a mid-seventys Bolens QT-16. It's old, but a beast of a machine. 825 lbs dry weight! 48" mowing deck and 42 inch snowthrower. Electric PTO clutch, Hydrolic lifts and a hydro drive. I like it.
 
Depends on the quality of machine and cut you want.
My recomendation would be Simplicity.
 
There's only one mean lean mowing machine, GRASSHOPPER. But that's all it can do, unlike a garden tractor, JMO
Vern
 
DO NOT buy a Kabota mine has 103 hrs the dealer has had it more than I have. the ecm went out @ 89 hrs & that's just one prob.:mad:
 
Simplicity? have one at work, surprised that it still works considering it first had a carb rebuild after it filled the crankcase with fuel, and then having it replaced after it still leaked. Something to look for is a pull starter, you'll thank me if/when the battery goes dead (damn simplicity drives me nuts) Oh yeah, if you're planning on popping wheelies don't buy a Murray, have an uncle who messed his back up when one fell over on him doing such. My personal favorite solution to this problem is one a friend of mine wishes he had the money to try, there's a guy nearby who will do colored asphalt, he wants to have green colored asphalt instead of a lawn.
 
BUY A JOHN DEERE.. We tried many and had several.. Our John deere has outlasted all of them. If you do.. Like stated above. Get it from a John Deere Dealer.. NOT THE DEPOT.. There just junk.
 
Turboindian, I'm really surprized you have had problems with your Kabota, I have a kabota and have never had a problem, And we beat the h--- out of it, Many people in my area have had good luck also, Maybe you just bought a lemen? I bought a new ford tractor once, talk about a lemen, it was in the shop more then at home.
Vern
 
When I moved into the house I live in now the oter guy was moving some stuff out and we started to talk. He asked me if I had a mower for the yard I said no he said I will sell you this one.
I was just about as broke as I could have been thuoght he was going to say $200 and I didn't have that much at the time for a mower but I asked how much. So he tells me about all the stuff wrong with it and then tells me he doesn't need it at his new house, and if I would take it right then so he didn't have to mess with it he would take $25 bucks for it so I said yes.

Turns out it is a Ranchhand 17.5hp 48" cut and I mow an acre with it every week. It cost me more to tune it up and change the oil than I paid for it.:D :D :D :D :D
 
When I moved into the house I live in now the oter guy was moving some stuff out and we started to talk. He asked me if I had a mower for the yard I said no he said I will sell you this one.
I was just about as broke as I could have been thuoght he was going to say $200 and I didn't have that much at the time for a mower but I asked how much. So he tells me about all the stuff wrong with it and then tells me he doesn't need it at his new house, and if I would take it right then so he didn't have to mess with it he would take $25 bucks for it so I said yes.

Turns out it is a Ranchhand 17.5hp 48" cut and I mow an acre with it every week. It cost me more to tune it up and change the oil than I paid for it.:D :D :D :D :D
 
DEER!!!!

:eek: kinda makes you jump when drivin' :D I like the green and yellow ones. :cool: Others I know that have 'em swear by 'em :)
 
Like others have said, buy a John Deere from a John Deere dealer, not the ones at Home Depot. I can't beleive JD would put their name on that junk. I own a 1971 and 1976 JD garden tractor and they still work fantastic! If you maintain them well they will outlast anything out there. By the way, what other brand can you walk into the dealer and still buy almost any part required to maintain/repair it? That would be Jonh deere, they maintain parts inventory all the way back to 1963 when they began building them. Check out www.jdparts.deere.com they list all parts and prices for new and used for almost all their equipment they have made. The new JD garden tractors are expensive, but like someone said you get what you pay for. They like auto dealers over financing. You might also look on Ebay for a good used JD garden tractor. I would recommend an early '90s' model 318 with a 50" mower deck and a 54" front dozer blade. It is equipped with an air cooled Kohler 18hp, 2-cylinder engine with a filtered and pressurized oiling system, two circuit hydraulics, and hydrostatic transmission. They are probably the best machine JD ever built.

P.S. gravel driveways are hell on snowblowers.
 
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