Please Suggest a Good Riding Mower, Preferably Not Over $4K

[murphy1244]

Do you have a Simplicity Dealer near you? I have a Simplicity Conquest with a 54 " deck and it cuts nice. Have a Snow blower for doing 1000' of driveway too. Nothing cuts like a Simplicity, Nothing.

 

[ILLUMN8R]

A BX is larger than I would like, or need. I do have a B7500 at the other property. And I have no problem with a small used tractor if it's in very good condition, I am keeping my eye out. The trade-in's at the Cub dealer looked pretty well spent and I forgot to ask the Deere dealer if he had any nice used ones.
I just looked at a YT42XLS. Not moving, the steering seemed very heavy, obviously it'll lighten up when moving. I would have asked to ride it around but it was starting to rain pretty hard. Lifting the deck took a bit more effort than I would like but maybe there's an adjustment? I mention the steering and deck effort because my wife will probably be using it more than I (at least that is the plan). I drive past this dealer a lot so I'll stop back when the weather is better. I did ask them if it had a better hydrostatic transmission than the cheap ones sold at Depot? He had to ask the manager who said "they don't give us that information but probably not it's just a sealed unit made by Tuff Torque, but if it goes bad they're cheap to replace." He said it does have a better deck the Kawasaki engine, and a better warranty though. One would think if Husqvarna was going to market a better quality tractor with a fabricated deck and Kawasaki engine they would beef up the transmission as well?

Milo,

There are other units recommended by our fellow members that are indeed fine machines, however given your initial specified requirements of price and mower deck size I still stand firmly by my recommendation of the Cub Cadet GT2000 series. There was mention of a fabricated deck which Cub does offer as an option in 2 sizes in fact, as well as three stamped deck size options. Because Cub offers their decks ala-carte you can choose whatever suits your needs without being stuck with one you don't want & having to purchase another deck. In regards to the Cub transmission, I had previously mentioned the large fluid capacity which directly correlates to how robust it is ( my father-in law buys tranny fluid by the 50 gallon drum for his AG tractors) and the cub tranny is very serviceable, has a dip stick and has a large external spin on filter. When you look a the Cubs, the filter is on the front side of the case, can't miss it, it's 4" diameter and white. If you were going to buy a tractor for mowing a flat yard ONLY a sealed unit MIGHT be ok but for your needs I would not even consider it. You mentioned your wife will be the main operator, if you buy the GTX version you get electric power steering, although I keep my steering components well greased and it turns with ease, it has automotive type rack & pinion geometry. The warranty is up to 5 years 500 hours, but with the quality of the components I do not foresee having to utilize it. As far as purchasing a used unit, they have been traded in for a reason.
My $.02