Husqvarna, Craftsman, Troybuilt, MTD are all made by MTD or a division of MTD so they are all about the same grade of quality. Any of them should pull a garden cart around with no trouble. I would think traction would run out way before the transmission. That is my experience with lawn tractors: small tires, very little grip on them, light weight = spinning tires. I have a very heavy John Deere 332 diesel garden tractor and it barely pulls itself up steep hills due to lack of traction with the turf tires. I had a 18 HP Troybuilt that wouldn't even pull itself up that same hill, so I gave it to my daughter whose yard is flat. Now I have a Craftsman 6000 zero turn that had the same problems with traction. I found some bar lug tires just like Ag tractor tires that I put on it. Now it has the power and traction to go anywhere. I would suggest that in your shopping, ask the dealers about putting some bar lugs on your lawn tractor. I have seen them on JD garden tractors so I know they are available. The ones I but on my ZTR came off my wifes golf cart and were exact fit, rims and tires. I had ordered them from Buggiesunlimited.com